Hand Grenades from the Peanut Gallery

Most people realize that I am often critical of the party apparatus, and have gone back and forth and back again on the Chairmanship of Jim Pelura. But one person who is certainly not helping things any is trial lawyer and perpetual quitter Dirk Haire:

"If I were chairman and we suffered the electoral losses that we just suffered and we were completely ineffective in critical party activities like party registration, then I believe it would be my duty to step down and let someone else have a chance to be more effective," said Dirk D. Haire, an Annapolis resident who practices law in Washington....

....And Haire, 41, who briefly tested the waters for a possible run for Anne Arundel County executive in 2006, isn't confident that Pelura can deliver on his pledge to prioritize voter registration in advance of 2010.

"I think Republicans have to honestly ask themselves how it is that somebody who has failed so significantly in this critical area in the past two years can achieve those objectives," he said. "It raises a question of credibility in my mind."

The last person the Republican Party needs to take advice from is Dirk Haire. Haire is a construction lawyer for the the firm of Holland and Knight, a predominately Democratic firm in Washington. Haire is more well known politically for the things he hasn't done than the things that he has done. Last night at the State Convention, somebody best described Dirk Haire as the "subject matter expert on being a quitter":

• In 2002, Haire announced his candidacy for Anne Arundel County Council in the 7th District. He raised $60,000 and then quietly quit from the race with little fanfare, returning his contributions to his contributors.
  
  
• In 2004, with much fanfare, Haire announced that he was running for Anne Arundel County Executive, indicating that he intended to raise a million dollars for the campaign. He quickly raised $250,000. predominantly from out of state developers. In May of 2005, he quit the race due to low polling numbers and endorsed John Leopold, saying that he "couldn't win without using negative tactics" despite using early push polling to promote his candidacy.
  
  
• He briefly was a candidate for State Party Chair in 2006, quickly removing himself from that race for reasons that were never explained.

So basically, with Dirk Haire you get a lot of flash and bang, but not actual results that helps with governance and building the Republican Party; he hasn't even donated to his local Central Committee in four years, for example, and has rarely been seen at Republican events. He shows up on an occasional fundraising host committee or two, but Dirk Haire has never taken an interest in party building or branding, so his criticisms of Pelura and his sudden interest in running for chair in 2010 seem disingenuous, at best. He has no credibility when it comes to these issues, and of course zero interest in perseverance, dedication, or actually finishing what he starts.

Considering that Haire is angling to be elected Party Chairman, take all of his criticisms and comments with a grain of salt....and start taking bets as to when he'll quit this race, too.