Take It Easy, Bob.

The following was sent to members of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee, on Rob Willington stepping down as Executive Director:

As you may have heard this weekend, Rob Willington has resigned as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Republican Party.

Rob has been a terrific E.D. this cycle, and is easily one of the most technologically sophisticated ED's anywhere in the country, in any political party. When you look at the advances that the MassGOP made in using technology this cycle, you should think of and thank Rob Willington.

Here is just one example: Rob's plan to make people sign up for a McCain bumper sticker on line led to identifying hundreds of McCain supporters in Massachusetts, many of whom had never worked on a campaign before. With their online contact information, the McCain campaign in Massachusetts was able to identify and contact hundreds of people to make phone calls. The net result was approximately 300,000 phone calls made from Massachusetts volunteers.

To say this should be a model for future campaigns for President, Governor, and US Senator and all campaigns would be an understatement. Thanks to Rob Willington for pointing the way.

Rob will be working on bringing Republicans across the country up to speed on the uses of technology to organize and communicate with voters, and elect more Republicans. Given what he was able to do in Massachusetts with a small budget, Rob will be a natural at this.

Please join me in thanking Rob Willington, and wishing him all the best as he continues to help the Republican Party.

Sincerely,

Peter

PETER G. TORKILDSEN
Chair
Massachusetts Republican Party

Friday Update!

Patrick Adds More $

From the State House News Service:

The $267.6 million supplemental spending plan includes $25.5 million for welfare caseload growth, $17.6 million for the Committee for Public Counsel Services, and $13.1 million for unanticipated snow and ice removal.

The package adds to current fiscal year spending, and was filed within hours of the House Ways and Means Committee release of what Speaker Salvatore DiMasi has described as a "conservative" budget with few expansions, a claim blasted by Republican Party officials who ripped the "Patrick-DiMasi" plans as irresponsibly taxing and spending.

Caucus Video

Two interns at the MassGOP, Rachel and Joanna, have a message for you.

Summer 2008 Internships

We are looking for a few good interns - know of any?  Don't let the summer of 2008 pass you by without getting first hand experience.  

Massachusetts for McCain Wallpaper

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Protect the Elephant!

From the State House News - Kudos to Senator Hedlund

"COMMITTEE POLLING ON TOUGHER ELEPHANT BILL: After generating passion and fervor last fall, a bill governing the care of elephants in Massachusetts is primed for release from the Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development. Members of the committee have until noon today to report on the bill. Originally meant to ban certain training methods – the use of sharp, curved bull hooks, and chaining elephants for prolonged periods – the committee has toughened the language to ban elephants from traveling circuses in the commonwealth altogether. At an October hearing, Ringling Bros. executives expressed outrage at the bill, insisting that banning the use of bull hooks would prevent traveling circuses from ever coming to the state. Bull hooks, they said, were never used to harm elephants, which they said share close bonds with their trainers. But several former circus employees and animal rights activists contrasted the circus executives’ accounts, describing bleeding, shrieking elephants, beaten viciously by trainers. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth), would not ban elephants kept by institutions accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association."

Dems Vote to Raise Pay

From State House News:

HOUSE APPROVES REVENUE COMMITTEE PAY RAISES: By a vote of 121-20, the House on Wednesday agreed to a trio of contentious pay raises, one each for the chairs of the Committee on Revenue and one for the House vice chair. House and Senate budget chiefs attempted to tack pay raises for legislative leaders onto a supplemental budget during Monday’s informal session but House Republicans held the bill up Monday and again on Tuesday. The amendment approved by the House would increase the pay of the two co-chairs by $7,500, which Rep. Angelo Scaccia argued on Wednesday would bring those lawmakers’ salaries back up to pre-2005 levels. Scaccia, who added that the House should address the pay levels of all of its members, said the Revenue Committee deals with more than 1,000 bills every session and is the second most powerful committee on Beacon Hill. House Minority Leader Bradley Jones said that during tough economic times, the Legislature shouldn’t be granting its own members pay hikes, especially quietly during informal sessions, as lawmakers first attempted to do. Rep. Harriett Stanley was the only Democrat to vote against the raises, which will benefit vice-chair Rep. William Straus, and co-chairs Rep. John Binienda and Sen. Cynthia Creem. Straus and Binienda voted present. Scaccia said the pay raises would only be retroactive to January 2008, not 2005, as one member suggested was possible. In a statement issued shortly after the vote, state

In a statement issued shortly after the vote, state Republican Party Executive Director Rob Willington said, "The arrogance of the Democrats on Beacon Hill is astounding. This is the same party that's forcing cities and towns to raise property taxes because they aren't giving them more local aid. Now they say the reason they can't provide more local aid is because they need to give themselves gluttonous pay raises. Business as usual up on Beacon Hill." The statement was issued as the House began consideration of a resolution pledging a 4.4 percent, $223 million local aid hike, to $5.26 billion. The resolution eventually passed.

Year In Review

Drawing Attention

The MassGOP has recently been putting some effort into our online presence and it has attracted some national attention.

Patrick Ruffini is the former E-campaign director of the RNC and was the webmaster for Bush-Cheney '04. Patrick had this to say about the MassGOP:

A fourth state party, Massachusetts, has recently seen Rob Willington, a forward-leaning tech-oriented thinker take over as Executive Director. Rob was telling me about all the cool things they are planning to roll out when he came down for last week’s Modern Media Strategies workshop.

It’s significant that neither Bill or Shaun or Bill or Rob serve as “Director of New Media.” They are ED or Communications, basically the #2 and #3 positions in the parties. Bloggers are now shepherding all press outreach, both to electronic and old media. That’s a big deal.

Josh Hersh has a new vlog, "Hit or Miss" and Josh picked up on our recent developments with MassGOP.com and thankfully, he noted it as a hit:




Thanks for noticing Josh. Hub Politics has an interview with further details of our online expansion.