The Elly Report: State Committee

Organizing Our Towns & the Governor's Race

by Peter Lukes, Esquire, 1st Worcester District

I would like to be the first to congratulate Shari Worthington for being elected to the 2nd Worcester district State Committeewoman seat. Congratulations also to Marge Clifford who ran a spirited campaign and has been an active Republican for so many years. I look forward to continued work with both to build our party in the future!

In the 1st Worcester District, State Committeewoman Rebecca Dono Healy and I are continuing to work on several different party building efforts. After the last redistricting, we inherited three towns that were without Republican town committees. I have been laying the groundwork for new town committees in Northborough and Paxton. Hopefully both of those towns will file paperwork soon to set up their town committee. Berlin will then be the only town or ward in the district that will be without a Republican Town Committee, and we are determined to have full organization of the 1st Worcester district by end of summer.

On a different note, the question of whether Mitt Romney will be on the ballot in 2006 continues to linger with Republicans and the general public alike. Until any official announcement is made, we realize that the Governor gets the support of the Republican Party. However, in the event that Mitt Romney does not run again, please know that there are several excellent Republican candidates ready to step up. The Republican Party will have some extremely strong candidates who have expressed "quiet" interest if Mitt Romney chooses not to run. My advice, "keep your powder dry" and don’t commit to any potential candidates just yet. Don’t get nervous! There will be plenty of time and several good candidates if we need them. ER