January 14th 2013.
On January 31 2013, the State Committee once again will
vote to elect a third State Chair in a since 2009. Save a few bright spots, the
MA-GOP has suffered consistent electoral defeats and shrinking party
registration for decades. Hence we find ourselves at an important crossroad.
The single most pressing question for the State Committee
is whether or not to continue the same old failed policies that allows one high
profile candidate at the top of the ticket to install his or her person as
Chairman of the State Party.
It is the opinion of the Watertown Republican Committee
that we must abandon the aforementioned policy. The MA-GOP can ill afford to
direct virtually all our resources on one candidate, while neglecting the much
needed party building efforts. Rather, we need an independent Chairman
who is truly committed to rebuilding the party infrastructure from the bottom
up. We need a Chair that understands his or her role is not dictate policy according
to his or her personal convictions. Instead the Chair must allow the State
Committee and State Convention to decide the platform. He or she must lead,
seeking to resolve disagreements and unify the party by building consensus, not
by imposing his or her will.
There are now two remaining viable candidates that have
announced for the position of MA-GOP Chair. Both are talking about the
importance of building the grassroots. However, only one of them has real
credibility on the issue.
Rick Green is a successful businessman. He represents the
American success story. He built his $70 million, 100+ employee business from
nothing in the most challenging Massachusetts regulatory and fiscal
environment. In addition Rick has a proven track record of commitment to the
grassroots. In the Spring of 2012 he founded the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance,
which raised $250,000 for local candidates. This figure rivals the MA-GOP’s
effort.
Rick is a fresh face and will provide the much needed
independent leadership. He has widespread grassroots support from Republicans
of all ideological persuasions. Likewise he’s supported by conservative,
moderate, and liberal members of the State Committee. Most importantly, Rick
will not be indebted to or controlled by one particular candidate who will
expect him to do only his bidding as Chair.
Rick Green is committed to making the structural changes
needed to build a MA-GOP apparatus and farm team that can compete with the
opposition party and the special interests that support them. This includes
making an investment in technology necessary to mine, store and share data.
This is also crucial to equip local committees and campaigns to their job
properly. Likewise Rick understands that we need people to build a grassroots
army of foot soldiers. He will require and empower Regional Chairs, State
Committee members, and Local Committee Chairs to build local committees,
cooperate with friendly organizations in order to recruit solid candidates for
every level of government.
Rick also recognizes that for a ticket to be successful, we
do need strong candidates at the top. Therefore he’s equally dedicated to
giving the proper amount of resources to recruiting and supporting strong
candidates, who will work for themselves and down ticket candidates.
Therefore, we the duly elected members of The
Watertown Republican Town Committee enthusiastically and unanimously
endorse Rick Green for the office of MA-GOP Chairman. We
further encourage Steven Aylward and Elizabeth Mahoney our State Committee representatives
and Rachel Kemp our Regional Chair to vote for Rick Green for MA-GOP Chairman
on January 31st
