The Elly Report: Candidates Corner

2004 Candidate Survey: An Activist's Response 2

My 10 cents, for what it's worth, and maybe I'm talking to a completely different set of candidates because I live in Metro West now, but almost everyone I spoke with was incredibly impressed and grateful for the money, support, advice, staffers, etc. that they received from the state committee staff in Boston. I think they did a wonderful job. As for individual state committee members, in my particular senate district where I was working I had a very active state committee person, and an extremely inactive one. No one seemed to be actively working against us. But if state committee members and town committee members are working against GOP candidates they should be voted out.

In years past, the state committee wrote everyone a $3,000 check and sent them on their way with not much beyond that. It was a poor allocation of resources. It was a complete waste of money in my opinion, as the person with no chance in hell of winning got the same treatment as candidates with a real shot at it. Were they to return to that practice, I might consider not giving the state committee any money, because they would be spending it poorly, and I'm sure a lot of other people would feel the same way.

One thought on Mass to Maine, it was an effort organized by a state committeewoman, Christina Bain of Manchester by the Sea, who I know pretty well. She was offered a job on the Bush campaign up north, but couldn't leave the Lt. Governor's office to take it because of everything going on with state elections. She did Mass to Maine so she could still contribute to Bush because, like Desiree, she was really excited about working for Bush. I think maybe some north shore candidates were upset by it, and perhaps rightly so. I don't know because I don't know what kind of help they received from her when she wasn't organizing trips to Maine and helping the Lt. Gov. What I do know is that she's definitely done her part for the Republican party in general. She works very, very hard. Maybe those who are upset are skewing the results of this survey, if you can even call it a valid survey at all with a response rate of less than a third of the candidates. Obviously those with the biggest axe to grind are the most likely to respond.

One question: Did the Mass Republican Assembly donate to any candidates last year? If they are convinced the state committee isn't cutting it, they should be trying to help candidates raise their own money, and giving as many of them as they can the $500 max a PAC can give, as well as additional support. They should ask all the disgruntled candidates and activists to donate to them.

Again, just my 10 cents.