After graduating from Brandeis, Abramoff ran for election as chairman of the College Republican National Committee (CRNC). After a campaign which cost over $11,000 and was managed by Grover Norquist, Abramoff won the election. His chief competitor, Amy Moritz was persuaded to drop out. (Later, as Amy Ridenour, she became a founding director of the National Center for Public Policy Research. She was treated to several trips funded by Jack Abramoff when he was working as a lobbyist.) Abramoff "changed the direction of the committee and made it more activist and conservative than ever before", notes the CRNC. "It is not our job to seek peaceful coexistence with the Left", Abramoff was quoted as saying in the group's 1983 annual report. "Our job is to remove them from power permanently."