Dave Talan: "ULTRA-LIBERAL DEMOCRAT STATE LEGISLATOR RE-ELECTED UNOPPOSED; R.I. REPUBLICANS FAIL TO PUT UP CANDIDATE!!"

On Thursday morning of this week, that is the headline that some of you might be reading in your local newspaper. UNLESS somebody comes forward to run in the next few days.

All candidates for State Legislature must file their Declaration Of Candidacy, at the City or Town Hall in the community where they are registered to vote, on Monday - Wednesday (until 4 P.M.). After that, it is too late. If no Republican has filed to run by 4 P.M. on Wednesday, then the Democrat is automatically elected on November 2nd. Even if he gets indicted before Election Day (something which always seems to be a possibility in this state).

There are a number of Districts where we have not been able to identify any possible GOP candidate; not even a place-holder candidate (we will explain what that means a little later).

In 2010, Republicans are going to win in some very unexpected places, where they would never stand a chance in other years. Voters all over the nation are very angry, and are throwing out incumbent office-holders, just because they are incumbents. Look what happened recently in South Carolina's Democratic U.S. Senate primary, where a total unknown, who did not campaign or spend any money, won only because his opponent currently held an office. This same sort of thing can happen in Rhode Island. But ONLY if the Republicans have a name on the ballot.

Many people have been assuming that someone else will come forward to run, and they do not need to do anything. Every election year, after the deadline has passed and no Republican filed to run in a District, we have people come up to us and say, "I wish I knew that you did not have a candidate in my District. I would have filed to run, just to keep the incumbent from being re-elected unopposed". Well, in the Districts listed below, we do NOT have a candidate, and you know about it now. If you live in one of these Districts, will YOU do something about it, and file to run before the Wednesday deadline? Reply to this E-Mail right away if you would consider putting your name on the ballot. (Please, no E-Mails saying "I agree, and I hope you find somebody, but it will not be me").

Now, the explanation of a place-holder candidate. If a candidate files to run, and gets enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, but then withdraws from the race; the state GOP Chairman has the authority to appoint a replacement, up until September 17. But if nobody files to run by this Wednesday at 4:00 P.M., there is no way under R.I. election law for us to have a candidate on the ballot. (At that point, we are totally out of the race.)

Here are the Districts where we need a candidate in a hurry:

House 1 (Providence - Rep.John McCauley)

House 3 (Providence - Rep. Edith Ajello)

House 7 (Providence - Rep. Joanne Giannini)

House 9 (Providence - Rep. Anastasia Williams)

House 10 (Providence - Rep. Scott Slater)

House 11 (Providence - Rep. Grace Diaz)

House 12 (Providence - Rep. Joe Almeida)

House 14 (Cranston - Rep. Charlene Lima)

House 19 (Warwick, Cranston - Rep. Joe McNamara)

House 20 (Warwick - Rep. Al Gemma)

House 21 (Warwick - Rep. Eileen Naughton)

House 22 (Warwick - Rep. Frank Ferri)

House 42 (Johnston,Cranston - Rep. Stephen Ucci)

House 49 (Woonsocket - Rep. Lisa Baldelli-Hunt)

House 51 (Woonsocket - Rep. Chris Fierro)

House 56 (Central Falls - Rep. Agostinho Silva)

House 57 (Central Falls,Cumberland - Rep. Ken Vaudreuil)

House 64 (East Providence - Rep. Helio Melo)

Senate 1 (Providence - Sen. Mary Ellen Goodwin)

Senate 3 (Providence - Sen. Rhoda Perry)

Senate 4 (Providence,North Prov. - Sen. Domenic Ruggiero)

Senate 5 (Providence - Sen. Paul Jabour)

Senate 6 (Providence - Sen. Harold Metts)

Senate 7 (Providence,North Prov. - Sen. Frank Ciccone)

Senate 8 (Pawtucket - Sen. James Doyle)

Senate 15 (Pawtucket - Sen. John McBurney)

Senate 16 (Central Falls,Cumberland,Pawtucket - Sen. Elizabeth Crowley)

Senate 25 (Johnston - Sen. Chris Maselli)

Senate 28 (Cranston,Warwick - Sen. Josh Miller)

Senate 29 (Warwick - Sen. Mike McCaffrey)

Dave Talan is a member of the R.I. GOP Candidate Recruitment Committee. His e-mail address is davetalan@aol.com.