Salisbury Republican Town Committee - SRTC Letters & Opinion

Salisbury Republican Town Committee
Review of 2010 & 2011 to date

Date: September 19, 2011
From: Chris Janelli, Chairman
To: SRTC members, friends and supporters

Re: 2010 & 2011 to date review

Thank you all for helping make 2010 a huge success despite a dismal and disheartening across-the-board defeat in the 2010 Election.

In one way or another, everyone contributed to re-energizing the Salisbury Republican Party. I attribute Salisbury's 80% GOP voter turnout in the 2010 Election to be a direct result of the hard work and dedication of a great Town Committee and the commitment and support of our Republican friends and neighbors.

To recap 2010, here's a list-no doubt incomplete-of our collective achievements:

In 2010, the Salisbury RTC members
1. Revitalized the Salisbury Republican Town Committee;
2. Increased Committee membership through returning past members and new members;
3. Updated committee Bylaws;
4. Launched an SRTC web site;
5. Supported Committee member Candidate Kathy Lauretano and Campaign Treasurer Vivian Nasiatka in Kathy's hard run 64th House District campaign to unseat a 10-year incumbent;
6. Met, endorsed and supported many state and national GOP candidates;
7. Organized and supported northwest corner "Meet the Candidate" events;
8. Brought in several distinguished speakers (Constitutional Attorney Deborah Stevenson, Sean Murphy,local conservative author Michael Walsh- aka David Kahane and Rick Torres who is the GOP candidate for Mayor of Bridgeport this November - this is a key race to watch as the Democrats outnumber the Republicans 10:1, but Rick has a message that attracts the intercity minority vote);
9. Actively participated in the Primary and 2010 Elections as poll workers and HQ workers;
10. Embraced "bulk mailing" and direct mail as a better and low cost way to reach Salisbury voters;
11. Actively published Letters in the Lakeville Journal written by numerous committee members;
12. Became more proactive in attending the various town meetings;
13. Raised in excess of $10,000 with support of committee member Anne Harris Milliken, Seth Milliken and David Harris under Event Chairman Leonard Straus - our best effort ever;
14. Proactively reached out to the Salisbury community, especially registered GOP and Unaffiliated voters;
15. Commenced planning for additional community outreach events to all members of the community, including families with children;
16. At year's end (December 2010) the Salisbury RTC took the initiative to start organizing for the end of January(2011) a State Central 30th District Chairman-Vice Chairman Conference to discuss the 2010 Election, the State Convention, Chairman Healy, the State GOP's role in a dismal across-the-board state & national defeat, and to start a cohesive process of determining who our District's 15 RTC's will nominate as State Central Candidates for this year's State Central Elections.

This summer the SRTC held a tag sale organized by Kathy Lauretano and on Saturday night of the Fall festival weekend (Oct 8th from 7-9 PM) member Dana Scarpa has organized a family Hoe-Down square dance at Riga Mountain Stables.

Lastly, committee member Leonard Straus with both nearby NW Corner residents and RTC members and non-RTC members initiated the Thatcher-Reagan Forum that was announced at Annie and Seth's SRTC cocktail party. While this is not a Salisbury RTC forum, it is something that the SRTC - as well as other NW Corner RTCs - will support and sponsor as a conservative voice in our surrounding morass of progressive liberalism. The first lecture on Margaret Thatcher was delivered by Noel Sloan at the University of South Carolina this past spring followed by a lecture to a small gathering locally this past July. The Forum organizers are now working to arrange for the lecture to be hosted at one or two Salisbury venues that can handle a significantly wider town audience. This will be publicly announced, so stay tuned as it is a historically factual and fascinating lecture.

None of this year's achievements and success could have been done without the dedication of committee members who helped with envelope stuffing, stamping, letter writing, attending candidate events, and simply doing what needed to be done. I can confidently say that all Salisbury residents recognize that the Republican Party is revitalized, alive and well and working for change in Salisbury, Connecticut and the Nation.

2011 brought additional challenges, not least of which was our mid-year State Central Election, which included electing a new State Party Chairman and whole new executive team, plus the upcoming November Municipal Election. The SRTC held its nominating caucus in July, which was attended by over 100 Republicans.

In closing, I have been attempting to determine when the Salisbury RTC was started. Going through Town Records and Annual Reports, I discovered the first mention of the Salisbury RTC was is 1959. That year, David Harris was Treasurer and Robinson Leech, Sr. was "Publicity Officer" - and the First Selectman's salary was about $6,000! There were 1,400 Registered Republicans and only 460 Democrats and 420 Independents!

According to the Secretary of State's offices, the first SRTC Bylaws filed with the state by Robinson Leech, Sr. were dated Oct. 4, 1961. The 1963 Town Annual Report showed that Robinson Leech was both the SRTC Chair and our State Representative, and Salisbury had 1,395 registered Republicans, 450 Democrats and 310 Independents. In 1970, the year I graduated from Salisbury School, the First Selectman's salary was $10,000 and there were 1,426 registered Republicans and only 470 Democrats and 280 Independents.

Yes, times have changed as have the town's demographics with the political winds. We may be down but we are far from out.

The good news is, the Democrats own Connecticut's fiscal future lock, stock, and barrel and it doesn't look good. The winds of change are shifting to the GOP and what we do during the rest of 2011 and in the 2012 election years WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE both in Connecticut and the nation.
Thanks everyone. It's been a real pleasure to work with the SRTC members and get to know so many of our faithful Republican friends and neighbors.

On behalf of the entire SRTC team, we look forward to facing and meeting the challenges ahead.

Sincerely, Chris

RSS
September 19, 2011
Salisbury Republican Town Committee
Review of 2010 & 2011 to date

August 11, 2011
There's A Failure of Leadership in D.C.
America went to the precipice of socialism to be soundly rebuked

May 20, 2010
Invitation to Representative Roberta Willis

more Salisbury RTC Letters...