James J. Shutt Marine Corps League Building 215 Mt. Auburn Street in Watertown, MA.

The Forum is being Sponsored by the multiple Republican Town and City Committees including Watertown, Boston, Bright wards 21 & 22, Belmont, Waltham, & Cambridge, as well as the Great Waltham Tea Party.

The candidates who will be invited to speak will be any Republican candidate whose district falls in part within the 2nd Suffolk and Middlesex State Senate District. We hope that both Congressional candidates and as well as anyone running for State Senate, State Rep, will attend. An invitation to Senator Brown will be sent as well.

The forum will be preceded by brief Town and Ward Committee meetings for some of the committees in the 2nd Suffolk & Middlesex at 7:00 PM. The committees will break off and take care of any brief house keeping matters they wish to address.

The Forum will start at 7:30 PM. The local media will be invited to cover this event. This is a great opportunity for candidates to get exposure.

The Right View: SPOA 25th anniversary celebrates 1994 rent control victory

By Peter Sheinfeld

Cambridge — SPOA, the Small Property Owners Association of Cambridge, celebrated its 25th anniversary with a dinner on March 30 at the Huron Avenue VFW.  SPOA is best known for its ongoing battles against rent control.  It put Question 9, the abolition of rent control, on the November, 1994 ballot in Massachusetts.  That question won and rent control was abolished in February 1995.

As SPOA’s first president, it was heartening to see so many fellow veterans of a domestic war which ended in victory.  There were many guest speakers including myself, Fred Meyer, John Natale, Vincent Bologna, Dawna Provost-Carret, Linda Petrillo Burke and Skip Schloming.

They keynote address was delivered by Clark Neily, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice in Washington, DC.  In his address “Economic Liberty, Property Rights and the Constitution,” Attorney Neily showed examples of his organization challenging governmental abuse of power.  He pointed out cases where the U.S. Constitution had been overstepped and the rights guaranteed by it to citizens had been ignored.

Mr. Neily cited the famous Kelo v. New London case. The municipal government of New London had made several eminent domain takings in their Fort Trumbull neighborhood, including property owned by Susette Kelo, who sued the city. The city intended to bulldoze an existing, vibrant working class neighborhood so that Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, at that time headquartered in New London, could have a developer build upscale housing and a luxury hotel for their personnel and guests. The Supreme Court unfortunately sided with New London, arguing that the increased tax revenues and economic growth would benefit the entire community and was justified as “public use” under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.

After the city allowed the neighborhood to be destroyed, those who triggered the situation determined that it was no longer a profitable situation.  Nothing was ever built, and Pfizer left New London.  Now the former neighborhood is an open area, filled with weeds and trash.

Attorney Neily made it clear that groups like SPOA were critically important in preventing and eliminating bureaucratic abuse of the public use clause in the Fifth Amendment.  His non-governmental organization, the private donor funded Institute for Justice, is dedicated to the opposition of government dictates which are foisted upon the public with a good theory-based premise, but that result in outright trampling of the rights and freedoms supposedly guaranteed to citizens by the Constitution.

Government seizure of property to be given to a private developer as in the Kelo case, and the Cambridge rent control situation where small property owners were under constant attack by a city agency which wanted to amass power and control property with little concern for the consequences, are just two examples of where public involvement is essential.

The abolition of rent control in Cambridge was the reversal of just one abuse of power by government.  SPOA continues to monitor government regulation and advocating for economic freedom and property rights.

Peter Sheinfeld lives on Lee Street and is a member of the Cambridge Republican City Committee.

5th Congressional District

This district encompasses part of Ward 3 Precinct 2 (this precinct is inexplicably split so if you live in this precinct it is best to check with the Election Commission regarding in which Congressional District you reside), Ward 4 Precincts 2 and 3, all of Wards 6, 7, 8 and 9, and Ward 10 Precincts 1 and 2.

The caucus location for the 5th Congressional District is the Nevine Memorial Building 150 Concord St, Framingham 01702

7th Congressional District

Ward 2 Chair, Caroline Shinkle, is running on the Romney slate to be a delegate to the August Republican National Convention from the 7th Congressional District.  If you live in the 7th Congressional District and have the time to attend the caucus on Saturday, please try and make it and cast your vote for Caroline so a fellow Cambridge Republican City Committee member can be representing us at the August Republican National Convention.

This district comprises all of Wards 1 and 2, Ward 3 Precincts 1 and 3, the part of Ward 3 Precinct 2 not included in the 5th Congressional District (see above),  Ward 4 Precinct 1, all of Ward 5, Ward 10 Precinct 3 and all of Ward 11.

The caucus location for the 7th Congressional District is the Randolph Community Middle School, 225 High St., Randolph 02368.

Registration for all caucus locations starts at 9:00 am and the caucus starts at 10:00 am.  In order to be able to caucus you must be a registered Republican living in the district as of February 15, 2012.

If you have the opportunity, please stop by and visit with the Senator and lend your support to his re-election campaign.

CAMBRIDGE REPUBLICAN CITY COMMITTEE

PLEASE ATTEND

THE CAMBRIDGE GOP COMMITTEE’S

2012 RE-STRUCTURING AND

REORGANIZATION MEETING

Thursday, April 12^th, 2012

7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Key Topics for Discussion and Decision-Making:

Determine Ward Committee job descriptions.

Elect new members to Ward Committees.

Elect Ward and City Committee leadership to four year terms.

Consider new membership levels.

Set goals and objectives for next four years.

Look at opportunities in social media.

Location

The Conference Center

100 Landsdowne Street

Cambridge near MIT
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Please RSVP to cambridgegop1@gmail.com

Or call Henry Irving at 617.492.5814

Look for more reporting from Michael as he takes on his role as State Committeeman.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Michael’s predecessor, Cambridge’s own Allan Zenowitcz who served admirably in that role for many years.

Here is the text of Michael’s comments:

Tomorrow night, at 7 pm in Newton, the Massachusetts Republican State Committee will hold its organizational meeting. The bulk of tomorrow’s agenda consists of choosing candidates for a variety of offices within the party. To my knowledge, only two of these are contested: national committeewoman and vice-chairman. In addition, the continuation in office of the state chair must also be ratified.

Let me start with the easiest one: I’ll be voting to keep Bob Maginn as the chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party. I think Bob has done an admirable job in the few short months he has served as chairman. He has been a very successful fundraiser, and he has kept his promise to renew our party’s efforts to keep the state legislative seats we do hold, and win even more. He has more than earned the chance to lead our party into the 2012 elections.

In the contested races, I’ll be voting for Chanel Prunier as the next national committeewoman from Massachusetts and Steve Aylward as the next vice-chairman. I ran for state committee because I want to see a renewed focus on the grassroots, and an increased emphasis placed on increasing the number of Republican legislators in the state House and state Senate, as well as the number of Republican officeholders in “down-ticket” races throughout the Commonwealth. I also ran because I want the party to pay more attention to areas where, the nay-sayers carp, “Republicans can’t win.” While I have great respect for the long and dedicate service given to our party by Kerry Healey and Jeanne Kangas, and I very much appreciate the time taken by many of their supporters to talk with me about these races, I firmly believe that Chanel and Steve are both more likely to lead our party along the paths I described above.

I very much hope that the other members of the state committee join me tomorrow night in supporting Bob, Chanel, and Steve. As always, I am more than happy to talk with anyone about the votes I intend to cast tomorrow night, or about anything else.

The Right View: The Historical Legacy of Cambridge

By Vincent Lawrence Dixon

Wicked Local Cambridge

Cambridge —

We’d do well to remember and to reflect on the historical legacy of Cambridge Massachusetts, and to be inspired by the better parts of the spirit and legacy, as we think about, and look to the future.

Thinking about Cambridge’s future is appropriate as City Manager Robert W. Healy will hand over power in June of 2013, after 32 years of service as chief executive of Cambridge.

After over 381 years of European settlement, and 375 years of Harvard College, there is much to contemplate, remembering that current events from our day become history, literally, over time.

As a Republican of many years standing, well over thirty years, a former Republican City Committee Chair, and several times a candidate, I choose, in these words, to emphasize not just the partisan, but also the politically ecumenical.

While Presidential primaries swirl about, and to the tastes of many, still without enough appropriate candidates, there are still curious portents in the wind, and many reflect the unique aspects of what has happened here in Cambridge.

Originally intended to be Newtowne, the capital of Massachusetts Bay, the natives of the Massachusetts people being friendly, and no coastal raids happening at Boston, virtually everyone remained settled in Charlestown and downtown Boston.

Rather than a palisade never completed, Newtowne becomes the place for the College, where study and learning appear and continue to this day, a capital city rather of learning.

Renamed to Cambridge, after Cambridge in England, once the home to a small college, now there are three large university level programs, each significant in its own way, and several other important schools as well.

Harvard, once a school where all learned of religion, and Greek, and Latin, and perhaps some science and math, has transformed into an engine of case study instruction, pioneering scientific research, unprecedented money, and influence, with over 390,000 living Harvard alumni, in over 190 nations, now with a virtual procession of educated leaders.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has expanded and deepened the work of education, research, and technology; provided a founding connection to the center of biotechnology in the world, the Kendall Square area of Cambridge; now with substantial intersection with Harvard, the many world class hospitals, and other medical institutions of Cambridge, and Boston, and a lot more.

The Kendall Square area is surely an example of “the law of unintended consequences” since it was the intended site for NASA’s Mission Control – astronauts might have been saying “Come In, Cambridge” instead of “Come in, Houston.” Thus the area was clear for another development and leadership in another area of the post-modern era world.

Lesley University, begun in September 1901, as the Lesley School, stretching from Everett Street to Somerville Avenue, and Porter Square, is one of the most significant universities relating to teaching, education, and art in the entire United States.

History often flows not just from time, but also from place, so while it is curious, it is surely significant that thousands of militia poured onto Cambridge Common, after the events of April 19, 1775, and that George Washington took command of The Continental Army, the beginning of joint American military authority, on that ground beginning July of 1775.

The oldest written constitution still in force in the world today was written at Cambridge, at the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, which began at the Fourth Meeting House in Harvard Square, located on the present day site of Lehman Hall, and that constitution has significantly influenced history, including constitutional history since.

Cambridge has been, is, and likely will always be historic, and innovative.

Vincent Lawrence Dixon is President of Cambridge Advantage Tours, and can be reached at: dixonenta16@yahoo.com

PLEASE ATTEND

THE CAMBRIDGE GOP COMMITTEE’S

2012 RE-STRUCTURING AND

REORGANIZATION MEETING

Thursday, April 12^th, 2012

7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Key Topics for Discussion and Decision-Making:

Determine Ward Committee job descriptions.

Elect new members to Ward Committees.

Elect Ward and City Committee leadership to four year terms.

Consider new membership levels.

Set goals and objectives for next four years.

Look at opportunities in social media.

Location

The Conference Center

100 Landsdowne Street

Cambridge near MIT
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Please RSVP by April 8^th to cambridgegop1@gmail.com

Or call Henry Irving at 617.492.5814

To all the candidates, we thank you for running campaigns that brought positive attention to the Republican Party in Cambridge and across the district.  It is through the efforts of candidates such as you that we will grow the Party in the coming years.

The State Committeemen and State Committeewomen for Cambridge are as follow:

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

State Committeeman – Paul Ronukaitus

State Committeewoman – Joyce M. Kelly

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 – Michael Cowett

State Committeewoman – Barbara Bush

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

State Committeeman – Rob Cappucci

State Committeewoman – Patricia Brady Doherty

http://www.cambridgeday.com/2012/03/03/first-harvard-mit-republicans-seek-state-committee-seats-then-they-face-their-city/