The Elly Report: Candidates Corner

2004 Candidate Survey: A Candidate's Response

by Steve Paige, West Boylston, MA

I wanted to take a minute of your time so that I could weigh into this debate to give you some perspective as a first time Republican candidate for State Senate. Understand that my comments are my perspective of the situation and I invite all of you to give me feedback.

As some of you know, I ran in the First Worcester Senate District against Harriette Chandler. I was, at the time, Chairman of the West Boylston School Committee. My political experience consisted of my local elections, which I had been fortunate enough to win two-three year terms over the course of six years. I have been elected Chair for three consecutive terms of my committee. However, nothing in my past could have prepared me for the rigors of the campaign that unfolded before me for this seat. To say that the group of candidates that ran in '04 was "green" for the task, may be an understatement, it certainly was in my case.

However, I had the good fortune of being a "targeted" race by the GOP. Now unfortunately, there were only 25 or so targeted races. I know that this was a bit controversial but it was felt that concentrating and coordinated efforts might be more successful if the Party "targeted" more resources on a smaller number of races. I know a good many candidates that weren't targeted and were somewhat unhappy with the situation of not receiving the attention from the GOP they felt they deserved. Certainly my perspective is skewed by having the attention from the party, but understand that also could be considered a double edge sword as the party needed support from me on issues that I felt, personally, were tough sell to the voters of my district. Was the strategy of having targeted races the best use of resources when so many were needy? One may argue that the number of targeted races should have been smaller and (say) less than 10 should have been targeted with the hope of getting those 10 through this round and getting more through on the next election cycle. Where the party may have made a mistake was hoping to turn the situation around in Boston in one election cycle. I think it is obvious to all of us now that it is going to take 2-5 election cycles to bring us back from the political imbalance we have now. Remember, as important as this fight is to all of us, the voters are the ones who have to see and react to our current imbalance. Until we wake up the electorate, we are going to continue to have the problems that plague our state at this time.

As to the specifics of my case, it was hoped, early on, that Senator Chandler was vulnerable for her seat, and that the "right" candidate on our side could win. The strategy was that the race needed a native son or daughter (I was born and raised in Worcester and attended public school in the city) who was familiar with the issues that Worcester faces (and certainly with my work on the School Committee I was familiar with the issues that the towns and Worcester face) and represented a strong political base in the city, in this case the Jewish Population. That is why I got the attention from the party. It was hoped that I fit the strategic bill. Did this turn out to be correct? All I can say is that I pulled in just under 40% of the vote as a candidate running for the first time for this Senate seat and that shouldn't be dismissed. I credit the Mass GOP with being instrumental with this success and others that I had during my campaign. Even though I did not win the seat, my campaign had successes. I was fortunate enough to have shot from single digit name recognition to pull in just under 40% of the vote in this endeavor. Let me just reiterate this point, before the start of my advertising campaign and before the postcards from the GOP hit, my name recognition was in the single numbers. My campaign staff and the GOP worked to change that situation around. The task was daunting and all uphill and no one was thrilled with the results of working that hard and coming up short, HOWEVER, I have nothing but praise for the GOP, the Chairman of the Party, and the Governor's team. They were instrumental in bringing me from nowhere and helping me to bolster my numbers.

More importantly in my mind, they stood by me when my poll numbers were awful. After my first poll it was becoming obvious that I was going to be a long shot for this seat my first time out. Rather than cut and run the party stood by me and continued their support even when the data showed that this was going to need luck and some prayers. If you take away anything from this email, take away that the party supported me even when I was down and the situation looked bleak. This speaks volumes about Alex Dunn, Tim O'Brien, Darrell Crate, Matt Gauvin, and the Governor and Lt. Governor teams.

I will never forget the kindness and support that the State GOP showed to my campaign and myself. Nor will I forget the hard work, effort and money they spent on my behalf in addition to all my staff and supporters who also worked their tails off.

We ALL need to realize that, if we made a mistake, it was the error that we believed that in one election cycle, we could turn around the imbalance that has been created in Boston. We are guilty of believing the electorate would see what we saw and demand change. A more realistic assessment would be a 2-4 election cycle to educate and inform the voters with the hope of turning this state around. All of us need to think long term and seize opportunity to advance our issues when we can, starting today!

I hope this message reframes this debate of ours with new information. It is important that we have these debates as it allows us time to reflect and redirect with our target being tomorrow. However, if we take anything away from last years loses, it is that we need to pull ourselves up and redouble our efforts knowing that our obstacles, though not insurmountable, are larger than we anticipated. If the candidates and Party were guilty of anything last year, it was our hope that the voters were as feed up as we were with the imbalance that we see in Boston and the waste and mismanagement that plagues Beacon Hill. Unfortunately, we need to spend more time educating the electorate as to how our current political imbalance is harmful to the state and the voters pocketbook. We need to be the party of answers and show the voters what the GOP can do with our vision of the future.

Thank you all for your interest and all your hard work and I look forward to working with all of you in the future.