Tea Party Charges GOP Out of Touch
Friday, July 20, 2012
Activists who spoke at the Leicester/Paxton/Rutland/Holden Tea Party meeting emphasized the importance of unity with elections upcoming, but others’ comments during interviews revealed fault lines in the conservative coalition.
Jim McGrath, co-chairman of the LPRH Tea Party, criticized the MassGOP for taking a top down approach to the elections.
Jim McGrath
Bill LeBeau, state representative candidate for 17th Worcester District, disagreed with McGrath’s statement. “They’ve been very helpful,” he said citing strong support from local state committee members. “Everything I’ve asked for they’ve helped me with.”
State senate candidate and Auburn Selectman Steve Simonian also said that he has received support from the MassGOP, particularly from Political Director Jeff LaPorte. However, he did say that having previously run for selectman he already had a core group of volunteers and supporters.
“I haven’t needed as much help as maybe some of the other candidates have,” the 2nd Worcester District candidate said.
But the MassGOP also came under fire for being too moderate and too elite.
Longtime Republican activist Dana George Reed of Spencer described the MassGOP as “moderate to liberal,” saying that this has led to friction between the establishment and newer activists. McGrath echoed Reed’s sentiment, calling MassGOP members “country club Republicans.”
The comments were made in response to questions about the MassGOP’s decision to block members of the Massachusetts Liberty Caucus from attending the Republican National Convention. As GoLocal previously reported, Brad Wyatt and Carol Claros, both members of the Liberty Caucus who have been ousted from their position as convention delegates, are speaking out against the state Republican Party.
Shrewsbury Selectman George Lamothe said that he is “disappointed” by the controversy and that he believes Liberty Caucus members are pursuing their own agenda. But he was quick to qualify that statement.
“They are all good people and they will all do what they have to defeat Obama,” he said. “We need them supporting the Republican Party.”
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Comments:
Edward Saucier
3:54pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
I think the Tea Party around here should get out of the Twilight Zone and back to reality. The Mass. GOP thinks you people are too right wing to suit them. Every congress person who got into office by either backing or being backed by the Tea Party sounds like a bunch of morons whenever they speak about anything. You have become extremists and are part of the problems and not the solution to the problems we have in this country.
Remember, all those corporatists that you back and republican leaders say create the jobs have created those jobs and given them to foreign countries. Millions of jobs, think about that before going off onto a tangent. Obama isn't the problem, the GOP obstructionists who block each and every bill to help the economy grow makes them everyones problem.