Guest post by Phyllis Woods, RNC Committeewoman from NH - Granite Grok

Guest post by Phyllis Woods, RNC Committeewoman from NH

In response to criticism that the RNC did not contribute resources to our special election here in New Hampshire but did support the recall election in Wisconsin, I’ve offered the following remarks for your consideration:

The race in Wisconsin was the poster child for the unions to try to send a message.  This was a unique situation where the recall race was watched nationally and was extremely high profile.  If we had lost there the risk would be that we would be hurt throughout the country.  The RNC would only get involved in state races in very limited circumstances, in fact I cannot recall where they have ever done so in the past but I have someone researching if there is any other time this has happened.

Besides the fact that I don’t believe Chairman Kimball or anyone here even bothered to ask the RNC for help, I doubt very much that there would have been help available for a single House seat out of 400 and one that would not jeopardize either our Republican majority or super-majority. You can well imagine that there are hundreds of special state elections held throughout the country at any time. Additionally, I think we need to recognize that a “recall” election where a Republican incumbent is being recalled due to their support of a Republican initiative, is far different than a special election to just replace a seat that has been vacated.  Losing our majority in a recall would have been a referendum on our party and our party leadership in that state and possibly the RNC.  We couldn’t risk it. I have no problem with hard-earned RNC donated dollars having been spent in this effort.

The New Hampshire state party can, and should, ask the Republican Governor’s Association to help our Republican candidate for Governor.  They will not, of course, be involved in supporting a GOP candidate in a primary.  Additionally, the RNC has already agreed to fund our Victory program in NH which will help not only our Congressional candidates but also our state House and Senate candidates and our Gubernatorial candidate.  The last figures I’ve seen indicate that we have put in a request through our regional political director for a very generous amount from the RNC for our 2012 Victory program.

I hope everyone here understand the importance of our winning this recall election in Wisconsin.  The last thing we would want, in addition to giving the unions a win and emboldening them to press this issue with other states, is a Democrat controlled Wisconsin State Senate who would be drawing and voting on redistricting in that state.  We cannot risk losing any advantage we might have with Republicans in control that will assist in our defeat of Obama in 2012.

From what I’ve seen, I do believe the RNC members do support and care about New Hampshire and our four electoral votes.  I think they care as much about us as they do about California and their fifty-five electoral votes, and who would love to have the first primary.  We would be naïve however, to think that the majority of members are in unanimous support of New Hampshire having the first in the nation primary position.  Each member represents their own state and believes their state deserves every consideration and advantage. They don’t all believe we are the best state to go first but they are willing to honor the tradition.

I also hope that you will consider sending a check to the RNC as Chairman Priebus asks.  The Wisconsin victory was a victory that benefits us all and we get back far, far, more from the RNC here in New Hampshire than we could ever give as they fund our Victory efforts to a very high level knowing that our State Party does not have a lot of money.  This is only one way we benefit from the RNC.

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