California state senators Tony Stickland and Roger Niello State this week were the recipients of a significant unanticipated political benefit from what is or had been an unlikely and unanticipated source: the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee.
Given that Strickland and Niello are two of the state’s foremost members of the Golden State’s minority party, the infusion of what is likely to exceed $100,000 from San Bernardino County’s Republican Party into their electioneering funds is not surprising from a political viewpoint. What is eye-opening is that neither Strickland nor Niello represent San Bernardino County and the central committee has not yet moved to make any money in its coffers available to the four incumbent Republicans currently representing San Bernardino County in the California Senate or the four incumbent Republicans representing San Bernardino County in the California Assembly.
When party higher ups were queried during the August 11 meeting as to why the county party was committing to concentrating its financial firepower on assisting politicians outside the county, no reason was given. No answers
Central committees are allowed to raise money and support political candidates and are not subject to strict limitations as are individuals and corporations and enjoy even fewer restrictions than political action committees, which as collectives, have fewer restrictions than individual donors.
In this case the central committee, prompted to the action by its leadership, is on a trajectory to provide funding to the campaigns of two particular state senators. The action taken by a majority vote of the central committee was to endorse Tony Strickland and Roger Niello, both of whom are individuals of uncommon substance and gravitas with dynamic political backgrounds that have pushed them to the front of the Republican Party in a state dominated by Democrats.
Strickland is a prolific lobbyist and political consultant. Niello is a fabulously wealthy entrepreneur with an expertise and considerable reach in financing. Consequently, there is a perception among members of the San Bernardino County Central Committee that the so-far exclusive arrangements to have the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee back them is part of a quid pro quo involving the central committee’s chairman, Phil Cothran Sr, that might prove problematic for the central committee down the road if the actual terms of the trade-off, which are currently unknown, are revealed and become subject to wider scrutiny. Cothran in the past has utilized his control over the party apparatus to selectively fund campaigns that were not always in line with what a substantial number or, in some case, what a majority of the central committee’s members, favored.
Speculation is rampant at present as to what Cothran is seeking in return for the endorsements and pledging of money to Strickland and Niello.
Some central committee members suggested that what Cothran might be up to is a stroke of political genius. One benefit of the action taken by the central committee at its September 11 meeting, some suggested, was that Cothran might be securing the services of Strickland’s political machine, which includes his Strong America organization, a super political action committee, of which he is president and CEO, to assist a whole host of San Bernardino County’s Republican candidates. Cothran might also, some hoped, have been arranging for Niello, whose company, the Niello Company operates multiple dealerships that specialize in high end brands such as Audi, Acura, Jaguar and Porsche, to open his checkbook in the future to the campaigns of San Bernardino County’s Republican incumbent officeholders and hopefuls.
There was a countervailing view, nonetheless, that the endorsement of two particular candidates, in particular ones who are not voted upon by San Bernardino County voters and who do not represent San Bernardino County, was a misuse of the central committee’s authority and discretion. Some suggested that the deal was one that was worked out by Cothran for his personal benefit or to advance the fortunes of an isolated set or subset of politicians, including incumbents or hopefuls, he is on good terms with but who are not necessarily favored by the central committee as a whole or officially. There was suspicion among some that the endorsement was part of a quid pro quo, the details of which Cothran and his closely-knit group of supporters were knowledgeable about but which was being kept from the committee’s membership. They wondered out loud why the central committee was not simply endorsing all of the incumbent Republicans holding state office throughout California or, in the alternative, extending an invitation to those Republicans inclined to address the central committee to assess their positions and vote on whether to endorse them and actively support their candidacies, be they for election or reelection. Some expressed approval of both Strickland and Niello, but questioned by the committee was limiting its endorsement to just them.
A handful of those critical of the proposal by Higgins and Lopez expressed concern that the way in which the endorsement was being limited to Strickland and Niello raised a red flag, indicating that some hidden incentive was buried in the arrangement for the endorsement. Taken together with Strickland’s long-established reputation for political horsetrading and the multiple examples of Cothran’s wheeling and dealing that have proven beneficial to his enclave of political associates and to the detriment of others, including Republicans who were vying for local or state office that were denied GOP support on Cothran’s say-so alone, some central committee members expressed the belief that the secrecy/lack of transparency over the motive meant there was certainly something ethically questionable about the endorsements and that the deals in question might have involved something legally questionable as well. This was exacerbated, the Sentinel was told, when Cothran, Higgins and Lopez would not answer questions that were directly posed to them at the Thursday night, September 11 committee meeting about why local Republican incumbents were not being endorsed.
Those central committee members, speaking with the Sentinel, said they were concerned that a revelation of the details behind the endorsement arrangement could unmask “an outright quid pro quo or quid pro quos” that would capture the interest of the California Fair Political Practices Commission or perhaps the California Attorney General’s Offices. “If something like that happens, this could result in fines or penalties for the central committee and the individuals involved. “Look,” said one member of the central committee, “I have nothing against Tony [Strickland]. I admire him. I think the world of what he has done in promoting Republican candidates with his super PAC. Roger [Niello] is exactly what we need in Sacramento. I wish we had a dozen just like him. But neither one of them is in our county. Roger’s district is more than 350 miles away. Our focus has to be on local Republicans. If we want to consider all of the incumbent Republican assembly members and senators, maybe invite them in for interviews and vote on whether to endorse them, there is no reason we can’t do that. But our focus should be here in .San Bernardino County and I don’t get why we are concentrating our firepower for two people who aren’t representing any of the voters where we live and ignoring the eight Republicans we have in the state legislature and the members of our party who have a chance to beat the six Democrats from this county who are in Sacramento as we are speaking. When some of us asked why we are supporting these two particular candidates and aren’t helping our county’s standard bearers, we didn’t get an answer.”
The committee member said, “What it looks like is Phil [Cothran], who is a deal-maker, made some kind of handshake deal where we are to use the county party to give him [Strickland] $100,000 to stay in office and what he will get back is some assistance from Strong America for some of Phil’s handpicked candidates. There is no indication of who those candidates are going to be. There is no assurance they will be candidates the whole central committee will get behind.”
The central committee member noted that in the past, Cothran had supported certain Republican candidates over other Republican candidates during primary seasons and had also made deals where members of the Republican Central Committee had sided with Democratic candidates over Republican candidates, including ones in which members of the Republican Central Committee profited professionally by offering services or assistants to Democratic candidates.
“My guess is that what we saw last night was Phil making good on a promise or promises that were made during a cocktail conversation that took place during the last party convention,” one of the central committee members said. “This looks like a shady quid pro quo on the face of it. Someone promised party money in return for something is the only way you can interpret this.
If it turned out that someone in the San Bernardino County Central Committee has a business relationship with Strong America or any of the consultancies Strickland controls “that could get the [California] Fair Political Practices Commission involved,” the central committee member said.
If the FPPC starts handing out fines, the central committee member said, “It will scare the hell out of the donors we have and inhibit out ability to raise money in the future. That we are consistently able to outraise the Democrats in this county is or one big advantage. These kind of deals where members of our own party are questioning what we’re doing and why make me very nervous.”
That Higgins, who was designated by Cothran to serve as the committee’s finance chairman, and Lopez, who is Cothran’s designee as the central committee’s parliamentarian, led the charge in proposing the endorsements of Strickland and Niello, is a clear indication that the move originated with Cothran, central committee members told the Sentinel.
Beginning early today, Friday, September 12, the Sentinel made intensive efforts to obtain statements from Cothran, Higgins and Lopez, but was unable to get them to respond.
While San Bernardino County has remained a bastion of Republicanism in Democratic-dominated California, some central committee members question whether that is a function of Cothran’s leadership. He has been central committee chairman since 2021.
“Spending party money to promote Republicans in safe seats is not a brilliant strategy,” one central committee member said. “That money would be better spent in promoting Republicans in tight races, maybe even marginal races, where we have a chance of dislodging Democrats and have a chance to end the Democratic supermajority in the state legislature.”
We need to put the money we have where it is going to do the most good, inspire the grass roots, those on our side of the political divide to donate time and money and talent to advance the party.”