Massachusetts News 
By Paul Moreno
 
The GOP lost special elections last month for two open House seats previously held by Republicans, and many party members blame Republican Gov. Paul Cellucci and the liberal wing of the party for those losses. 

The losses that occurred May 25 didn’t surprise Georgina Scott, president of the Massachusetts Republican Assembly, a caucus of conservative Republicans that formed in January. She told Massachusetts News: “The state party doesn’t do enough, especially for special elections. Cellucci’s building the party on the basis of his own people, and that’s not enough.” 

Cellucci had promised that strengthening the Massachusetts Republican Party would be one of his top priorities as governor. Yet the party has steadily lost power since his election last year. Part of the problem, said Scott, is Cellucci’s revenge for people who didn’t support him in the primary.  “He has a long memory,” she said. 

She further said that there is a lot of dissent in the state party because of Cellucci’s insistence on a winner-take-all system for the presidential primary in 2000.  Whoever wins a majority in the state’s primary would be entitled to all of the state’s delegates. 

“Everyone knows that Cellucci’s behind [George W.] Bush, and that he wants to deliver the state’s entire delegation,” said Scott.  “This just isn’t representative of the sentiments of Massachusetts Republicans.” 

The party leadership is more interested in patronage than winning elections, she said, adding,  “Cellucci’s building an unpopular party that suits his own purposes.” 

The defeats last month came after the loss last year of two of three open seats held by Republicans and one other seat in the Senate.  (The party picked up one Democrat-held seat in the House and one in the Senate.)  In April the Republicans lost a seat in the state senate formerly held by Cellucci himself. 

Pro-Lifers Alienated 

Rod Murphy serves on the Republican committee for the town of Southbridge. But he supported Mark Carron, the Democrat who won the May 25 special election to fill the seat formerly held by David Peters, the House minority leader. 

Murphy said he supported Carron because he was a pro-lifer who challenged Peters, a pro-abortion Republican, in 1998.  “It’s basically a pro-life district,” Murphy told Massachusetts News. The Republican loss in this district shows that “Cellucci has no ability to help anybody,” said Murphy. He added that he fears no retribution for supporting a Democratic candidate, which further shows that Cellucci lacks the ability to hurt anybody politically in the GOP. 

“Cellucci has no base,” said Murphy.  “Pro-lifers provide a base that he’s alienated. … There just aren’t enough country-club Republicans around to sustain a party.” 

Constitution party 

Last year the new Constitution Party was formed in Massachusetts. It’s comprised of mostly unhappy Republicans who left their party. Jack Molesworth, parliamentarian and press secretary for the Constitution Party, told Massachusetts News: “Cellucci provided the basis for the rebellion that formed our party. … The state Republican party is so similar to the Democrats, people felt that they didn’t have a choice.” 

Molesworth added that conservative Republicans were put off by Cellucci’s criticism of the Republicans who voted to impeach President Clinton.  “They should have been the party’s champions,” said Molesworth. 

They’re also unhappy about Cellucci’s support for funding homosexual propaganda in the schools through “gay-straight alliances.”  This is a continuation of former Gov. Bill Weld’s policy of actively recruiting homosexuals for state-party positions. 

Cellucci has undermined the party by taking control of the state party committee, said Molesworth.  “When I was a member of the state committee,” he said, “it used to be an independent representative of the state’s Republicans.  Now it’s the governor’s tool.” 

The Constitution Party has announced that Phil Lawler, the Dedham-based editor of Catholic World Report magazine will run against Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy in 2000. 

Libertarian party gains 

Another group that has benefited from the collapsing Republican party is the Libertarian party—the third largest party in the state. 

Carla Howell, Libertarian candidate for auditor in 1998, said that it’s no wonder that Massachusetts Republicans continue to lose power. “Their candidates are indistinguishable from the Democrats,” she told Massachusetts News. 

Libertarians have been picking up increasing numbers of disaffected Republicans, Howell said, including prominent party members who have approached her in recent weeks. 

“More and more people are telling us that they’ve been libertarians all their lives, but they didn’t know that they had a choice,” she said.  “They’re committed to smaller government and they’re not satisfied with the lesser-of-two-evils Republicans.” 

More Republicans are starting to call themselves libertarians to win votes, said Howell. They include people such as Richard Freedman of Newton and Steve Olson of Whitman. Both have run as Libertarian candidates and are building city and town Libertarian committees.  Howell said the party hopes to field 25 candidates for legislative seats in 2000. 
  

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