Convention 2014

Rules Committee (0.00 / 0)

The actual convention questions should be covered by the 2014 Rules Committee and the very rules that they issue, and be approved by the State Committee.  I'm sure a 2010 copy is floating around the Internet somewhere.  I served on that committee then but my memory of the fine details is a little hazy over the past 3-4 years.  Neither the Rules Committee nor the other 2014 Convention committees have yet been established.

If I recall correctly, the fee you reference is a sliding scale depending upon the statewide office sought.  If you'll recall, Christy Mihos had issues paying the $12,500 fee on time and in a proper manner in 2010.  The Convention is practically designed to be a money making event for the MassGOP.

The MassGOP Candidates Committee does reach out & avail itself to local candidates for recruitment, information, and such.  The legal requirements are always available from the Secretary of State's office and the financial limitations are available from the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.  I'm currently a member of this committee & we're having our first meeting of the post-Election Day 2012 era later this week.  

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by: BNCordeiro @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 17:04:21 PM UTC

Thank you for the information but... (0.00 / 0)

You are a wealth of information.... but others are not.  You have pointed me in the correct directions.... should we at least have a check list for someone looking to run ... like points to consider.

I was not aware of the sliding scale.  And will try to pull some general information to post.  I would like to see us as a party to be so much more helpful when is comes to helping people run.

All I hear is that we have a lack of quality candidates.  Guess what people quality people usually have busy lives and if we could make running a little easier with a fact sheet with links to places for information we would go a long way to get quality people.

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by: Millie @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 17:11:16 PM UTC

Campaigns Aren't Easy (0.00 / 0)

Millie

Excellent post and the is of a checklist is spot on.

I do wish to point out one aspect of your comment that is interesting:

All I hear is that we have a lack of quality candidates.  Guess what people quality people usually have busy lives and if we could make running a little easier with a fact sheet with links to places for information we would go a long way to get quality people.

I agree with the idea that we should make checklists and provide information in a mor easily accessible format than calling Nate, but anyone running for office needs to be aware of the all consuming effect it will have on your life.  Gone are your weekends, evenings and most other free time.  Like to watch football on Sunday, nope, you're out campaigning.  Like an evening at home watching TV, mostly nope, you're at events, forums, etc working to meet voters and when you are home you're writing thank you notes for contributions, yard sign placements, for hosting an event and then you are working on what you will say at the next event.

So yes, we can make it a little easier, but we should not give the impression that running for office is easy.  I know you know this, but we want to make sure al our candidates do too.

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by: ConsEph @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 17:55:10 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I agree (5.00 / 1)

I have been at may local events where people are actually talking down a candidate and making the comment he is not a quality candidate.

I just think that most people know that running is not easy and very time consuming.

There are so many pitfalls to running that I think we need to help with as much information as possible.

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by: Millie @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 18:50:15 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Each Candidate (0.00 / 0)

Each candidate, or potential candidate, is assigned a Candidates Committee member to help shepherd them through the process along with their own State Committee members.

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by: BNCordeiro @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 20:15:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

MA GOP (0.00 / 0)

http://www.massgop.com/run-for...

This link only says to Contact Nate Littlefield.

Who is a great guy.  But if I am in the I'm thinking about this status.  I want some information to look over.

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by: Millie @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 17:22:03 PM UTC

Candidates Committee (0.00 / 0)

Nate is likely to refer any potential candidate to one of three people:

1) Luke Noble, chairman of the Candidates Committee

2) The prospective candidates' State Committee members

Luke may then refer a potential candidate to #2 and/or a more local member of the Candidates Committee.

Ideally, any person interested in seeking higher office should reach out to their State Committee members.

As far as candidate information, the Elections Division of the Secretary of State's office produces this for every state election cycle: A Candidate's Guide to the 2012 State Election

However, regarding a checklist or other easy to reference info I'll mention that to Luke & the other Candidates Committee members at our meeting on Tuesday evening.

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by: BNCordeiro @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 20:13:28 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Municipal Races? (0.00 / 0)

Brock,

Does this apply also for municipal races or is this process only for the State Representative and higher races?

Thanks

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by: ConsEph @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 20:26:44 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Legislative (0.00 / 0)

The municipal races are really the main function of the town/ward & city committees.  There are 351 municipalities and it's crucial we develop effective local committees.  The State Committee really focuses on state legislative races and that's why we often get gripes from even Congressional candidates who feel that they're not getting State Party attention (or funds).  Really, that's the National Republican Congressional Committee's sandbox.

That's not to say that we don't try to keep an eye on rising stars and promising areas and assist when able, and requested.  In the cities, where the elections are in November, the Candidates Committee may have a bit more ability to assist than we will in the April town elections where the papers came out within the past two weeks and are due back in about another two weeks or so.    

This is my opinion, only, but the party works largely on the principle of subsidiarity and that is the level of authority closest to the people is the most appropriate.  We can't look to the top for all the answers but rather look in the mirror and let the good ideas and best people percolate on up.  However, it all comes back to the individual State Committee members working together in their districts with their town/ward & city committees.  That's where everything starts, at the grassroots level with our local activity.  

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by: BNCordeiro @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 21:01:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

town / city/ ward committees (0.00 / 0)

Some of the younger committees may not have a clue how to help?  So that may be where MA Gop needs to start.  GOP Sue puts together a great boot camp, that is a good start but we should come up with a training that the Chairs or the appointed person in a committee can attend so that we can be a help and not a hinderence.  

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by: Millie @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 21:17:28 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

State Committee Members (0.00 / 0)

That is why you have State Committee members who should be a resource.  

Also, we've had randomly established Municipal Committee/Grassroots training.  I recall probably two within the past ten years.  

We tend to hold multiple candidate training sessions every cycle and GOPSue does her boot camps in conjunction with HQ.  Every Chair, and I maintain every activist - including State Committee members - should attend.

I'm not sure what you're looking for as you admit that there are these boot camps but then you want people to attend them.  I agree, we need much more attendance at these events and we need more of them (hey Sue, got your calendar ready?!)

I'm also a firm believer that we should have specific training for State Committee members, specially as a group right after post-Presidential Primary period so that the newly elected can learn and the long-timers can refresh and perhaps learn anew.

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by: BNCordeiro @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 21:57:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Link from State Attorney General (5.00 / 1)

http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele...

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by: Millie @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 17:26:35 PM UTC

Beat me to it (0.00 / 0)

I see you already found the document that I just referenced.  :)  

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by: BNCordeiro @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 20:14:33 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

as always (0.00 / 0)

you are a wealth of information..... but not all state committee people are the same.

some people are just going thru the motions and that is a shame.

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by: Millie @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 20:56:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thank you (0.00 / 0)

I never claim to be an authority, and I'll always stand to be corrected when I err, but I do try to be an accessible conduit of information to our grassroots from headquarters and from the local activists back up to those calling the shots at Merrimac Street in Boston.

Whether I'm hated or loved, and irregardless of whether or not I'm respected, my thought is is simply that I'm not here to only sit back and mark time.  Trust me, there aren't exactly very many, if any, perks to this elective office.  It's certainly not enriching me, but rather cost money.  At the end of the term, it should be a labor of love of electing our candidates so that they can take our conservative principles and enact them as policy for the public good.  In that effort we should always strive, even if we occasionally fall short of our goal, to be servant leaders.  We may have sincere, and hopefully respectful, differences of opinion but, after all, we are elected and we are elected by our constituents in our district.  We're to use our prudential judgement but when its all said and done we've got to do our utmost to leave the party in a far better shape then we found it.  

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by: BNCordeiro @ Sun Jan 20, 2013 at 21:06:44 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

soooo (0.00 / 0)

So how does the State Committee make sure that people are actually helping in their districts and not just getting elected and doing nothing?

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by: Millie @ Tue Jan 22, 2013 at 23:19:15 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

There is no way (0.00 / 0)

There is no way for the State Committee "to make sure that people are actually helping in their districts and not just getting elected and doing nothing".  There is no MassGOP Police.

There are only two things to try to check that tendency: the guilt of moral persuasion & the quadrennial re-election.

Back when I was the chairman of the Public Relations Standing Committee we had a program to recruit letter to the editor writers and well, I can probably count on one hand, definitely less than two, the number of my colleagues that stepped up with to fulfill, even if partially, the goal of finding 5 volunteers.  It was utterly frustrating to make repeated calls, both by myself & our then Communications Director, only to have the requests fall upon deaf ears & the entire program crumble.

If the State Committee members aren't doing their duty, all 80 of us are up for re-election every 4 years.  I know I'm far from perfect but I try my best and keep trying.  I won't claim I'm successful or "good enough" but I'm here and I'm doing what I can to the most of my ability.  I hope I don't need the MassGOP Police.  :)  

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by: BNCordeiro @ Wed Jan 23, 2013 at 00:30:31 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Regional Chairs (0.00 / 0)

Brock,

I am not entirely clear on the role of the regional chairs.  Why wouldn't working with all the SC members in their region to see that they are working towards helping get republicans elected at all levels of government.

Relying on people who do not know the inner workings of the SC to have well informed votes is fraught with error.  Just look at the last election when we had two SC members win elections after they had withdrawn from the race but their names remained on the ballot.  Nothing against the winners in this instance as they played by the rules, but it shows that the state Party needs to put more information out there for all of us to judge your performance.  One simple item would be to have an updated website with the proper names in the proper districts with attendance statistics for all SC meetings.  Ad how about a bylaw change, if a SC member misses Faroe that 50% of the meetings during their term, unless hospitalized, then they are Ineligible to serve in the next term.

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by: ConsEph @ Wed Jan 23, 2013 at 02:25:29 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Probably not clearing it up (0.00 / 0)

I do maintain my own website, www.MassGOPRegion5.com, as my personal attempt to make the my 15 colleagues & I around here accessible to our Republicans.  Attendance is kept by the Secretary but I don't recall seeing any spreadsheet of that information.  I know that I've missed 1 State Committee meeting since March 2007.  Unfortunately, I didn't have my calendar with me when I booked a cruise while already aboard a cruise ship in Alaska.

I've put forward various permutations of an attendance bylaw but the problem is that State Committee members are elected and as such cannot simply be tossed aside, even if they miss every meeting.  I can think of colleagues who have only attended one or two meetings in their entire 2-term tenure to date.  Except for a felony, we cannot expel anyone according to our bylaws & that was only accepted after much discussion and debate.  State law basically calls the shots here.  I've suggested a system of excuses & unexcused absences (which other organizations do), for example.

As far as Regional Chairmen go, I've served as one for about 3 years now.  Per the Bylaws, we're mostly there in a weak authority to try to facilitate administration and mostly have a role when things go wrong in district.  Practically, I try to hold Regional Meetings with my 16 colleagues to try to get on the same page, share best (and worst) practices, and collaborate.  I heavily gear it towards developing our local committees.  To that end, the attendance at the ones I've called have been rather low.  Ideally, I'd like to have  semiannual meetings with conference calls filling in for the missing quarters but practically, the interest hasn't been there so the last meeting was just before Maginn became chair.  That said, I do try to maintain as open lines of communication as possible and hopefully, once we have the new chair settled in - whoever it is - we can have a regional meeting them that individual and the 16 of us so that we can get a good flow of information up & down.  

Practically speaking, the biggest "role" of the Region Chair is to issue the regional reports at our quarterly meetings but it should be much better utilized and I think that the regional structure could enhance our organizational strength if more fully embraced, and not only as a layer that is charged to get involved when there are problems.  

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by: BNCordeiro @ Wed Jan 23, 2013 at 02:43:29 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

GOP Sue who ??? (5.00 / 1)

Thanks for the shout outs above and YES we will gladly do more free "MassGOP Boot Camps for City/Town Republican Committees" if the new MassGOP Chair should want us to continue. Over the past 5 years over 3000 Republicans from Cape Cod to North of Boston to Pittsfield have attending a 6 hour training. With the MassGOP support everyone attending gets a take home book (over 130 pages) and a free lunch!

Both Howard and I volunteer the hours of traveling and training which we will gladly continue if asked. Over the past few months we have already has some StateCommittee men/women request a training for their area. So yes once the dust settles after this month's election we hope to roll out the Spring and Summer MassGOP Committee training's!  

"Together we are the GOP team"

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by: GopSue @ Tue Jan 22, 2013 at 23:47:48 PM UTC