Candidates can attend political campaign workshop geared for conservatives
Lehigh County GOP-coordinated event held same day as League of Women Voters candidate seminar
The Lehigh County Republican Committee has upped the political ante by partnering with a prominent national conservative group to offer a daylong seminar for local candidates.
The Leadership Institute, headquartered in Arlington, Va., will present a campaign workshop 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Allentown Lehigh Valley, Breinigsville.
This is a new event arranged by the Lehigh County GOP committee, said Joe Vichot, GOP chairman for two years.
“Every year we’re always just searching for new candidates,” he said. “Candidates are basically on their own trying to figure out how to run a campaign.”
This year, candidates will vie for elected positions in county, township and borough governments, in the judiciary and on school boards.
Vichot said the workshop will provide valuable information to anyone interested in seeking office. Topics include developing a campaign strategy, spreading the message and enlisting volunteers. He added that the workshop is open to any candidate, regardless of party affiliation, although the message will come from a conservative perspective.
Registration is open to candidates from Lehigh County and surrounding areas. It costs $25 to attend the event, which includes lunch. A schedule and registration information are available at The Leadership Institute website.
The event is on the same day as the League of Women Voters Lehigh County candidate forum. Its “Running for Local Office Workshop” will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon at Penn State Lehigh Valley, Center Valley.
In an email last month promoting the Leadership Institute program, county Republican committee communications manager Marjulee Colon compared the GOP event to the League’s workshop.
“What makes ours different is that it is catering to a conservative audience. As a first-time candidate in 2021, I did attend the LWV workshop which is $40 and only a fraction of the time. Needless to say, I felt isolated, unheard and unprepared for the journey that lied ahead of me,” she wrote. Colon lost the Lehigh County commissioner District 4 election that year.
Asked for a response, the League said in a statement: “The League of Women Voters has been holding our workshop biannually, for the last 20 years. We are proud of the fact that this is a totally bipartisan event that is not conducted with any particular political slant. …. We deal in only the facts that candidates need to know, and those who have attended have had nothing but good things to say about their experiences.
“It is puzzling that a comment about feeling ‘isolated’ was made about the 2021 workshop, as that year, we conducted only a virtual workshop because of Covid which was open to all candidates of every party. We had attendees submit surveys at the end of the event and never heard such a complaint.”
For its workshop this year, the League has several speakers, including Democrats and Republicans. One speaker is Republican Lehigh County Commissioner Ron Beitler, who, the League noted, recently commented on his Facebook page about attending its workshop when he became involved in local politics: “Anyone interested in running for elected office, whether local or something else should check this out.”
The keynote speaker is state Rep. Malcom Kenyatta, a Philadelphia Democrat who was recently reelected to the 181st District and ran unsuccessfully in the May primary for U.S. Senate.
The cost is $40 and includes a continental breakfast, coffee bar and a 100-page handbook on running for office in 2023. Register online at the League of Women Voters Lehigh County website. People who don’t register can still attend by showing up Saturday morning.
The Leadership Institute, a nonprofit educational organization founded in 1979, raised about $30 million in 2021, according to its latest IRS filing available on its website. It presents workshops and seminars on its campus and throughout the country.
The Lehigh Valley event will be led by Charlie O’Neill, who previously served as deputy executive director for the Republican Party of Pennsylvania and also held other positions in state government.