(See you all tonight.
- promoted by Rob "EaBo Clipper" Eno)
For the past month, you may have noticed, on Red Mass Group, I've been pretty silent on most things politics. I've been focused on work, my day job. I've taken a breather from politics, which is one of the reasons it has taken me this long to come to an endorsement of a candidate for chair.
Let me first be clear that I truly believe that both candidates for Chair are exemplary individuals, and I'm convinced that both candidates would do a good job of shepherding our party, the Republican Party through the next two years. In an effort of full disclosure, both candidates have been clients of mine professionally through organizations they've run, or worked for.
There are good people supporting both candidates on both sides, many of whom I consider friends. Each person comes to their decision of which candidate to support for their own reasons, it is unfortunately the nature of these races that they sometimes get heated. I truly hope that at the end of the day we as a party come together to face our real foe, the Democratic Party.
It is my earnest belief that the way we will grow the Massachusetts Republican Party, and brand, is by focusing on local and state representative elections, as much as we focus on one or two marquee elections every cycle. The way we change the Commonwealth is through the legislature.
In 2010 we started on that path. In that election we doubled the number of seats we had in the house. These representatives have added new blood and energy to our party. The overwhelming majority of them have endorsed Rick Green. In addition Rick Green has the endorsement of a large portion of elected Republican local officials. These people, whom I trust, have helped, and form the future of the Republican Party have placed their trust in Rick Green. Including one, Ryan Fattman, who is running his campaign. I take their counsel wisely.
It is not just these people, it is also what Rick Green has accomplished as a businessman. Rick is someone who has built a thriving business in one of the toughest economic environments to do so, Massachusetts, from scratch. Rick has proven that he is able to lead an organization from the ground up, and grow it, in a difficult environment.
The last time that happened was when Ray Shamie led our party in Massachusetts. If you've read the bookTime for A Change: The Return of the Republican Party in Massachusetts by Ted Frier and Larry Overland, you know it is a book which outlines how Ray Shamie and his leadership led to the 1990 wins.
Shamie did it by growing the party apparatus, independent of any candidate. He fostered open and vibrant primaries, and provided an infrastructure for growth. Rick Green has done similar things in the past in his business and his plan for growing our party is very similar to that done by Shamie in the late 1980s. |
| In 2011 Rick saw an opening to make a difference in the dialog in Massachusetts. He reorganized an organization called Empower Massachusetts into the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance and grew the organization basically from the ground up. He brought in effective staff, and grew the organization into one of the largest and most influential, at least by press clippings, right-leaning issue organizations in the Commonwealth. They have added a needed voice to the debate against the liberal agenda in the Commonwealth.
Rick has also pledged to dedicate the next six years of his life to growing the pary as our chair. I was thrilled when Jennifer Nassour won her second election, as I thought we would finally have a chair, for the first time in a long time, that was going to serve for more than one term. John Walsh has taken six years to build the machine he's turned the Massachusetts Democratic Party into. We need a chair that will dedicate that same amount of time to grow our party.
There is a lot of talk about growing the base of the party. We had that opportunity last year during the caucuses for delegates to the national convention. During that summer the winners of caucuses were denied, through a changing of rules after the fact, their spots at the RNC. While a compromise was eventually reached, allowing some of the rejected delegates to attend, Rick Green was an outspoken member of the State Committee that said they should have all been seated. He has embraced the liberty movement, and their young, Republican, members. Many of whom are running for local office this spring.
For the reasons given above, if I had a vote tomorrow on the State Committee, I would cast my vote enthusiastically for Rick Green.
|
