Republican State Committee Candidates Forum

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Charlie Marquardt

The Cambridge Republican City Committee is pleased to announce that it will be hosting a Candidates Forum for all candidates running for the Republican State Committee in the election to be held on March 6, 2012.  All Cambridge Republican and unenrolled voters are welcome to attend and listen to what each candidate proposes to bring to the position of State Committeeman or State Committeewoman for the State Senate districts of which Cambridge is a part.

Date, Time and Location

The Candidates Forum will be held on Thursday, February 16th at 7:00 pm at 100 Landsdowne Street (Near MIT and Central Square), Cambridge.

Candidates by State Senate District

The Candidates have all been extended an invitation to attend and are listed alphabetically within each Senate district of which Cambridge comprises a portion.

First Suffolk & Middlesex (Cambridge Ward 2 Precincts 2 and 3; Ward 4 Precincts 1 and 3; and Ward 5 All Precincts)

State Committeeman Candidates

Brad Marston

Paul Ronukaitus

State Committeewoman Candidates

Joyce M. Kelly

Eva Murphy

Caroline Shinkle

Middlesex & Suffolk (Cambridge Ward 1 All Precincts; Ward 2 Precinct 1; Ward 3 All Precincts; Ward 4 Precinct 1; and Wards 6, 7 and 8 All Precincts)

State Committeeman Candidate

Michael Cowett

State Committeewoman Candidate

Barbara Bush

First Middlesex (Cambridge Wards 9, 10 and 11 All Precincts)

State Committeeman Candidates

Rob Cappucci

Bernie Green

State Committeewoman Candidate

Patricia Brady Doherty

Pre-Forum Questionnaires

The candidates have also been asked to respond to each of the questions below so that Cambridge Republicans and Unenrolled voters will have the opportunity to learn more about the candidates before the Candidates Forum.  Candidates are asked to keep their responses to no more than 200 words (any response exceeding 200 words will be truncated) and send their responses to cambridgegop1@gmail.com on or before February 5th.  Responses will be posted as soon as possible after received.

The questions are:

1. Name, address, email, contact info, website, etc.

2. Background, educational, professional, political involvement, etc.

3. Why are you running for the State Committee?

4. What are your plans for your district, if elected, over the next 4 years? How will you accomplish them?

5. What do you bring to the State Committee?

6. What would you do to help grow the RCC/RTC in your district, with particular emphasis on Cambridge?

Forum Moderation

The Candidates Forum will be moderated with limits on the length of Candidates’ responses to provide an opportunity for audience questions.

Please check back for Candidate responses and other updates.

We look forward to seeing you on February 16th.

Cambridge Republican City Committee

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On November 8th (NEXT TUESDAY!):

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Michael Cowett

VOTE FOR CHARLIE MARQUARDT

#1 FOR CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL!

 

VOTE ON NOVEMBER 8TH!  A chance for Cambridge Republicans to be heard!

In Charlie Marquardt we have a candidate that Cambridge needs.

We share an obligation to elect Republicans to public office.

Get your neighbors out to vote!

 

Please forward this newsletter far and wide to voters you know
and ask them to

PARTICIPATE IN THEIR VERY OWN, VERY IMPORTANT

LOCAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION

and

VOTE #1 FOR CHARLIE MARQUARDT FOR CITY COUNCIL!

www.charlesmarquardt.org

 

ALSO TO

SUPPORT GOP CANDIDATES WORKING TO WIN IN 2012

RE-ELECT SCOTT BROWN TO THE US SENATE!

www.scottbrown.com

SUPPORT JEFF SEMON

IN THE 7TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

www.jeffin2012.com
(running against Rep Ed Markey)

 

SUPPORT ELIZABETH CHILDS

IN THE 4TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

www.childsforcongress.com
(running against Rep Barney Frank)

 

 

 

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The Right View: GOP Voters Can Make Local Difference

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Michael Cowett

(Editor’s Note: this piece, written by CRCC chairman Henry Irving, originally appeared in the Cambridge Chronicle on 10/17/11. You can view the original here: http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/opinions/columnists/x1017194078/The-Right-View-GOP-vote-can-make-a-local-difference)

Picture a modern-day Paul Revere watching the City Hall clock tower, awaiting a signal from his fellows.  It’s given…and he leaps on his fastest bike for a long ride through the streets of our fair city calling, “The Progressives are coming!  The Progressives are coming!”  When local Republicans hear the rider’s call, will they rally?  Will they know what to do?  When they gather, will they bring Independents with them?

We’ll get answers to these questions on November 8th, 2011.

Like the Paul Revere of old, our modern-day rider has a good sense of timing.  He knows that time is getting short, that Cambridge’s very important municipal elections are coming up in just a few weeks.  He knows that defending classical liberalism starts at the local level, that communities make far more progress by releasing individual energies than by strapping them with Progressive harnesses.

Thankfully, rallying in 2011 is a lot easier than it was in 1775.  In the seeming serenity of our fair city, there is no need to draw up a battle line.  The rallying call to local Republicans is altogether peaceful.  It is nothing more than a call to VOTE ON NOVEMBER 8TH.

Gather at the polling stations with neighbors and cast a private ballot.  Vote with an absentee ballot from the comfort of home (what would the Minutemen of old think of that?).  The Cambridge Republican City Committee asks every registered Republican in Cambridge to vote on November 8th.  (The CRCC asks Unenrolled voters and conservative Democrats to come out and vote, too.)  Whom you vote for is your business – just vote.

Vote because the Progressives are coming.  We are already under the thumb of a misunderstood rule that it’s okay for the City Council to be non-partisan as long as all the councillors are Democrats.  And all the other things we put up with…Peace and Nuclear Disarmament Commissions, “Sanctuary City” proclamations, a 2011 call for Colonel Gadhafi’s resignation.  But it changed recently when the License Commission adopted a City Council recommendation to ban hotels from outsourcing cleaning jobs.  Yes, the local Hyatt put its worst face forward in several personnel decisions and warranted a strong community response, but did the shareholders approve a City of Cambridge role in the company’s day-to-day operating decisions?  Yes, outsourcing may be a way to cut costs (but not necessarily reduce net jobs).  But won’t local price controls undermine financial stability and restrict the availability of local jobs long-term?  You can bet they will and that why Republicans should vote on November 8th.  There are those points along the road when local government needs to be reminded to stay within its limits, and this is one of them.

Of course, we may have already arrived at Cambridge’s “Boeing Moment,” a term fixed in the national memory earlier this year when an unelected National Labor Relations Board told Boeing, a private corporation, to close its brand new, state-of-the-art plant in South Carolina and return the production line to Puget Sound, regardless of massive net losses of good American jobs.  What real difference is there between our License Commission telling Hyatt how to hire and fire and the NLRB telling Boeing where it can build a manufacturing plant and create jobs?

A “Boeing Moment” is also a sign that the Progressives have not only long since come, but also have set up in place.

What Cambridge Republicans must have in common is a strong streak of individualism.  That’s my explanation of why they are so hard to recruit as members of the local GOP Committee.  What’s odd is they tend not to vote in municipal elections and that I don’t get.  Voting in municipal elections helps keep Cambridge Republicans – and Cambridge Democrats and Progressives – free.  Maybe Cambridge Republicans await the call of the modern-day Paul Revere…but I hope we aren’t there yet.  VOTE ON NOVEMBER 8TH.

Henry R Irving is chairman of the Cambridge Republican City Committee (www.cambridgegop.com) and lives on Bigelow Street.

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The Right View: Elizabeth Warren’s “viral” video

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Michael Cowett

(Editor’s Note: This piece, written by CRCC Secretary Peter Wilson, originally appeared in the Cambridge Chronicle on October 3, 2011. You can view the original here: http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/opinions/columnists/x325097235/The-Right-View-Elizabeth-Warren-s-viral-video#axzz1cJWDEYyB)

Cambridge’s own Senate candidate, Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren, has clearly hit a nerve with a video recorded by a supporter at a fundraising event. Liberals are thrilled by the tingle running up their leg, while conservatives feel like they’re in the dentist’s chair without Novocain.

Warren’s opponent Scott Brown is even using the video for its fundraising. It would be politics as usual if she had been caught in flagrante delicto, saying something she didn’t mean, or something she meant but knew she shouldn’t say in public. She was however expressing her core beliefs with righteous indignation. The Warren campaign has not issued any apologies or denials. To the contrary, the video is praised on leftist websites like Daily Kos and acclaimed by her supporters.

It would be nice if Ms. Warren presented a Keynes vs. Hayek moment, where opposing viewpoints on the role of government in the economy are laid out with clarity. Unfortunately, Ms. Warren’s arguments are filled with lazy clichés, unwarranted assumptions and incorrect facts.

The Warren video begins with a cartoonish explanation of the “hole we’re in”– our $14 trillion deficit:

$1 trillion on tax cuts for the rich under George Bush…2 trillion dollars on two wars…1 trillion dollars on a Medicare drug program that a) was not paid for and b) is 40% more expensive than it needs to be because it was a giveaway to the drug companies. So there’s 4 trillion right there. So part of the way you fix this problem is like don’t do those things.

In response:

–Tax cuts are not spending, and it is simplistic to assume that a $1 tax cut adds $1 to the deficit. Many argue that tax cuts increase revenue by stimulating growth. In any case, raising taxes does not address our spending problem, any more than a shot of vodka cures alcoholism.

–The Congressional Research Service reports total expenditures of $1.2 trillion for Iraq and Afghanistan through 2011, and $1.8 trillion through 2021. Cost estimates vary wildly according to political bias, but future costs are not part of the current “hole we’re in.”

–I have no idea how you calculate that something is “40% more expensive than it needs to be,” but according to the Medicare trustees, Medicare Part D spending is 32% less than the original CBO estimate, costing a total of $375 billion from 2004 and 2013. And what does it mean that it “was not paid for”? If we run a deficit, some items aren’t paid for, but which ones?

Rather than $4 trillion, Warren’s examples total $1.575 trillion of potential cuts from the spending side–assuming we can simply not “do those things” without incurring other costs.

The 11 budgets under Presidents Bush and Obama (2002-2012) add up to $31.5 trillion. Thus if we cut all the liberal bogeymen we are still left with $29.9 trillion in spending and huge deficits, which Elizabeth Warren’s brainchild, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, will only increase.

The second part of the Warren video has been quoted widely. She begins with the statement, “There is no one in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody.” She then admonishes a hypothetical factory owner, telling him that paying taxes is part of the social contract that “pays forward” “the work the rest of us did.” Her examples are the perennial clichés trotted out by big spending liberals: without taxes, we wouldn’t have public roads, public schools, police and fire fighters (which, one might notice, with the exception of Interstate highways, are funded by state and local, not federal taxes).

Big government enthusiasts like Warren fall back on the straw man argument that there are only two possibilities: a benevolent federal government, and anarchy. If you express concern that government seems to be getting larger and larger, and seems to have reached the point where our economy and our freedoms are endangered, Warren’s response would be, so you don’t believe in hiring policemen? You want to abandon society to “marauding gangs”? You want to let people’s houses burn down and leave our children uneducated? Of course, any of these services could be provided by the private sector, but this isn’t the point; it’s the gobs and gobs of other inessential wasteful stuff that government insists it must do for us that a majority of Americans don’t want.

According to recent Gallup statistics:

–a record high 81 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the way the country is being governed.

–57 percent have little or no confidence in the federal government to solve domestic problems,

–49 percent of Americans believe the federal government has become so large and powerful that it poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens.

Elizabeth Warren is clearly out of step with the country. I hope the same is not true of Massachusetts voters.

Peter Wilson lives on Huron Avenue and is Secretary of the Cambridge Republican City Committee.

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Green future 2020: Bonanza or chimera?

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Peter Wilson

The Patrick Administration released its “Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2020” in the final days of 2010, announcing a target of a 25 percent reduction below 1990 levels in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. This target is a legal requirement of an earlier piece of legislation, the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008, and is a first step toward an even more unrealistic 80 percent reduction by 2050.

Last Tuesday the City of Cambridge and others sponsored “Green Future 2020,” a public discussion of the plan, with City Councilors Seidel, Cheung and Davis in the audience. The leader of the panel was Dr. David Cash, our State Undersecretary for Policy at the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Dr. Cash repeatedly argued that advocating for “clean energy” was a better marketing strategy than the fight against global warming—er, climate change. It’s not a cynical ploy—Cash sincerely believes that pursuing green energy will not only address global warming, but will also bring thousands of green jobs to Massachusetts, and will save consumers billions of dollars.

It’s good strategy, but what if Dr. Cash is wrong? Is government spending on green energy really good for the bottom line? Continue reading →

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Collective bargaining–A private right that should not be public

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Dwight Bramble

On Feb. 28, 2011, the Cambridge City Council unanimously resolved:

“We in Cambridge…support the right of workers…from Wisconsin… who are being attacked by right wing fanatics… to organize and collectively bargain…”

On August 16, 1937, one closet right wing fanatic wrote:

“All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service…The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations.”

Continue reading →

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That ragged old flag

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Michael Selva

In 1974, Johnny Cash wrote a memorable song about a Ragged Old Flag flying outside a county courthouse. I was reminded of the song as I read a recent column by Joe Fitzgerald in the Boston Herald about the condition of publicly-displayed American flags in Cambridge. A Cambridge resident and registered Republican tried to take action about the condition of flags on display in his neighborhood, but it sounds like City Hall is too busy with foreign policy to be bothered with such things.

“On my walks around the neighborhood, I’m seeing a lot of American flags in terrible condition. They’re ripped, shredded, slipping down the poles. I’m not a Tea Party person, or what you might call a flag-waver, but why fly a flag if you’re going to leave it looking like that? If I mentioned this to my neighbors, they’d probably look at me sideways, if you know what I mean. So instead I called the mayor’s office, telling them about the flag in Corcoran Park and the one outside the school up the street. They couldn’t have been nicer, but that was three weeks ago and nothing’s been done.”

You can read the whole article by clicking here.

P.S. See the video below for a performance of “That Ragged Old Flag.” You can read the lyrics by clicking here.

Posted in Clippings, Video | Leave a comment

A day at the Circus

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Michael Selva

Last Monday, the Circus came to town. It did not arrive at its usual venue in the Boston Garden. Instead, the Big Top was set up at 795 Massachusetts Avenue in the chambers of the Cambridge City Council. The role of Ringmaster was shared by our nine councilors, each of whom earns over $70,000 per year. Instead of elephants, dancing bears, acrobats, and clowns, the entertainment was provided by Colonel Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi, the Workers of the World, and the long-suffering, peace-loving People of Palestine.

The circus has been here before. Our beloved City Council has earned a reputation for going off on tangents that have nothing to do with the day-to-day business of running a municipal government. In years past, Councilors have devoted hours such nonsense as creating a Peace and Nuclear Disarmament Commission, proclaiming our city to be a “Sanctuary” for illegal immigrants, and denouncing America’s foreign policy.

However, the Council’s performance on February 28th takes the prize for an unprecedented number of departures from its actual mission. First, there was a call for the “immediate resignation of Colonel Qaddafi [sic].” The City Clerk was instructed to “forward suitably engrossed copies of this resolution to the Embassy of Libya in Washington.” I’m sure the psychotic Colonel will be anxiously awaiting the arrival of this unsolicited tribute from the taxpayers of Cambridge.

Next, the Council turned its attention from Libya to Wisconsin. It passed THREE separate resolutions in favor of “standing in solidarity with the workers from Wisconsin,” These included a tip of the hat to our valiant Congressman Michael “Bloody” Capuano, who in a recent address to union members stated that “Every once in awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary.” Two additional resolutions pledged the City’s everlasting loyalty to the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, and “all union workers who are being attacked.” (Rumor has it that the stirring melody of “The Internationale” could be heard emanating from the rafters of City Hall.)

The icing on the cake came with Resolution #20 which called on the Council to “go on record seeking information about the nature of a delegation to Israel.” This little kerfuffle started in December when Gerard Mahoney (Cambridge Fire Chief) and Paul Ames (Deputy Superintendent of our Police Department) traveled to Israel to learn about counter-terrorism. A vocal handful of habitual Israel-haters saw red, wrote outraged letters to the Chronicle, and demanded that Something Be Done. Councilor Marjorie Decker, ever eager to curry favor with the far-left fringes of her constituency, duly drafted a 279-word Policy Order bristling with “WHEREASes” and casting aspersions on the Anti-Defamation League and an unnamed local businessman.

Fortunately, Councilor Timothy Toomey had the good sense to exercise his Charter Right to table this ridiculous item. However, before he was able to do so, the Council handed the podium over to a couple dozen members of the Looney Left. The Israel-bashers went on and on about how those awful Israelis routinely engage in “assault on a defenseless, unarmed civilian population.” (Ah yes, those peace-loving People of Palestine.) Not a word was spoken about the incessant rocket attacks launched by Hamas against innocent Israeli civilians. Not a single tear was shed over the victims of bombs aboard buses and inside pizza parlors. There was no recollection of what happened in New York and Washington on September 11th, 2001. No one was there to recognize the good sense exercised by American police and fire officials who took the opportunity to learn first-hand from their compatriots in Israel about the best tools for combating the menace of mass murder.

Whenever the City Council Circus comes to town, the main beneficiaries are comedians and talk show hosts. Our fair city becomes the laughingstock of the Commonwealth. Meanwhile, what do the taxpayers of Cambridge gain from these shenanigans?

A recent editorial in the Boston Globe questioned the $327,000 annual salary and generous benefits of City Manager Robert Healy. Our budget for this fiscal year shows an expenditure of $1,518,725 for the City Council!

Are we getting our money’s worth? Should we be paying our Councilors to spend an entire evening discussing the problems of Libya, Wisconsin, and the Middle East?

If not, then in November we need to elect nine new Councilors who will pledge to focus exclusively on Cambridge for a change.

Posted in Humor, Right View | Leave a comment

Happy 279th Birthday, George Washington!

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Michael Selva

George Washington was born on this date in 1732. Between 1885 and 1971, February 22nd was a national holiday named “Washington’s Birthday.” With the passage of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, the holiday was moved to the 3rd Monday of February. Over time, it morphed into a generic “Presidents Day” and the connection to our first president began to fade. Perhaps a future Congress will come to its senses and restore the holiday dedicated to this remarkable man.

In the meantime, we can all mark the occasion by reflecting on Washington’s achievements:

  • Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, leading the American colonists to victory over the British
  • President of the Constitutional Convention in 1787
  • First President of the United States, and developer of long-standing traditions including a Cabinet of advisors and the delivery of an Inaugural Address
  • Innovative farmer who adapted European agricultural techniques to his native Virginia
  • Surveyor of the wilderness which later became West Virginia and Ohio
  • Emancipator of his own slaves after his death

Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee, a Congressman who fought alongside Washington during the Revolutionary War, delivered an eloquent eulogy after Washington’s death on December 12, 1799:

First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in humble and enduring scenes of private life. Pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform, dignified, and commanding; his example was as edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting…Correct throughout, vice shuddered in his presence and virtue always felt his fostering hand. The purity of his private character gave effulgence to his public virtues…Such was the man for whom our nation mourns.

For those looking for a good first book about our first President, I highly recommend George Washington: The Founding Father by Paul Johnson, the eminent British historian.

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Design a better government, win $10,000!

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Doctor Chips

The Pioneer Institute is looking for entries to its 20th annual Better Government Competition which seeks ideas for government reform. The competition is a perfect opportunity for you to be recognized for your innovative idea and, potentially, for your idea to be replicated throughout the country and the world.

One grand-prize winner each year is awarded $10,000, and four runners-up each receive $1,000. Pioneer Institute also publishes winning papers and will showcase them at a June 2011 awards dinner in Boston.

Click here for the guidelines for this year’s competition, and here for the entry form.

If you have any questions, please contact Shawni M. Littlehale by telephone (617-723-2277 x207) or e-mail (slittlehale at pioneerinstitute dot org).

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