April 28, 2010
Just Run
The thing about politics and governance is that the battles can't ultimately be won from the outside. Somebody's got to step forward to take office and make the right decisions, with the right motivation and guidance, once in office.
I pass the following along with the suggestion that running under the flag of a particular party does not require a blood oath or cult-like fealty. The person who wins a particular office holds the cards; the purpose of the parties, in this case, the Republican Party, is just to help with the effort and to coordinate action among office holders. In other words, if you're interested in running as a right-leaning reformer, you should see the state GOP as a facilitating ally, not as a cadre that seeks to usurp your office.
On Saturday, May 1, 2010, the Rhode Island Republican Party will begin its 2010 Candidate Training Program. The first session of this program will be held at the Campaign Headquarters of Mayor Scott Avedisian, located at 1800 Post Road in Warwick, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.While the content of the Candidate Training Program will be directed primarily to candidates for the RI House and Senate, Republican candidates for all state and local offices, as well as their key campaign staff, will be welcome to attend.
The Candidate Training Program will begin with a one-day training session focused on practical requirements for success including: Declaration of Candidacy and signature requirements; Financial Disclosures and the RI Board of Elections; campaign fundraising; media; and issues. Republican Party officers, past candidates and political consultants will be among the presenters at this portion of Training Program.
The RI GOP 2010 Candidate Training Program will resume with an intensive, two-day training session on May 22 and 23 to provide an in-depth look at successful campaign strategies. Additional details regarding the two-day portion of the Training Program will be released at a later date.
Anyone with questions or wishing to attend the 2010 Candidate Training Program must respond by email to: contact@rigop.org.
Bush did a lot to ruin the "Republican" label in RI. I'm still trying to figure out what the RIGOP has done to try to restore that.
Maybe more fair, reform-minded people who are tired of GA Dems would run as Republicans if they weren't constantly being trashed as RINOs here and on talk radio. That attitude has to change - it's probably run off a lot of excellent people.
Posted by: rhody at April 28, 2010 11:58 AM>>"would run as Republicans if they weren't constantly being trashed as RINOs here and on talk radio. That attitude has to change - it's probably run off a lot of excellent people."
That reception is far friendlier than the reception "fair, reform-minded people" would get from the Democrat Party.
Posted by: Ragin' Rhode Islander at April 28, 2010 12:08 PMBoth political parties suffer from not being willing to work with and foster candidates who are aligned with the party, but choose to run as independents, libertarians, 'moderates', etc.
There's really a whole lot of 'we agree with you, but it's our side or no help at all' going on here.
It seems to me that the skills required to rise in local committees and raise funds are entirely different from the ones needed to govern properly.
Posted by: mangeek at April 28, 2010 12:46 PMmangeek makes a perfect case for why we need more political parties, or none. I don't get the need for any, really. Who cares about a party, we don't vote for the party (well, about 80,000 idiots do in our gubernatorial elections), but we really vote for people and their ideas and dedication. So why do we need a label on them as well? Has the political party system run its course today with the advent of information and technology?
Posted by: Patrick at April 28, 2010 12:51 PM