Marini Says Others Poised to Replace Them as Opposition Party

July 2001

More than 100 Republicans came together on a Saturday morning last month to discuss strategies for making Massachusetts a two-party state once again.

Assembled for the conference were Republican elected officials: Suffolk County District Attorney Ralph Martin, Sen. Robert Hedlund of Weymouth, House Minority Leader Francis Marini of Hanson, Rep. Susan Pope of Wayland and Rep. Paul Loscocco of Holliston. Rep. George Peterson of Grafton, along with the chairmen of city and town Republican committees, were in the audience.

Marini warned, "We are on the verge of not having a party in Massachusetts. We need to have it revitalized." He further stated, "The two-party system is important. But it doesn't have to be us. The Libertarians are doing well - and the Clean Elections Law will likely spawn new parties."

Another theme was that of closing ranks after tough primary elections. Hedlund said, "You'll see Democrats come together after a primary. With Republicans it's more like the proverbial shootout in a lifeboat." Marini warned that Republicans hold grudges, to the detriment of the party and the Commonwealth. "You know who benefits from that?" he asked. His answer was, "Democrats. They hate each other. They will self-destruct if we would only let them."

Loscocco, who may be the paradigm for the future of the party, agreed that there is too much party infighting. He said that when he is in a situation in which he sees that developing, he walks away. He declared, "Enough of the nonsense. I will not be part of a squabble."

The party also needs to build upon what little foothold they already have, urged several speakers. Hedlund said that even though Republicans have held the Governor's office in recent years, that has not meant enough in terms of appointments of party loyalists. He said, "We shouldn't be giving plum jobs to our enemies. It's fine to give a job to a Democrat who's willing to stuck out his neck to help us, but not our enemies."

How They Did It in Michigan

Keynote speaker was Charles Yob, Michigan Republican National Committee member and former Chairman of the state's Republican Party. Known as "Mr. Grassroots," Yob is credited with bringing the Michigan Republican Party back from a situation similar to that in which the Massachusetts Party finds itself. He described the Michigan Republican Party as being "in shambles," when his group, Citizens for Michigan was formed.

The first advice Yob offered the activists and which he repeated often, was that they need to make sure they run a Republican for every seat at every level, "town, city, state and federal." This is good advice for a party that ran only 73 candidates for the 200 seats in the state legislature last year and no viable candidates for U.S. Congress and Senate. The Libertarian Party ran almost as many candidates.

Yob explained that in Michigan the party scans the newspapers and canvasses the local city and town committees to identify candidates. Many potential candidates would never consider running, but become viable candidates when asked by party leaders. Rep. Loscocco is a good local example of the principle. He had never been involved in politics, even on the town level, but had always been a Republican. When he was contacted by state party officials and asked to run for his current seat, his initial response was negative. Recognizing that he had an opportunity to be helpful both to his community and the party, he finally accepted and won the election.

"Never miss an opportunity to speak at a college or high school - even the junior highs," Yob said. Those are the party members of the future.

Grass roots party building was one of the key themes of the day, mentioned by all of the speakers.

The party faithful were listening. During the luncheon, small groups could be seen and heard actually laying out agendas and already trying to identify potential candidates for the elections of November 2002. Their problem is to find candidates Marini described as "willing to register and run as Republicans."

Sponsored by the Association of Massachusetts Republican Town and City Chairmen (AMRC), the conference was aptly titled, "Rebuilding the Republican Party in Massachusetts." Host and AMRC founder Dick Hersum reminded the assembled faithful that they all agree that there are things wrong with the party. The focus of the conference, however, was to be the search for positive and constructive ideas for restoring the Republican Party to a place of parity in the Bay State.