If you have been paying attention to the media for the last few years you may have noticed that the MarinGOP has a somewhat strained relationship with the local press. We are fine with this... we believe in Free Speech and if journalists want to be partisan attack dogs that is their prerogative. If you have not noticed... we understand... many people seem to be utterly unaware that Marin County even has a newspaper.
Several days ago the MarinGOP received a questionnaire from Dick Spotswood at the Marin Independent Journal regarding a number of topics. The MarinGOP answered all of his questions via e-mail. (The MarinGOP is actually willing to answer most journalistic inquiries by e-mail. We don't do phone interviews or quickie quotes, but we WILL answer questions from legitimate members of the press.)
In the interest of TRUE transparency and Free Speech --because the MarinGOP DOES believe in transparency and Free Speech-- we are posting the complete text of the questionnaire and answers below.
The questions submitted by the MarinIJ are in brown, the MarinGOP's answers are in black.
From: Marin GOP Vice Chair <vicechair@maringop.org> Date: Monday, January 18, 2021 at 11:30 AM To: Dick Spotswood <spotswood@comcast.net> Cc: Dave Allen <dallen@marinij.com> Subject: Response to your questions
Dick,
Below are our responses.
Marin GOP Independent Journal Answers
Why hasn’t the Marin GOP recognized on its website that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were elected fair and square? Were Joe Biden and Kamala Harris elected fair and square. If not, why not?
We don’t dispute the fact that Biden and Harris will be sworn in on January 20. Did the Marin Democrats post a congratulations to Donald Trump when he was elected four years ago? I sure don’t recall it. What I do recall though is that many Marin Democrats went into full “resistance” mode for years. In 2017, local media outlets carried laudatory pieces about Marinites flying cross country to protest against Donald Trump when he was sworn in.
Why hasn’t the Marin GOP on its website denounced the insurgents who sacked the capitol?
We have denounced what occurred on January 6 and took it a step further sending an Email to our mailing list regarding such. It is also posted on the blog portion of our website.
What hasn’t (like most of corporate America) the Marin GOP denounced Trump for inciting the riot?
We are a county level political party committee whose mission is to register new Republicans and get Republicans elected to office period. Again, we have abhorred all violence including the actions associated with what occurred in the summer and recently in the US Capitol. Lives were lost, livelihoods were destroyed, and hopefully, evil doers in all cases are brought to justice. Sadly, I have not heard the left denounce the violence, riots, and destruction that occurred last summer by Antifa and other extremists. Rather, Harris, Pelosi, and other liberals regularly encouraged it. There seems to be a double standard.
What is the Marin GOP’S position on the QAnon conspiracy?
Have you asked Paul Cohen why they have not denounced Antifa on their website? We believe in free speech, freedom of expression, and each individual’s right and responsibility to discern fact from fiction. We do not believe in censorship, and remain very concerned about the selective approach big tech is making by silencing individuals and ideas that they don’t agree with. It may be to their own peril in a free society. As far as QAnon goes specifically, we fully the support the State Party’s stance on it that there is no place in our society for groups like them. This was also echoed by US House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and California Senate Minority Leader Shannon Grove. We stand with them.
Did Marin’s GOP ever use the Parler platform before it was banned by Amazon?
Yes. We added a Marin GOP account to it about two months ago. We also maintain accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. At the time of its shut down, we had about 260 followers. Whatever was on Parler is on our Facebook page as well. We expanded to broaden our reach to conservatives.
Is Marin’s official GOP aware that the First Amendment’s “free speech” clause applies only to governmental actions and not to individuals or private enterprise?
At a young age, we are all taught the principals of free speech and its limits. We do find it interesting though that three of the largest Internet companies in the world decided to ban/restrict the speech of individuals with certain viewpoints all within 48 hours of each other. While it may technically be legal, it leads us down a very dangerous path. These three Internet companies are also hiding behind Section 230, which protects them from liability. Perhaps if the playing field was more level, things might be different.
If Gov. Gavin Newsom is a “tyrant,” what does the Marin GOP propose the State of California, the Biden/Harris Administration and Marin County H&HS do to better handle COVID epidemic and the 4,000 daily deaths nationwide?
We would defer to the Recall campaign for questions regarding their web content as that’s where the term “tyrant” originated. They can be reached at info@recallgavin2020.com.
As far as a better plan, let’s begin with this:
From high end dinners at The French Laundry with lobbyists in Napa to celebratory meal gatherings in Sacramento, Governor Newsom and Assemblyman Marc Levine should lead by example if they expect the public to accept and follow their recommendations to mitigate the spread of COVID seriously. Furthermore, our state and local governments knew a vaccine was coming for more than six months and should have had a plan to more efficiently and successfully distribute it to the public. President Trump promised a vaccine very quickly and the health experts helped him get it done in record time. Additionally, the stay-at-home orders that forced the closure of outdoor dining in many places were counterintuitive by encouraging more in-home gatherings, which is where COVID spread the most during the holidays. Maintaining outdoor dining in restaurants practicing all of the strict guidelines very likely may have reduced the number of in-home gatherings as well as the spread of the virus. Not to mention the devastating impacts it has had on thousands of small businesses, many of which will never come back.
If you are interested in reading the MarinGOP's statement regarding our OPPOSITION to violence please read this statement posted publicly on our website on January 13th, 2021: MarinGOP Condemns Violence & Supports the First Amendment.
If you are interested in seeing our denunciation of marauding mobs we strongly advise you to see this small film we made at the end of 2020: Antifa Revealed: Twenty-First Century Fascism?
If you are interested in reading the long --and now obviously correct-- post we did about the devastating impact of shut-down on local businesses and Main Street mom and pops we strongly recommend reading this piece we posted in September: Small Businesses Are Being Murdered.
If you are interested in seeing one of the MANY posts we have made over the past nine months supporting Free Speech, condemning violence and promoting a better view of America we strongly advise reading this piece we posted on September 9th, 2020: Freedom of Speech.