Cote Withdraws, Supports Cicione
According to frequent AR commenter Scott Bill Hirst, Dave Cote has withdrawn his candidacy for State GOP Chair and asked fellow Republicans to support Gio Cicione. Awaiting additional confirmation.
UPDATE: Off the top of his broadcast, WPROs Dan Yorke mentioned that Cote pulled out around noon today.
Dave had sent out a press release regarding his withdrawal from the “race” this morning. I talked with him this afternoon and fully support his decision. Here it is:
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: David Coté, South Kingstown
David Coté supports Governor Don Carcieri’s decision for Chairman of the RI Republican Party
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2007
Today, David Coté announced his withdrawal from the race for Chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Party.
“When I entered the race for Chairman of the RIGOP last week, Governor Don Carcieri seemed to be supporting a race between the two candidates for the March 15th RIGOP elections. But now that Governor Carcieri has decided to endorse Giovanni Cicione, I will support his choice of the new Leader of the Republican Party in Rhode Island.
“I am a strong supporter of a united Republican Party. And as Chairman of the South Kingstown Republican Town Committee, I have always pursued a goal of unity. So today I once again take a stand in support of Republican unity by honoring the endorsement of Giovanni Cicione by Governor Carcieri.
David Coté has served the South Kingstown Republican Town Committee as its Chairman since 2005. He was elected to the South Kingstown School Committee in 2002 and was the Republican candidate for State Senate in District 37 in 2004.
Mr. Coté is a Director of a high technology company. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1978, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Seton Hall University in 1990.
Just as well…if he doesn’t have the fight in him.
If he doesn’t have the fight in him???
Perhaps Mr. Cote’ actually is doing what he believes is best for the Republican Party? There are too many “republicans” out there who believe in individuals or in ideals rather than actually working together to strengthen the party. Perhaps if we lived in a red state extremist views would work but since we live in the king of blue states maybe a little moderation would actually get some people elected? I commend Mr. Cote’ for thinking about the party and supporting a fine candidate in Mr. Cicione.
“There are too many “republicans” out there who believe in individuals or in ideals rather than actually working together to strengthen the party.”
…Perhaps the RIGOP Nominating Committee could have followed your advice. I’ll leave it at that.
I’d be curious to hear what exactly constitutes “extremist” views — the Republican platform, perhaps? Working together is fine when you actually stand for something.
There’s not a lot of reason to “fight” when the referee has already called the fight before the first punch has been thrown. One need only consider what “first prize” would be to figure out that it wasn’t worth beating his head against a wall for it. I’ll give him credit for putting himself out there to begin with. Given the sentiments of many in the party and a secret ballot, he probably could have won the vote, but I guess it just came down to, at what cost?
It became increasingly obvious as this progressed that the politburo, er, party “race” was not going to come down to a battle of ideas, vision, or experience. It was just going to be a continuation of a US Senate contest, which if we knew what was best for us, should be left in the past where it belongs. Unfortunately, those with the ability to affect things internally at present aren’t willing to move on. Fighting Chafee vs. Laffey over again was not Dave’s intent. His intent was to make the RIGOP relevant by giving it a renewed sense of purpose, focus, and direction.
Rest assured, he will channel his energies by other means. I still expect it to be a very interesting convention. 😉
Will, Carcieri didn’t endorse Cote, but I don’t think that means he isn’t welcome.
Cote put forth some strong ideas and I give him credit for putting himself out there. I also give him credit for withdrawing for the sake of party unity. It shows that he is concerned about things greater than himself.
If Cicione is smart–and he appears to be–he will work with Cote and some of Cote’s ideas will be implemented anyway.