Massaschusetts News 
By Curt Lovelace 

August 2--To call the Massachusetts Republican Society a youth movement would be to understate the case. 

The group is the work of three twenty-something Republican activists. It was granted the status of Political Action Committee (PAC) on April 1, 1999. 

Dedicated to electing Republicans at the grass roots, below the level of State Representative and State Senator, the group fills a niche which the party apparatus cannot give its attention to, according to the idealistic young men who form the core of the MRS. 

Vincent Errichetti, former president of the College Republicans at Suffolk University and Bill Rivers who held the same position at Boston University were instrumental in starting the organization. Rivers is now employed by the party as an Executive Assistant at their Boston office. They were soon joined by Ian Bayne, who Rivers describes as, "one of those guys you'd like to have a dozen of. He was a disaffected young Republican with a lot of energy and a lot of understanding of the process." 

They've already been at work helping to elect a twenty-year old selectman in North Andover and a school committee member in Paxton. They had near misses with campaigns in Norfolk and Groton. 

Help All Republicans 

It was the North Andover campaign for now-Selectman Jim Xenakis which crystallized the idea of forming a PAC to help elect Republicans who have little or no experience running. Errichetti and Rivers teamed up to help Xenakis win that race. According to Xenakis, "They helped me set up a campaign account, purchase signs and form the strategy we would use for the next three months. Soon they were holding signs with me, designing literature and walking the neighborhoods of North Andover with me." 

When Election Day came, Xenakis was elected and Errichetti and Rivers decided that they could take this winning formula on the road on behalf of Republican candidates who simply want to help their towns and cities. They might also groom a candidate or two for higher office along the way, they also surmised. Thus the Massachusetts Republican Society was born. 

Together, the three, along with a growing group of volunteers, are ready to offer their services to candidates from any part of the state. "There is no office too small," to warrant their attention, said Rivers at a recent recruiting meeting. One of their current projects is a campaign for Lake Commissioner in Peabody. 

There are no paid staff members at the MRS. In fact, Rivers and Bayne put up the cash to hold the first recruiting meetings in area restaurants. So why do they put in the long hours required and travel to far-flung parts of the state, to help elect selectmen and school committee members and lake commissioners? 

Massachusetts News put that question to Rivers and Bayne at a recent meeting held in Quincy. 

Helping the Party 

Their aim is really twofold, explained Rivers. "The party is having a hard time getting quality candidates for representative and senator. The Governor needs help if he's going to move his agenda forward. He can't even sustain a veto without Democratic help. We want to start at the grass roots and get new candidates started out." 

These young activists also want to help candidates with no greater aspirations than local office. "There are people who want to help their communities and don't know how to get elected," Bayne said. He added, "Our main criteria for picking candidates to work with is that they be Republicans and that they be down to earth people." 

Another goal is to train volunteers. They currently have 15 to 20 volunteers on their list according to Bayne. These are people who may be available to stuff envelopes, hold signs or man phone banks. The main purpose of the monthly meetings now being held by the MRS is to recruit new volunteers. "Every month," said Bayne, "if we pick up two or three volunteers, we build a base." At the meeting in Quincy they probably got six new volunteers. Bayne added, "Even if there's not a viable candidate in their own community, they can make a difference for a Republican candidate in another part of the state." 

Overall, the goal of the MRS is to increase Republican presence in elections in Massachusetts. Rivers said, "We've increased the Republican and unenrolled vote in every election we've taken part in so far." Asked about the relationship between the Republican Party of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Republican Society, Rivers explained that there is no official relationship. 

The party, Rivers said, works hard for the candidates at the higher levels of office, "as it should." With a voter base of a mere 13% of the electorate, however, the party doesn't have the resources, to help at all levels. 
Republican candidates for any office have all the resources of the Republican Party available to them. Usually, however, they don't know how to access those resources. Some folks are simply too far away to come to Boston and use the printing and mailing facilities that are available to them. 

Aid With Printing 

By phone and email, Rivers, Bayne and Errichetti will fine-tune campaign literature and get it printed at great cost savings to the candidate. They also have access to the state party's bulk mail permit, which can reduce mailing costs significantly. Though their coffers are not overflowing, they're even able to make some financial contributions. To make sure all is recorded legally and correctly, the group will even help with the maintaining of campaign finance books. 

The relatively new group, along with some volunteers, has already logged hundreds of hours on the party's phone banks. Phone calls on behalf of a candidate in the last few days of a campaign can make all the difference, said Bayne, the campaign strategist of the group. 

The Democrats have more resources, Rivers said, adding, "They make sure that the voters know who the Democrats are, even in non-partisan races." The MRS wants to treat non-partisan races as partisan races and, according to Rivers, get people to be willing to admit that they are Republicans. 

The motto of the Massachusetts Republican Society is "Small Steps for Big Change." They are interested in nothing less than making it respectable for someone to work for or run as a Republican candidate for office in predominantly Democrat Massachusetts. 

Besides the lake commissioner in Peabody, they are currently working for a selectman candidate in Holbrook and a city council candidate in Boston. They have their eyes on campaigns in Lynnfield, Saugus, Chelsea and Cambridge. 
 

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