 YR
Big Party Weekend
Midwest
Young Republican Grassroots & Leadership Conference
Thank
you to all that made the Big Party Weekend a success!
Donations are still being accepted to pay down the debt for
the event, so please feel free to contribute!
»
PDF EVENT FLYER
»
MAKE HOTEL RESERVATIONS
» SPEAKERS BIOGRAPHY INFORMATION
» TENTATIVE
AGENDA
Join Young Republicans from
across the Midwest as we meet with and learn from Republican
leaders who have been winning races and building winning organizations
across the country for decades. Open to Republicans of ALL
AGES!
FRIDAY NIGHT FUNDRAISER
Friday night meet and greet reception with Missouri Senate
President Pro Tem Michael
Gibbons includes open bar with good locally brewed Anheuser-Busch
products and hordeurves and party pics. 5 PM – 7 PM
at the Sheraton Westport.
Presidential Sponsor
$1000
Governor Sponsor $500
Pro Tem Sponsor $250
Speaker Sponsor $100
Dues Paying Young Republican $25
SATURDAY TRAINING
Saturday grassroots and campaign training with Presidential
Fundraiser Jack
Oliver from Missouri; Sherri Lee Norris, President of
Victory Funds, Inc; Rodney Davis, Programs Director for Congressman
John Shimkus of Illinois; Roman Buhler of Roman Buhler &
Associates; Mark Abernathy from California; John Yob from
Michigan and more. Begins at 9 AM, concludes around 4 PM,
and includes light food and drinks available all day.
Saturday Training
$34.00
SATURDAY DINNER
Saturday Dinner: Dine with Republicans from across the country
as we conclude the weekends festivities with several nationally
known speakers* in a casual dinner setting.
Dinner Registration
$49.00
SPEAKERS
BIOGRAPHY INFORMATION
» Senator Michael Gibbons
» Jack L. Oliver III
» Mark Abernathy
» Sheri Lee Norris
» John Patrick Yob
» Rodney Davis
» Additional Speakers
Senator Michael
R. Gibbons
Missouri Senate President Pro Tem
Senator Michael Gibbons was elected unanimously
by his colleagues to serve as President Pro Tem of the Missouri
Senate for the 93rd General Assembly. A Republican from Kirkwood,
he represents the 15th Senatorial District which includes
the area along I-44 from the St. Louis City limits to just
west of Fenton.
Senator Gibbons was elected to his second term in 2004. He
was first elected to the Senate in 2000, after serving eight
years as a state representative. He served as Chairman of
the Senate Ways and Means Committee his first two years, then
as Majority Floor Leader for two years, before taking on the
role of President Pro Tem.
His legislative accomplishments include creating the Safe
Places for Newborns Act that lets young, vulnerable parents
leave their newborn at a hospital or with an emergency worker
without facing prosecution. Gibbons also reformed the property
tax re-assessment process by outlawing drive-by inspections.
In 2004, he created the Comprehensive Children’s Mental
Health System that keeps families together while providing
children with much needed mental health services.
In his first year as pro tem, the Senate passed legislation
focused on protecting children, preserving and creating jobs
and saving taxpayers money. The Senate led the way on rewriting
the funding formula for Missouri’s public schools as
well as passing a budget that provides an additional $158
million for K-12 education without raising taxes. It also
tackled comprehensive workers’ compensation reform and
sweeping lawsuit reform protecting employees and keeping doctors
in Missouri. Other key measures the Senate passed include
legislation creating new tools to combat underage drinking,
and a measure that has cut meth production in Missouri by
half.
This year the Senate is dedicated to protecting the rights
of property owners as well as creating a new state healthcare
system that will make quality, affordable health care available
to the state’s most vulnerable citizens.
Besides his duties at the capitol, Sen. Gibbons
practices law at Stinson, Morrison Hecker LLP in St. Louis.
He lives in Kirkwood with his wife, Liz, and daughter, Meredith.
Their son Danny, graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia
in 2005 and works in Baltimore.
Sen. Gibbons was born and raised in Kirkwood, Missouri. He
graduated from Kirkwood High School in 1977. He then graduated
from Westminster College in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree
and later earned his Juris Doctorate from St. Louis University
School of Law in 1984. When he returned to Kirkwood he began
his career in public service when he was elected to the Kirkwood
City Council in 1986.
Sen. Gibbons is honored to serve as Pro Tem during this time
of great change. This is the first time in 84 years that Republicans
control both chambers of the legislature as well as the governor’s
office. By design, he has worked to shape the tone of the
Senate in his new leadership role by putting people before
politics.
Jack L. Oliver
III
Oliver serves as Chairman of Bryan Cave
Strategies LLC, a government relations subsidiary of Bryan
Cave LLP with headquarters in Missouri and Washington, DC.
A native Missourian, Oliver has worked at the highest levels
of national and Missouri politics as an advisor and strategist
for Bush-Cheney ’04, Bush for President, and Sens. Ashcroft,
Bond, Danforth and Talent. Described by Time magazine as “the
man largely responsible for what is being heralded as the
most formidable money machine in modern political history,”
Oliver most recently served as National Finance Vice-Chairman
for Bush-Cheney ’04 and Victory 2004 managing the campaign’s
$240 million national finance plan. Prior to that, Oliver
was Deputy Chairman of the Republican National Committee,
serving as chief operating officer and overseeing all day-to-day
operations of the 2002 effort resulting in historic Republican
mid-term gains in the House and Senate. Oliver served as National
Finance Director for then Governor George W. Bush’s
2000 presidential campaign and managed a fundraising effort
in the primary and general election that shattered all previous
presidential fundraising records.
Before joining the Bush campaign in 1999, Oliver served in
various political, financial and managerial roles in the campaigns
and government offices of Senator John Ashcroft, Senator John
Danforth, Senator Kit Bond, Congressman Jim Talent, Congressman
Bill Emerson and the Missouri Republican Party.
Oliver serves on the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, as
an Advisory Council member of the George Bush Presidential
Library at Texas A&M University, on the National Leadership
Council of Communities in Schools, the Robin Hood Foundation
Leadership Council, the E-Health Corporation Board of Directors,
and as an Advisory Board Member for the Legacy Partners Group.
Oliver was raised in Cape Girardeau and St. Louis, MO. He
received a bachelor’s degree in political science from
Vanderbilt University in 1991 and a law degree from the University
of Missouri at Columbia in 1998. He and his wife Rachel are
the proud parents of their daughter Kate. The Oliver’s
reside in Missouri.
Mark Abernathy
Mark Abernathy is the President of Western
Pacific Research, Inc., a prominent Republican campaign consulting
firm based in Bakersfield, California. He is campaign consultant
for Congressman Bill Thomas (R-Bakersfield), Chairman of the
House Ways and Means Committee and to Congressman Devin Nunes
(R-Tipton), House Ways and Means Committee member and Assistant
GOP Whip. In addition, Abernathy is the consultant to CA State
Assembly Minority Leader and former YRNF Chairman (‘99-’01)
Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield). Abernathy also is the consultant
to several Kern County Supervisors, school board members and
Bakersfield City Council members, including Councilman and
YRNF Vice Chairman at Large, Zack Scrivner.
Abernathy is also the co-author of the Governor Gray Davis
Recall petition and campaign manager of the historic Davis
Recall in California that lead to the election of Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003. An expert in the field of voter
initiative drives, Abernathy authored Proposition 77, the
redistricting reform initiative, in 2005 and the newly filed
redistricting reform initiative, the Democracy Empowerment
Act, aimed at the November ’06 ballot.
Also experienced in Young Republican National Federation politics,
Abernathy is a former California Young Republicans National
Committeeman and was president of a former National Club of
the Year, the 450-member Fairlake YR club in Sacramento, CA.
Sheri Lee
Norris
President, Victory Funds, Inc.
Norris’ fundraising company specializes in Republican
congressional candidates. She has been raising money full
time from her Texas office exclusively for l0 years, telecommuting
and traveling throughout the county as necessary - raising
approximately $2 million per year for various clients. Current
clients include Ways & Means Chairman Bill Thomas and
Congressman Dan Lungren. Norris got her political start as
president of the College Republicans at USC in Los Angeles
and then served as California state youth director for Bush-Quayle
’88. She was appointed by Gov. Deukmejian to two consecutive
terms as a commissioner on the California Student Aid Commission
while she was still in college. Norris worked as press secretary
in the Capitol Hill office of Congressman Bill Thomas for
seven years prior to moving to Texas. She holds a master’s
degree in international relations and a dual bachelor’s
degree in political science and international relations.
John Patrick
Yob
John Patrick Yob is a leading Republican
political consultant in Michigan with significant experience
in national politics. He has appeared in the Detroit News,
Detroit Free Press, and numerous national mediums including
USA Today and Inside Edition.
He started his political life in College
Republicans and rose to the position of Executive Director
and General Chairman of the College Republican National Committee
(CRNC). Former CRNC leaders include Karl Rove, Lee Atwater,
Grover Norquist, and Ralph Reed.
Yob was the lead consultant for Terri Lynn
Land’s successful race for Secretary of State of Michigan
in 2002 and assisted with Mike Cox’s 5200-vote margin
of victory the same year. Land won with a larger margin than
any other open seat victory in Michigan in fifty years. Yob
also handles media relations for John Ramsey, father of slain
beauty queen Jon Bene’t Ramsey.
Yob has owned a political polling company
since 2001 is currently a lead partner in Strategic National
Consulting, a firm with clients including Senator John McCain’s
Straight Talk Express, the Republican National Committee Member
Senate Fund, and numerous legislative clients.
John is 29 years old and lives in Grand Rapids,
Michigan.
Rodney Davis
Projects Director for Congressman Shimkus
since 1997, and Campaign Manager for successful reelection
campaigns of 1998, 2000, and 2002, when Shimkus ran against
another sitting member of Congress after the decennial redistricting
process.
Raised and still lives in Taylorville, Illinois
with his wife Shannon, who is a nurse, and his three children,
Toryn 9, and twin 5 year olds, Griffin & Clark.
Graduate of Taylorville High School and Millkin
University in Decatur, Illinois. While at Millikin he helped
to organize the first chapter of College Republicans, and
was an Illinois delegate to the 1993 YR Convention in Charleston,
West Virginia.
Worked for the State of Illinois directly
out of college, and was a candidate for the Illinois General
Assembly. Joined the staff of newly elected Congressman John
Shimkus in 1996.
Delegate to the recent Republican National
Convention in New York City where President Bush was officially
chosen as the Republican nominee.
Additional
Speakers:
Hon. Scott T. Rupp, 13th District, Missouri
House of Representatives
Tim Kolpien (NY), Co-Chairman, Young Republican National Federation
Zack Scrivner (CA), Vice Chairman at Large, Young Republican
National Federation
Glen Murphy (IN), Secretary, Young Republican National Federation
Tamara Baker (KS), Midwestern Region Vice Chairman, Young
Republican National Federation
Gus Wagner, State Chairman, Missouri Young Republicans
Monica Durrwachter, President, St. Louis Area Young Republicans
Roman Buhler (VA), President, Roman Buhler & Associates
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