Yue hopes Duncan keeps RNC chairmanship

Oregon Republican Party Committeeman Solomon Yue hopes that Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan remains at the head of the committee for another term, he told PolitickerOR.com Thursday.

“I am hoping Mike Duncan would run for RNC Chairman. I have worked with him in defense of individual liberty and freedom in the last two years,” Yue said in an email.

Yue is one of three voting members of the Republican Party from Oregon, and he will have the opportunity to vote to keep Duncan at the head when the voting members of the Republican party meet Jan. 28.

Yue said he was looking for several qualities in the next RNC chairman, including a strong ability to fundraise. He also said that good managerial skills will be critical for the next chairman.

“Without managerial skills, the RNC will become like the three big automakers,” Yue said.

But Yue also said it was critical that the next chairman of the committee be able to articulate the principles of the party and be able to defend those principles.

“The biggest challenge for the next RNC chairman is to enforce ideological consistency in order to rebuild our brand name,” Yue said.

After the November election, there has been talk of replacing Duncan with several candidates ranging from Newt Gingrich to former Maryland Lieutenant Gov. Michael Steele. But with some Republicans disillusioned with politicians at the national level, several state-level Republicans have come into consideration for the job, including Michigan Republican Party Chair Saul Anuzis and South Carolina Republican Party Chair Katon Dawson. Yue believes that the party should resist the temptation to look to the state level.

“It would be more effective to bring in someone who is active in the party at the national level since all voting members will already know the candidate,” he said.

Most of all, Yue said, the party needs to find someone who could bring people together in a shared mission devoted to conservative values. The next leader, he said, needs to have a vision for the future of the Republican Party.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish,” Yue said. “When a party has no vision, we forfeit our moral authority to lead this nation.”

To win, an RNC chair candidate needs 85 of 165 votes from the voting members of the Republican Party. Three people from Oregon will cast a vote; Yue, Oregon Republican Party Committeewoman Donna Cain, and Republican Party of Oregon Chairman Vance Day.