Paula Whitsell succeeded Tony Krvaric as San Diego County Republican Party chair three years ago. Monday night, she left.
Her Facebook and X bios have been updated to say she’s past chairwoman of the local GOP. She didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Tuesday, former Congress candidate Corey Gustafson told KUSI in an interview that he would be replacing Whitsell after a unanimous vote by the party’s governing body Monday night.
La Prensa San Diego was first to report, on X, that the Chula Vista resident quit amid controversy over her effort to rescind the party’s endorsement of Andrew Hayes and hand its backing to Assembly rival Carl DeMaio.
“Full party tonight voted to keep Hayes endorsement into [November] election,” La Prensa posted.
Whitsell, 70, tried to hold a Zoom meeting last week of her governing Central Committee, Hayes told Times of San Diego that Thursday night.
“There was no meeting due to a lack of quorum,” he said.
That morning, Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey sent email to fellow Central Committee members — excerpted on San Diego Rostra.
Bailey blasted Whitsell for “abusing her power as chair to circumvent Party rules and past precedent to steal the 75th Assembly District Endorsement from Andrew Hayes.”
He concluded: “I have considered Paula a friend for years and appreciate her service to the Party, but her recent actions undermine the integrity of the Party. We are either a Party of rules or we are not.”
Bailey said the meeting on Zoom was a violation of committee bylaws and her move to consider her “previously defeated motion” to change endorsement was another violation.
“This is not about Carl or Andrew,” he wrote. “I have supported, endorsed and donated to both candidates over the years. This is about the rules that govern our Party. Rules that our Chairwoman is ignoring/abusing to overturn the will of 2/3+ of the Republican Central Committee members to strip Andrew Hayes of the endorsement.
“It is wrong and it needs to stop.”
Krvaric, who also had GOP critics, led county Republicans for 14 years. When he named Whitsell as his successor, he was berated by some for breaking party rules.
Tuesday morning, Hayes wrote me to confirm that Whitsell had resigned.
“I’m grateful for Paula’s service to the party and I look forward to working with the new Chairman,” Hayes said. “I’m proud to be endorsed by the Republican Party of San Diego because they know I’m the only candidate in the race who is endorsed by the police and firefighters who keep our communities safe, I have a proven track record of defeating tax increases, and I will work to secure our border to stop the flow of fentanyl into San Diego County.”
In a press release Tuesday, Gustafson said: “Andrew Hayes is the Republican Party of San Diego County’s only official endorsed candidate for State Assembly because he will stand for Republican values.”
Updated at 10:13 a.m. April 9, 2024