Newton Ward 5 Republican Committee

Newton, Massachusetts

About Us

The Ward 5 GOP Committee consists of 35 Republican residents of Newton's Ward 5. We invite all interested Republicans living in Ward 5 to contact one of the officers to become a voting member of the committee or to help us elect Republican candidates.

Officers

Chairman Susan Huffman Newton Upper Falls
Vice-Chairman Sande Young Waban
Secretary Anil Adyanthaya Newton Upper Falls
Treasurer Larry Young Waban

About the Republican Party

The election of Senator Scott Brown has reinvigorated the Republican Party in Massachusetts. In the last election for state representative the number of Republicans in the State House doubled.

Republican Principles

The Massachusetts Republican party has provided a statement of Republican principles, which is reproduced here:

The Massachusetts Republican Party is a voice for common sense in the Commonwealth.

We champion job creation, entrepreneurship, and small businesses, demand individual freedom, defend family values, and limit government and taxation. All the while, we protect fundamental basics such as public safety and public education.

These are the values of Massachusetts and the values of our party. Defending and promoting these values will generate new members, new resources and a new day for the MassGOP.

Economic Development

Massachusetts Republicans believe that economic growth benefits all people. We understand that economic growth will create new jobs and a healthy, self-sufficient community. By lightening the load on businesses from burdensome regulation and taxes, there is a better chance businesses will stay and expand in Massachusetts.

Government Reform

Massachusetts Republicans will continue to press for sensible reforms that hold government accountable and improves the quality of life for all citizens. We support a limited role for government in our society, and we believe that our state legislature has strayed from this mandate.

Fiscal Policy and Taxation

Massachusetts Republicans understand that in order for a government to run, it must collect money through taxes. We believe that our citizens have the right to demand that the funds be used properly and efficiently. Government should not take more than it needs. Republicans are working hard against a tax and spend legislature that knows no bounds. Government spending should only grow at a rate that is appropriate to keep it going as a small, efficient and effective body.

Public Safety

The Republican Party strongly stands for the protection of fellow citizens from crime and violence. We have consistently demonstrated our commitment to make certain that the rights of the people always stand above the rights of criminals while supporting the safety of those who are working to keep us safe.

Healthcare

Every citizen should have access to affordable healthcare without excessive government intrusion or control. Massachusetts Republicans support applying market-based solutions to achieve greater healthcare access, lower patient costs, and improve quality of care.

Education

Massachusetts Republicans support efforts to make our state’s schools better by implementing education reform, insisting on accountability and higher standards from teachers and administrators and encouraging more parental involvement.

Anti-Poverty and Social Services

Massachusetts Republicans believe the best and most proven method of curtailing poverty is through a good education system, equal opportunity, personal achievement and economic growth. Republicans are dedicated to seeing that our fellow citizens lift themselves up and out of unfortunate circumstances to lead productive and independent lives.

Civil Rights and Individual Liberty

As Republicans, we enjoy the liberties guaranteed to us by the State and Federal Constitutions. Massachusetts Republicans believe that by promoting individual rights, we create a successful society. Individual freedoms are the building blocks of our community.

Family, Community and the Environment

Massachusetts Republicans know that there is nothing more important to the fabric of a society than family and community. We know we must do everything in our power to protect these institutions—strengthening families, supporting local governments, and promoting responsible environmental stewardship.

Historical Perspective

Mary Connaughton has taken a look back at the accomplishments of the Republican party, and a brief look ahead, too:

When I was campaigning last year (2010), I wanted to march in St. Patrick’s Day parade in South Boston. It would be a great way to shake thousands of hands. But it was pouring that day. My campaign had paid $500 to and there was no way I was going to miss out. My boots were filled with water as I shook any hand I could find! About three-quarters through, I walked over to a crowded porch (I was known to slow down a parade or two). A man in the balcony shouted “you’re not for the working men and women of Massachusetts!”

Well, I looked up, the rain rolling down my cheeks, “I am the working men and women of Massachusetts.”

Perception becomes reality when it comes to politics, and that’s why it’s so important to take a look back to remind ourselves and the public of what we are all about.

We were established as a Party in 1854 and the issue: slavery. Some groups wanted the abolition of slavery altogether, others wanted to stop its expansion, others were disgusted with the Fugitive Slave Law that was part of the 1850 Missouri Compromise - don’t worry I won’t get too detailed here. But at the time, the Whig party was slow to move on slavery and the Democrats were dominant in the South and largely supported states’ rights to decide on slavery. Many flocked to the Republican Party because of its anti-slavery platform.

But the event that greatly advanced the Republican cause involved a Republican Senator from our own Massachusetts. After giving an anti-slavery speech on the floor of the US Senate, Republican Senator Charles Sumner (a relative of the Sumner tunnel’s namesake) was brutally attacked with a cane by a Democratic congressman from the South. Talk about a caning to get the public’s attention! Sumner spent months in the hospital but the walloping turned the tide in favor of Republicans. The Party knew that long-term success was impossible on a single-issue platform. They also supported:

  1. US expansion by promoting an east-west railroad;
  2. homesteading in the western territories so more could share the American dream;
  3. high tariffs on imports to protect American businesses; and,
  4. support of land-grant colleges to advance education (UMass Amherst became one).

In 1856, John Fremont became the first Republican candidate for President. He slogan was, “Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Speech, Free Men and Fremont.” He lost (the party was only two years old and it was a three-way race), but Fremont did well enough and Republicans were gaining good ground in other races for congress and governorships, to boot.

Abraham Lincoln left the Whig Party to join the Republicans in 1858 and gained wide-spread popularity in his run for US Senate against Democrat Stephen Douglas – a critical issue in the debates was slavery. At the Republican convention, Lincoln’s speech captured national attention. He quoted the bible, “a house divided against itself cannot stand” referring to a country that was “half free and half slave.” While Lincoln lost that election, he won the Presidency two years later, but with only 40% of the popular vote.

Shortly after his win, seven southern states seceded from the Union fearing Lincoln’s position on states’ rights and slavery. Lincoln believed it unlawful for states to secede and maintained US forts in the South. When the new Confederacy fired on South Carolina’s Fort Sumter, the Civil War began. Lincoln faced one of the most challenging periods in the country’s history. His goal, above any other, was to preserve the union.

In doing so, Lincoln firmly advanced individual rights. With the Emancipation Proclamation, he made history by declaring slaves free in rebel states. His strong positions cost him his life when, just one month into his second term, southerner John Wilkes Booth, shot him at point blank range in the Ford Theatre in Washington.

Another great Republican president, considered a “progressive” by many, was Theodore Roosevelt, whose motto was “speak softly and carry a big stick.” Roosevelt was a true populist, comfortable among both the rich and the poor. He brought us:

  1. fair labor practices – he supported coal miners during a strike resulting in higher wages and shorter hours;
  2. the Panama Canal, which dramatically improved commerce;
  3. he supported free enterprise by promoting anti-trust laws;
  4. was the first to put a Jewish person in a cabinet post;
  5. invited the black leader Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House, which was close to scandalous at the time;
  6. greatly expanded the national parks;
  7. was the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize by sponsoring peace between Russia and Japan.

Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower brought us the 43,000 mile Interstate Highway System, which dramatically improved commerce and lifestyles. Under Eisenhower’s watch, the Civil Rights Act of 1957 became law making it possible for all Americans to actually cast ballots. During Eisenhower’s time in office, former Republican California governor and the then Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision, eliminating the “separate but equal” doctrine in education. In 1957, Eisenhower sent in federal troops so that the Little Rock 9, a group of African American teenagers could attend the newly constructed Little Rock Central High School in safety.

There have been many other great Republicans since the days of Lincoln. There simply isn’t enough time to talk about them all, but there are two more I’d like to mention.

This year Ronald Reagan would have celebrated 100th birthday. Many of us have our own thoughts on what made him great. Among his accomplishments were:

  1. his force against communist regimes and the progress made with Russia and East Germany to promote a free world and a strong American defense;
  2. his economic policies to fend off recession;
  3. his tax policies that kept more money in our pockets; and,
  4. his nomination of the first woman to the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O’Connor.

We remember his positive message despite vast calamity. As he was rolled into the operating room after being shot by a fanatic just 69 days into his presidency, he turned to the surgical team and joked, “Please tell me you’re all Republicans.” The surgeon, a liberal Democrat replied, “We’re all Republicans today.”

But the time that his words were so dear to me was just hours after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded killing all seven crew members including Framingham teacher Christa McAuliffe. He ended the talk saying “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of Earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’”

Another Republican president who, in a single action, greatly instilled confidence in the America public was President George W. Bush. It was October 2001, game three of the Word Series in Yankee Stadium just a few weeks after the terrorists’ attacks. President Bush, in the midst of all that fear and anxiety, calmed us when he not only had the courage to stand in the center of a stadium filled with 57,000 people, but the grace to throw the opening pitch with perfection. And it turns out he was under even more pressure than we realized. We learned later that Yankee player Derek Jeter told him not to bounce the pitch because if he did, it was still Yankee Stadium and they’d boo him.

Republicans have had darker moments. Despite Richard Nixon opening the door to China, Watergate left its mark, but from it, we learned the importance of transparency in government actions. We relearned a core truth. We are nothing without the public’s trust and there is no substitute for the utmost integrity in public life.

In Massachusetts, we have been honored to have had Republican governors for 16 of the past 20 years and Bill Weld, Paul Cellucci, Jane Swift and Mitt Romney have served us well. We’ve recently made great strides in the legislature. At the federal level, having Senator Scott Brown in office is a tremendous source of Republican pride.

When we look at our accomplishments, we have so much to be proud of. Depending on the era and the region, at times more conservative Republicans took center stage, at others more moderate. But even with our differences, over the past 155 years we remain strong.

What I believe has held us together as a party are our shared beliefs in individual liberty, individual responsibility, fiscal conservatism and a strong sense that free-markets operate more efficiently than those with undue government influence.

But our ideals don’t always win us elections. Despite Teddy Roosevelt’s advances with labor, we lost many urban voters when Democrats got control of unions. On top of that, Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society created dependence on government programs in large numbers the cities and the voting blocks that tend to go along with them. Urban areas continue to challenge us. In some precincts in Boston this past November (2010), Republicans got as little as 2% of the vote.

In the inner city, some consider us elitists who don’t care about urban issues, who don’t care about working men and women. We must change that perception. Republicans have long supported causes to advance the interests of those in poverty and those looking for an honest day’s work. The key to end poverty’s cycle is education. Through No Child Left Behind, one of the big accomplishments of George W. Bush and members of Congress, the prospect for a great education has advanced in the inner city to help bridge the racial gap in educational achievements.

In 2011, we are at yet another pivotal point in American history. The fiscal crisis at virtually all levels of government makes our work so important. America’s fate lies in our ballot choices in 2012 and 2014. To win elections, our message must be clear from the countryside to the cities. We have to remind the people of who we are and what we stand for. We have a big umbrella. We are the party to support individual liberty; individual responsibility and we believe that, for the most part, the individual can work more efficiently than government. We are proud. We are the working men and women of Massachusetts – and with a solid grassroots operation to support local, state and federal candidate, we won’t let the public forget it!

Library Stairwell