Recountings from the County - Part 11 - Granite Grok

Recountings from the County – Part 11

It’s been a little bit of time since the last story told – time to get caught up.

First, with a bit of a correction – Doug got quoted wrongly by the reporter in an article back on 1/14 in the Citizen:

Lambert said he and Murphy "have been trying to kick the dinosaurs out for two year" adding the recent rise of the Democratic party in both Belknap County and New Hampshire signals a general malaise in the GOP.

Sorry but the reporter really mangled the quote – No, I haven’t been "trying to kick the dinosaurs out for two years".  Rather, what I have been trying to do is to get them to realize that the old ways of doing things are no longer going to work.

Got this update from Doug:

What I said was that you had been trying to become involved with the party for the last couple of years or so, getting them to use email, gin up some excitement and interest among some new folks, etcetera and that it seems that as long as the dinosaurs are in place, nothing will change. The dinosaurs have blocked anything new.

While I started off by ranting back in 2006, I have tried to take tack of improving by becoming part of the process (on the premise that only throwing brick-a-bats, like one self-called "principled conservative", isn’t going to cut it).  Not willing to put effort into something when things are going wrong only means one thing: laziness. 

Anyways, I’ve gotten off the point here.  Continuing on with the article:

Signs point to Tilton staying chairman of Belknap GOP

The Belknap County Republican Committee will chose a chairman tonight at its monthly meeting at the Shang Hai Restaurant, but chances are Franklin Tilton will hold on to the top spot.

New Hampton state Rep. Francine Wendelboe has said she was interested in the chairmanship, but had said she would not put her name in the hat if Tilton chose to run again.

"I don’t get from the average Republican that they are ready to throw Frank out on his ear," said Wendelboe responding to rumors that a small, but vocal faction within the party would like to see a new chair and a new direction for the state party.

Yet, I note that through Fran’s "all but" political action committee, the NH Reagan Network, she HAS been charting a new course at the state level with a number of Republicans that remain more true to the Party platform combined with some that are of a more libertarian bent within the Party.  In short, those that are not happy with the "status quo / country club blue blood" side of the Party.

 

"It would be nice for someone to challenge Frank," said Doug Lambert of Gilford who, along with Skip Murphy, runs the widely-read conservative political blog GraniteGrok.com.

Lambert said he and Murphy "have been trying to kick the dinosaurs out for two year" adding the recent rise of the Democratic party in both Belknap County and New Hampshire signals a general malaise in the GOP.

Malaise?  I think that was a good indication of how the elections have been running for Republicans, truth be told.  Since 2006, the local Republicans have not gotten their message out to the general population.  And THAT has been one of my bugaboos with the local Republicans.  They have failed to embrace the newer ways of campaigning and communicating with their potential voters no matter how many times I have tried to point this out.  I see no Letters to the Editor from these folks (plenty, however, from the Liberal persuasion), no outreach to the media except at election time (perhaps).  While they agreed to a website, I have been the only one to contribute to it (even after asking for contributions).  Harvesting emails to promote themselves on an organizational basis?  Not one person bothers. 

In fact, they again batted about and decried the result of the Grafton County Treasurer race this past November where a Democrat Dartmouth sophomore beat out Republican who had held political office for over 20 years within the county.  While good points were made about out-of-state illegal voting, I did chide them about their lack of realizing that this girl’s use of FaceBook to mobilize her constituent IS the new way of campaigning and that they ignore it at their peril.

Yeah, I’m still fairly sure that most of them have little idea of what a SocNet is and how any SocNet (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Ning, pick one) could enhance their message (if they had one) and their outreach (if they even could muster up the effort).  And for the record, I did mention Twitter just to watch the reaction – clueless.

It may be an age thing – I am generally the among the 2-3 youngest members of the Belknap County Republicans that show up on a regular basis. Why is that a problem?

I’m 53. I would say the average age of those regularly attending is closer to early 70s.  The "Dean" of the group is in his mid-90s. 

I have heard "we have to reach out to the younger voters!"  They have a severe problem – all talk, little knowledge, and no action.  I’ve heard this same sentence for two years – no results.

"Having Frank Tilton chair again will mean another step toward the collapse of the Republican Party," said Lambert, a staunch and outspoken conservative.

For Tilton, who also considers himself a conservative Republican, there is room in the Republican party for everybody. "I think we need to go with the proverbial large umbrella," he said.

Large umbrella.  Right.  No, wrong idea.  We just had a moderate run as our Presidential candidate.  The base of the Party was lackluster at best, putting up a good front (ok, a front) until Sarah was selected – a conservative! 

Large Umbrella?  That, to me, is code for "move to the center".  Well, what has that gotten us in the last two election cycles?  Wrong analogy – what is needed to do better is to better focus on what Republicans believe in – and that is supposed to be the Platform – and not just give it lip service BUT ACTUALLY TRANSLATE THAT PHILOSOPHY TO ACTIONS.

And not act like the Democrats.  It is rather frustrating to see Republicans vote more to the Democrat party line and philosophy AND NOTHING HAPPENS.  I speak of OUR Platform and I get in trouble.

…Tilton said if he is reelected as chair, he would get an automatic seat on the state committee and one of the two men who tied for the 19th spot — Jim "Coach" Fitzgerald and Murphy, would get a the seat he vacates to become chair.

Tilton said the committee would have to decide between the two at tonight’s meeting.

And yes, Frank was elected Chair again.  And, Jim Fitzgerald won the vote for the empty slot.  I congratulate him on the win; he has been active far longer than I in the Party.

It remains to be seen how things will turn out the next year or so.  Will Frank and the rest of the Belknap Committee start to act like the Democrats and recognize that there is no longer a campaign season – because of the Internet, because of the hundreds of millions of dollars that Liberals (personal, advocacy groups) are spending, the campaign is now "eternal".  The message campaign began 1 minute after midnight on November 4th.

You know what hurts?  Yesterday, I got an email from the NH Sullivan County Republican COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR, Steve Smith, reaching out to the ‘Grok, trying to get out a Republican message.  I asked him about his mission:

…I was just elected "Communications Chairman" of the Sullivan County Republican Committee…My personal belief is that if you ask the right questions, out of any political/election context, you’ll find that most folks in New Hampshire are more Conservative than anything else.

  1. Are you paying enough fees and taxes, or do you think you should pay more?
  2. Are there enough rules about what you can and can’t do on your own property, or should there be more?
  3. Does the government display more common sense than you do?
  4. Do the people down in Concord know better than you how to raise your kids?

You get the idea. I’m guessing you get "NO" from most people. Republicans have a pretty bad branding problem right now. My goal is to speak out on issues that affect regular people. I want to show them that not only do we agree on an awful lot of issues, but that Republicans are on their side. I see my job as trying to convince the voters of Sullivan County that Republicans are not "against the little guy" and not "for big business". If I get coverage beyond Sullivan County, hopefully it will be good for Republicans everywhere.

I’ll be doing "press releases" with statements of where we are on issues, and trying desperately to get those statements covered. I’m working on my groveling skills.

At least one part of the Party has received the public’s message, cogitated upon what was said via the election, and is ACTIVELY WORKING on filling a need. I told Steve that the ‘Grok stands ready to help with their good Conservative message.

And yes, I did resign from being the Gilford Town Chair.  A big part of the reason is work, my family, the ‘Groks, the radio show, and some other issues.  I realized I was not doing as good a job as I could be but my priorities were other than being a town chair. 

Part of that reason? I refuse to continue to bang my head against the wall, uselessly, trying to convince people of the Republican ideals when our elected Republicans refuse to follow even the most important of Republican ideals.

Oh yeah, I forgot. Oh Frank?  That crack that was in the other paper to the tune of "Skip and Doug can’t own the whole umbrella?"  I don’t want the umbrella at all – it’s not mine to have and nor do I want it. I just don’t want to see it continued to be stitched together with cloth from the Democrat umbrella – as it is here in Belknap County. As I said before, there is a reason why we have a platform – it states what the Republican Party stands for.

Or are they merely words to be ignored?

Let’s be hones
t – the slide in Republicans holding statewide office here in Belknap County started during your watch and has continued. At some point, unless the Republican brand is to continue to be devalued and diluted, some action has to be taken and soon, or the slide of lesser and lesser number of elected Republicans will continue during your watch.  It IS the job of the local Republican leader to promote and extend the brand.  As Chair, isn’t it your role to fix things?

What’s the plan, Stan?

>