Political science junior seeks College Republican chair

 by Joseph N. Hermiz
 published on Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Matt Wharton

With the elections for the Arizona Federation of College Republicans on April 12, ASU West political science junior Matt Wharton will be seeking the College Republican chairman position.

Wharton said that he would be taking over an organization that has had some affiliates fade away in recent years due to the "leave it be" policy of the federation.

For better or worse, the federation has taken a more hands-off approach with College Republican chapters, giving them more freedom, but in turn, more self-responsibility, Wharton said. But, he has stated, as chairman, that he would examine each chapter individually and emphasize each of their strengths and work to minimize their weaknesses.

"One of my first projects will be to install a text-message system at each chapter where the system sends out a text message to each member reminding them of meetings/events three hours or so beforehand," Wharton said.

"Another one of my objectives is to create a state-wide magazine with articles from College Republicans," he added. "I would also like to allow Legislative districts, clubs and candidates to advertise and print information about meetings, events, fundraisers, et cetera."

Wharton said that he would, most importantly accentuate focus on each chapter creation at colleges around the state. By tackling the leadership of new College Republican chapters, Wharton said that he will avoid the problem of leaders who have graduated without efficiently preparing younger members to take over — which is what Wharton attributes to the shutting down of the College Republican chapter at ASU West last year.

Wharton revitalized the West Campus chapter and currently sits as its president. Stan Ackroyd, ASU West College Republican administrative advisor and political science professor, said the West Campus' chapter boasts the largest membership list in the state at 178 people, which he says is the highest number of members that any other Arizona College Republican chapter.

"I am going to talk to conservative faculty at the various colleges and encourage them to hand-pick students that they think will be competent in running the club," Wharton said. "Knowing my professor felt I was good enough to lead the club made me work harder in order to prove him right."

Individual College Republican chapter elections will be taking place through April 12, with the culminating event at the State Convention on April 19, in Tucson.

The election process works as follows: Each chapter has its own elections, and the winners receive all of the delegates from that chapter at the convention. Each delegate is worth 15 qualified proxy votes. The candidate with the most votes wins.

Noelle Beydoun, a psychology freshman, said that she has high hopes for Wharton's performance if elected as chairman. Beydoun, who is not a College Republican member, met Wharton while he was tabling on campus.

"[Wharton] certainly represents the youth movement in politics that has lacked for several decades," Beydoun said.

Reach the reporter at: joseph.hermiz@asu.edu.