Ward, Town, City Committees

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Share your best tips and tactics for building your Republican Town Committee and becoming an effective activist organization.

Location: Reading
Members: 47
Latest Activity: Sep 20

It's Local

You've heard it before, "all politics is local." Spoken by a talented Boston politician, Tip O'Neal knew politics. Many of you may not be a member of your local Republican ward/town/city committees.

Your first step is to join (or start one if it does not exist).

Many GOP committees are looking for new activists to help advance the GOP in that area. What does advance the GOP mean? Well, you have tremendous influence when being part of your local committee. I love Morton Blackwell's speech that he gave in 1990 titled "People, Parties, and Power."

Here are a few quotes:

And all party committees, campaign organizations and auxiliary organizations have jobs left undone because of lack of volunteers to do them.

A newcomer to party activity who says, "I am here to tell you what to do" is viewed with suspicion and even fear.

But a newcomer who says, "I am here to help you. Tell me what I can do to help," is greeted cordially and often, but not always, given things to do.

and.....

Some years ago, a conservative leader told me he was mad at the Republican Party. I replied that, applied to either major party, that was an irrational statement. It would make as much sense to say one was mad at everyone with red hair or mad at everyone from the state of West Virginia.

In the United States, a political party is not easily defined.

In many states there is no registration by party. In every state, anyone may declare himself in the party of his choice. And party organizations have absolutely no right to prevent any self-declared "member" of their party from participating in the selection of the party's nominees.

The giant Senatorial and Congressional party committees are entirely independent of the Republican National Committee, which itself is the creation of the state parties and their national convention. The National Committee has almost no supervisory role over the state parties, which, in turn, dare not interfere much in the local party organizations. This situation is analogous in the Democratic Party.

If you want to have influence in the GOP, and if you want the Party to become more like you, then show up. Showing up is the key, and there is a tremendous amount of room at the ward,town, and city level for you.

The young conservative activists that failed in '64 began to show up in municipal GOP committees across the country and soon, they began to rise. In the 70's they started think tanks and other conservative organizations and were called the New Right (different from neocons so hold your horses there). In the 80's they were well positioned to flex conservatism on a national scale.

So, whether you supported Huckabee, Paul, Romney, Thompson, or another candidate, my message is the same - get involved with your local committee (but not until you fully read Morton Blackwell's speech)

For the purpose of sharing best practices and educating fellow members with what works, I have created a group dedicated to fostering municipal GOP growth across the country.

I hope you join and I look forward to your constructive ideas. You don't have time to start from scratch, let's tap our collective knowledge and experience to move forward.

Discussion Forum

You Want Young People? Get to work. 5 Replies

Started by Robert Willington. Last reply by Roger Stryeski Mar 31.

Candidate recruitment 1 Reply

Started by Arella. Last reply by Roger Stryeski Feb 17.

Recruitment 12 Replies

Started by Robert Willington. Last reply by Roger Stryeski Feb 17.

Comment Wall

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Comment by Rick Hartley on September 20, 2009 at 7:04pm: What software is best for creating walk and phone lists?

Comment by Rick Hartley on July 17, 2009 at 7:18am: I'm in Jacksonville, FL. We have a unique government system. 25 years ago we merged the County and 5 city governments into one. The City=The County. The 19 member City Council functions as both county commission and City government. 13 of the 19 councilmen, the Mayor, Sheriff, Supervisor of Elections, Tax Collector, Tax Appraiser, State Attorney and Public Defender are all Republicans.

With that background our Mayor is proposing a 12% property tax INCREASE in next years budget. Many Council members seem to think that it is a small price to pay to keep City services at near current levels.

Rank and file grassroots are outraged. Mayor told me that he is only concerned with getting 10 votes on the council, citizens may not know what is best for them attitude. He is not worried about impact on Party and our low tax, smaller government pledge. He also signed a "no tax increase" pledge when campaigning for 1st term. He is now term limited.

QUESTION: Should the County Party adopt a "No Confidence" procedure to it's Constitution so that we can express our outrage over "Republicans" that use us to get elected and then cross over to the other side? What has been your experience?

Comment by Gene Hill on April 29, 2009 at 2:11pm: Roger Stryeski's comment dated January 13, 2009 at 4:52PM is absolutely the most practical advice and directions I have seen yet posted on any of the sites I subscribe to. Way to go Rog.

Comment by Roger Stryeski on April 29, 2009 at 1:10pm: Rick,

I would try calling first. Mail, for me, only seems to weed out those who have moved or died. The advantage of calling is that they may know a neighbor that would be interested. And, you can weed out the "challenged".

Comment by Rick Hartley on April 29, 2009 at 1:01pm: I need to recruit volunteers to help at the precinct level. I plan on mailing a post card to "super voters" to ask them to be the neighborhood captain in their area. Does anyone have specific recommendation how to best do that?

Comment by Roger Stryeski on January 13, 2009 at 4:52pm: Although my town is 22,000, we are part of an urban mass There are only 600 Republicans and the Committee fell into disrepair. There were only two us. Since I'm "retired", I took the bulk work. Started showing up a telvised Council meetings and speaking. Had a custom T shirt made to identify our group and always used our name in the identication when I spoke.

Wrote letters to the editor, buttoned holed reporters at events, my GOP business card is everywhere shop and volunteer at non-partisan events. Got the word out that we exist.

Campaign name lists I mined, compared 07 and 08 voter lists looking for new residents and those that changed affiliation and drove/walked around looking for GOP campaign signs that I did issue. Checked with County GOP interest groups for names that may joined them independently.

Reached out to my pollworkers and gave slots to their Uncommitted voters friends and relatives - patronage. Got my now 8 person Committee to help out in other races out of town. Donated to a new church soup kitchen and they allow me to use their hall for free. Go to many County or other county town fuctions, building up names from their friends intown.

Sided with one of Dem factions during the school board elections to use to meet my people as a set up for the Primary. Check old lists to see who needed absentee ballots and when calling apartment buildings - see what seniors needed absentee ballots. And now have regular list to send out ballots.

For phone numbers - use White Pages on Yellow Pages.com. Enter only the last name and town. Many registered voters are not the primary on the phone number at that address.

I estimate that half my voterare older than me (62) and young voters do not understand RSVP to mailings. Check the home sales in the paper for electoral list updates. I also check on houses with For sale signs against the list.

Starting get a handle on my voting block. Still working on identifying the 1200 anti-Democratic voters hiding as Uncommitted.

Comment by wonderbear on January 13, 2009 at 9:59am: My small town is historically a Republican stronghold but I fear new additions from surrounding states are changing that. I believe our conservative base is being steadily eroded by young and old liberals alike who don't think things through and just act on impulse....a very dangerous method of political agenda which will ruin our already declining national intellect. I am seeing too many people simply living for the moment and throwing future plans out the window. Speeding and drug use in my small town are worse than in the big cities. The local politiicians have their hands in the drug dealer's pockets and are blind to citizen protection. Break-ins are common and perpetrators escape easily to perform their dasterdly deeds another day. The guns in my house are loaded and ready....it has come down to every man for himself in this small rural town. Is this what we fought for overseas?

Comment by Michael Brennan on January 13, 2009 at 12:22am: I have a vision for Allentown and Pennsylvania, one that can bring us not only back into the black but back to the government “of the people and by the people”. I believe I can start here by doing a quick comparison between my platform goals and positions and Representative Mann’s.
Taking a look at her voting record (http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=24098) I will be able to show where Ms. Mann falls short on true representation the people of Allentown and Pennsylvania need.
Here is her voting record and what I would do different:
On budget and spending, Jennifer Mann voted yes on these bills that I would have eagerly opposed.
SB1137 Expanding Subsidized Health Care.
HB1 Clean Energy Program
HB1631 Funding County Projects
SB 1137 would expand the size and scope and costs applied of subsidized welfare health programs on top of the increased spending amounts outlined in the general budget SB1389.
HB1 would force biofuel standards on the gas/oil and energy companies to meet certain standards that can be met without any extra governmental red tape and bureaucracy. All this is basically is another gasoline tax.
HB289 was a waste of money that was designated in changing the primary date of the general elections to supposedly increase the commonwealth’s standings in the selection of a party nomination process.
HB1631 Is pet project pork bills designed to allow representatives to claim they are working for their constituents.
On Business and Consumer Jennifer Mann supported 2 bills and opposed one. I would have opposed both.
HB1200 Alternate Energy Incentives.
HB1202 Clean Fuels and Energy Independence Act.
HB1200 This is the creation of alternate energy credits, like carbon credits.
HB1202 This is an earlier attempt at adding biofuel standards for gasoline and oil products, nothing more than another gas tax.
On Campaign Finance, Jennifer Mann supported one and opposed the other which just shows she is out of touch with the mainstream voters. I supported the one she opposed and opposed the one she supported.
HB289 Presidential Primary Date Change
HB1318 Voter Identification Requirements
HB289 is just another spending spree under the guise of trying to keep Pennsylvania in the run to influence the parties nomination processes. She supported it so that the Obama field train would benefit from the combined media exposure from NY to Richmond at the same time.
HB1318 Is the requirement to show ID to vote and the definitions of a correct polling place. She did not support this as she followed the national party in this matter for amnesty for those here and possibly voting illegally.
Civil Liberties is where again Ms. Jennifer Mann decides to follow the fringe wing of her party instead of mainstream American voters.
HB2381 Marriage Definition Constitutional Amendment
SB1278 Child Support Fee
HB2381 would have placed a constitutional amendment to the voters about clarifying that the true definition of marriage is one man and one woman. No more redefining the definitions just to fit a fringe few requirements. Jennifer voted against this bill while this one I would have voted for right away.
SB1278 creates a $25 fee for child support recipients who receive more than $2000 a year. The fee would go to “administrative” costs. She supported that but I would have opposed it because the money is the child’s not the parents to be taxed.
The last bill I am going to discuss is the bill to make English the official language of the state. This goes to National Security and identity but for my opponent, globalism means more and nationalism is a crime.
A7999 to HB1957 English as Official language.
Ms. Mann opposed this because it would signal to her supporters that keeping their dual citizenship in the way they live outside of the American society would be jeopardized because now they would have to assimilate to their surroundings instead of making their surroundings assimilate to them. I would have voted in favor of this bill as soon as the roll was called.

Comment by Michael Brennan on January 12, 2009 at 6:45pm: My name is Michael Brennan from Allentown, PA. I am a husband and father of 8 great children ranging from ages twelve to six months, two of them have special needs, one with autism and the other has down syndrome. My wife is Episcopalian and I am Pentecostal, both are Christians and believe in family first and financial security over special rights. While my mother was born in Gettysburg, I moved to the area in the fall of 2005 and have made my home in the 132nd State Congressional District here in Allentown which is represented by a democrat Ms. Jennifer Mann.
I am writing this to let you know that not only do I plan to run for the Pennsylvania State Legislature, I plan to oppose Representative Mann in 2010 and see a great opportunity to make a real “change” for the people of Pennsylvania. Since the time I have been here all I have heard is how the state and city have been going downhill economically. Looking at the pictures of Allentown past and compared to Allentown today I have to wonder what went so wrong that the area would be the hub of the entire county to a run down city in desperate need of financial help. The state went from a surplus of a couple million dollars to a debt of two billion dollars and increasing. Spending has increased drastically in the last six years, coinciding with the arrival of Governor Rendell. We have more spending but yet each program we fund is always running out of money before the fiscal year is over. High unemployment, low to no job growth, welfare payments increasing two fold but yet benefits are not increasing for the families that are actually in need. Foreclosures continue to rise, vacant buildings and lots, closed down businesses, food banks out of food, free clinic care lowering the amount of people they can see per month because the budget is stretched to thin. Gun owners are facing their rights to be taxed away, babies lives are not worth a piece of paper anymore, gay marriage is acceptable to the administration, especially to the Governor who is promising to protect their unfounded rights above all objections by the citizens of the commonwealth. Taxes are increasing, new taxes are being added, there has not been a major spending cut since 2005, and none look forthcoming. We have the politicians in Harrisburg playing economic roulette with our money while they give mafia connected fundraising buddies casino licenses and then steal four million dollars of tax payer money to pay off staffers who helped them win re-election, mistresses and even a pair of Harley motorcycles, if you can believe all the news accounts. We have the Federal government wasting over a trillion and a half dollars bailing out the banking, automotive and possibly the porn industry executives who ran the industries into the ground. Now we have a governor in his last two term limited years looking to spend an increase of another billion or more on a budget that is already boasting a deficit and we have not yet started the fiscal year. We need to cut the extra spending, do we really need to spend close to two hundred million for laptops in our public schools when they are not learning their basics of math, science, reading and writing? Or how about those now missing laptops already, yeah they are reporting some missing already, some broken because of negligence and who else knows what is happening.
NO MORE. The people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania do not need that kind of representation and leadership. You know that Webster’s dictionary shows that the definition of insanity is doing the same exact thing over and over and over again but while expecting a different outcome each time. We re-elect the same people to Harrisburg over and over and over and are actually surprised when they do not listen to us and steal our money to fund projects that improve their political standings. NO MORE. I am running a campaign to unseat one of the problems in Pennsylvania, Ms. Jennifer Mann needs to be unseated and a new person needs to come in and clean up the mess. I am that new person, I would be honored to represent the peoplein Harrisburg for what THEY need, not what I want.

Comment by Sara Jean on January 11, 2009 at 11:09am: Thank you, Robert! Great group start. I have read Morton Blackwell's speech and on Jan 17 am going to a meeting of grassroot Virginia Conservatives at U. of Va., Charlottesville, at 1pm. I'm psyched and looking forward to great things from this forum! And "Go Michael!"