By Steve Thompson, Chairman of the Butte County Republican Party
Friday Night’s Lincoln-Reagan Dinner, hosted by the Butte County Republican Party, was a huge success. As Chairman I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped make it such an outstanding event. Thanks to our volunteers who made it happen, to our guests, our sponsors, and to our guest of honor Lars Larson, whose presence truly took the event over the top. It was a sold out event, a packed auditorium, and an enthusiastic crowd ready to help bring conservative common sense back to our local, state, and federal government.
At the dinner we heard from some of our local conservative leaders like Assemblyman Dan Logue, Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, and Senator Doug LaMalfa. Representatives came from the offices of Congressman Wally Herger and Congressman Tom McClintock (they were both in Washington fighting to make cuts in our bloated federal budget). A lot of great stories about Ronald Reagan, whose birth of 100 years ago we celebrated, were shared by our distinguished leaders.
Our guests were entertained with a singing of the national anthem by Michael Severa, who in my opinion did a far better job than the celebrity picked to sing for the recent SuperBowl. Chico’s own Dino Corbin also did an outstanding job as the Master of Ceremonies. Our guests received the annual Chairman’s Report, with updates on our election activities and local victories we have achieved. Hearing that we have picked up Republican seats on nearly every city council, and a new 4-1 Republican majority on the Board of Supervisors, let them all know that Butte County is still Republican Country.
Several honorable mentions were made to people or groups who had really stood out the previous year. Perhaps most notable here was an Assembly Resolution for Supervisor Larry Wahl for his years of service on the Chico City Council, presented to him by Assemblyman Dan Logue. Post Scripts was also recognized by the party as our favorite information source, and Jack and Tina, you are very deserving for all that you do. My favorite city councilor, Angela Thompson, was also recognized for all the time she spent organizing the details of the dinner.
The event could not have succeeded without our incredible sponsors. Wentland Construction & Engineering, Diamond W Western Wear, Feather Falls Casino, The Diamond Hotel of Chico, Oroville Vision (Dr. Steve Rocchi), and Clean Flame of Oroville all helped make the event a financial success. I’m happy to say that this fundraiser was very successful, enough to put our local party strongly in the black, and enough to start paying for next year’s Republican Headquarters throughout Butte County.
Capping the evening was our guest of honor, Mr. Lars Larson. Larson is a conservative radio talk show host out of Oregon with over 2.5 million listeners. He spent the day in Chico with a live airing of his program out of the Hotel Diamond before coming to the dinner and giving a great speech to our guests. Despite having started his day before 6am, Larson then stayed until nearly 10pm so that every guest who wanted could get their picture with him or just chat and ask questions. He was a gracious guest and very down to earth. We were honored to have him, and he’s promised to come back again too.
I want to thank all of our guests one last time for attending and making the diner a success. Without all of you, we couldn’t operate as a county party. We couldn’t pay for Republican Headquarters or help out conservative campaigns. Your support gives us the resources, and the faith of your confidence, that truly keeps us all going and makes us proud to fight for our shared conservative principles.
Thank you all and God Bless.
Steve, My thanks to you and all those e volunteers for their generous support and a special thanks to those sponsors who made it financially possible. I hope you raised enough money to get the local party off and running, we’ve got a major presidential election coming up and we’ll need all the resources we can get.