Nevada young repubs implode!

Young Republicans suffer setback

Nevada chapter chairman holding the tab; allegations swirl

Nevada's chapter of the Young Republicans has basically imploded, leaving its chairman with up to $25,000 in personal debt and allegations that he mishandled money.

All but three people have resigned from the statewide group, but the fallout could prove increasingly embarrassing to the entire state Republican Party.

Today, the chairman of the group, Reno resident Nathan Taylor, plans to hold a press conference attacking three of the state's party leaders -- Sen. John Ensign, Rep. Jim Gibbons and Rep. Jon Porter.

Taylor argues that the state's Republican delegation should have helped him fund the national Young Republican convention held last week at Mandalay Bay.

"I've got bills at the hotel I can't pay," said Taylor, a 29-year-old political science senior at UNR who said he had to quit his food service job and drop classes to plan the convention.

Taylor estimates that the convention, attended by about 600 people from around the nation, is at least $10,000 -- and up to $25,000 -- in the red.

As the chairman, he said he'll personally have to cough up the cash.

"It's a really sad day when my congressmen and my senator, who are sitting on millions, can't cut me a check for $25,000," Taylor said. "I don't think I'm asking for much."

Representatives of the congressional delegation remained mum on the press conference, with Porter campaign consultant Mike Slanker simply saying, "I wish him well in his future after politics."

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Last spring, members of the club's state board filed a complaint with Reno police about Taylor, asking them to investigate where $25,000 in money meant to plan the national convention went.

Kriston Whiteside, president of the UNR College Republicans, filed a letter saying
Taylor asked her to write a check to his cousin to repay a personal loan.

Members of the group later apologized and dropped the charges, citing an August 2004 letter from the chairman of the Young Republican National Federation that gave Taylor authority to create a company to manage the convention.

By doing do, the Young Republican national group was released from financial liability for the convention, handing over all responsibilities to Taylor.

But within days after dropping the charges against Taylor, all but three members of the state Young Republican group resigned, saying they were convinced the convention would turn up short of money.

Taylor, meanwhile, took up the slack, becoming the only person in Nevada planning the convention.

"Those guys imploded the Nevada Young Republican organization," Taylor said. "It was utterly destroyed. I'm trying my level best to pick up the pieces here."

One former board member, who requested anonymity because he said Taylor was
"sue-happy," said members of the group knew months ago there would be financial problems with the Las Vegas convention.

"I hate to say we told you so, but we told you so," the former board member said.
The group appealed to Taylor, the national Young Republicans and even the Reno police to watch the convention's books, he said.

E-mails forwarded to the Sun indicate that both state and national members of the Young Republicans were concerned with Taylor's handling of money after the state group dropped charges with Reno police.

"We don't know what we have on hand and what debits are owed that were not reflected in the budget that was done," wrote Jason Weingarter, a member of the committee overseeing the convention's books.

Robyn Pladson, chairwoman of the North Dakota Young Republicans and a member of the national group appointed to oversee convention finances, said Taylor refused to give information that the oversight group requested.

"There's a reason why the convention was in the hole," she said.

And the planning was evident in the convention held last week, she said.

She cited problems "from the little to the absurd" with the convention, including one key luncheon when she said there were not enough seats for all of the attendees.

Taylor also is facing a lawsuit from fellow Republican and former Las Vegas City Council candidate Steve Sanson, who says he gave Taylor $500 to help plan his campaign. The lawsuit is not related to the convention.

Sanson claims that Taylor didn't follow through with his work, and his lawsuit asks for the money back.

Sanson has been in contact with producers from both "Judge Judy" and "The People's Court," though Taylor said this week he wouldn't agree to air the case on TV.

Taylor said he realizes that the complaints he plans to make today about Ensign, Gibbons and Porter won't win him any friends in the party.

But he argues that the Young Republicans have helped with fund-raising and grassroots efforts when the politicians needed them.

This summer, he argues, it was time for the politicians to pony up from their political action committees.

"I'm not doing this out of spite," he said. "I'm not doing this to be mean. I'm doing
this because I feel it is wrong."

Taylor said the charges against him are all politically motivated, and he is holding the press conference today because he wants to get his life back in shape.

"I was put through hell," he said. "It hurt me, it hurt my family. I had broken my back and lost everything to put on this convention."

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See more on Taylor and the Nevada YR's (and Operation Yellow Elephant):

Young Republican meeting target of military question

Despite an Internet effort to drum up opposition, several hundred of the nation's most ambitious young Republicans convened Thursday with little controversy.

Activists of a loosely organized campaign called "Operation Yellow Elephant" had threatened to protest the Young Republican National Convention at Mandalay Bay this week.

They argue that Young Republicans who support the war in Iraq should enlist in the military, especially given recent lags in recruiting.

Their motto: Sign up or shut up.

Activist Karl Olson, a New York resident, said he recently tried to sign up for the Army but was turned away because he's 44 years old. Younger Republicans, however, could help fight their cause, he said.

"If our president cannot persuade his strongest supporters to serve when our country desperately needs them, then how will he ever be successful to persuade the entire country?" Olson asks.

But Reno resident Nathan Taylor, chairman of the Young Republican National
Convention, said he made it clear to critics that hotel security would keep the
critics out.

"There will be no protests here," Taylor said. "Mandalay Bay is private property."

The theme of the convention is "Supporting our Troops, Honoring the Fallen."

Taylor bristled at assertions that Young Republicans aren't participating in the war.

He estimated that about 40 percent of the 600 people attending the national convention either had served in the military or are in the process of signing up.

Taylor said he wanted to enlist but couldn't because of two recent lung surgeries.

Audra Shay, 33, served eight years in the Army and was a co-chairwoman representing Louisiana at the convention.

"Enlisting is a personal decision that you have to make," she said. "The military is about combat and it's about war. That's what you have to do, you have to search within yourself."

Col. Frank Ryan, who moderated a panel of veterans who recently returned from service overseas, told participants in the convention that those who haven't enlisted should actively support the war on terrorism while at home.

Keeping up the support for President Bush's initiatives against terrorism is vitally important now, he said.

"We up here need you to be active politically," he said.

A delegate from Florida, 27-year-old David Fletcher, said he participates in the Young Republicans because he thinks it's important for young people to get involved in politics.

But while Fletcher said he fully supports the war in Iraq, he said he has not enlisted and doesn't have plans to enlist. When asked why, he said, "I'd rather not answer that question."

Pentagon representatives have recently said that recruiting is the most challenging it has been in decades.

All branches of the military have experienced recruiting shortfalls for active and
reserve troops except the Air Force Reserve, according to the Defense Department
Web site.

The Young Republicans include people ages 18 to 40, though Taylor said the median age of people in the group is between 25 and 35 years old.

Republican Party leaders have increasingly turned to the group to organize grass-roots efforts, especially among voters ages 18 to 29 years old.

That's the only age group that President Bush lost in 2004, said Frank Fahrenkopf, a
former Republican National Party chairman and current president of the American
Gaming Association.

Fahrenkopf told the group at a luncheon Thursday that young voters are becoming an increasingly critical voting block as Republicans and Democrats battle for the few remaining swing votes in the country.

"This party cannot afford to allow that segment of the population to become Democrat and vote Democrat," Fahrenkopf said.

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Taylor should go far in the repug party! He is already showing that he will turn on his own for money, he's a whiner, he has no fiscal responsibility, has excuses for everything and is incompetent!
And he was silly enough to think that the state repubs would stick by him in his time of need! hahahahahahahahahahahahaha