The Elly Report: State Committee

Delegating Responsibilities

There are a wide range of activities that local Town and Ward Committees can and should be engaged in to re-build the Republican Party in Massachusetts. The Chairman and officers of each committee could never possibly accomplish these tasks alone. You should look to utilize your entire committee's membership to assure that the Committee's goals are accomplished.

Every Town or Ward Committee can have up to 35 members. You will not be able to successfully build the party in your community unless you effectively use these members. No matter what a committee member's level of expertise is in a specific area, there is always something positive they can contribute.

To get the most out of your committee membership, I strongly recommend appointing a sub-committee for each of the following priorities: Candidates, Outreach, Public Relations, and Finance. As Chairman, you can assign the members of each sub-committee with specific tasks and have them report back to you at each monthly meeting. Once they've completed the first task you can assign them another task which they can complete over the course of the month outside of the Town Committee meetings. As I've stated previously, make sure to assign tasks that the sub-committee can realistically accomplish between your monthly Town Committee meetings.

Creating a number of sub-committees with specific tasks will lessen the burden on the Chairman and officers, who should focus on running an efficient, effective Committee and long term planning. There are too many cases where the Chairman and a few officers end up doing the bulk of the committee's work. This practice is extremely dysfunctional, as it causes the officers to get burnt out, and fails to prepare future members for eventually running the committee. The Chairman and officers should stick to managing the committee effectively and ensuring that the subcommittees are fulfilling their responsibilities.

The existence of sub-committees does not mean that members of the Town Committee can not be involved in all activities of the local Party. All members should be involved in every aspect of the Party's operation but establishing sub-committees is the most effective mechanism for the Committee's leadership to manage its membership and create ownership of specific tasks and projects.

Below is a suggested organizational chart for a Town Committee:

Executive Committee
The Executive Committee is essentially the "cabinet" of the Town Committee. It consists of all the elected officers plus the head of each of your appointed sub-committees. The Executive Committee's purpose is to serve as a vehicle for long-term planning and can meet as needed to address Town Committee business.

Finance Committee
The Finance Committee is responsible for creating the Town Committee's operating budget and authoring a plan to raise the necessary funds to fund various Committee activities. The Chairman of the Finance Committee should be a known & respected member of the community, have sales skills and be comfortable asking their peers for contributions to support the Committee's activities.

Candidates Committee
The Candidates Committee is responsible for seeking out and supporting candidates for municipal and legislative office, and then supporting them with a robust effort to turn out the Republican base vote. The Candidates Committee should be comprised of no fewer than five people, evenly distributed among the town's precincts.

Public Relations Committee
The Public Relations Committee is the publicity wing of the Town Committee. It should work to ensure that the local press is covering the Committee's activities and ensure that the Republican message is being promoted in your local, daily or weekly print media, and on the local cable station. The Public Relations Committee should be relatively small in comparison to the other committees, which are much more labor intensive.

Outreach Committee
The Outreach Committee charged with the responsibility of designing and implementing the Committee's voter registration plan, as well as the planning and management of any non-fundraising events and rallies the Committee might hold. Additionally, the Outreach Committee will work to recruit new members to the Town Committee. By statute, the Town Committee can have up to 35 voting members and is permitted to include an unlimited number of associate members. A Town or Ward Committee operating at its maximum potential has well over 35 members.

Again, it is very important that your committee members understand the role of their local Town and Ward Committees. Once you've established goals that the committee membership agrees it should be working towards, creating sub-committees is the logical next step to make sure your committee accomplishes those goals. By assigning specific, realistic tasks to each sub-committee you should see progress at each monthly meeting.

As always feel free to contact me or your State Committee members with any questions.