Kristen Hughes wins MA GOP Chair in Tight Race – 41-39 in Long Night in Boston – Opponent Rick Green, Announces Chair. Top Mass Dem Congratulates Media on Twitter

The New Mass GOP Chair, Kristen Hughes – image from Mass Live (Springfield, MA Republican)

In a late night in Boston, the Massachusetts GOP chose a new leader, Kristen Hughes, a , the former Deputy Finance Director for Scott Brown’s campaign and grassroots organizer who had brought more state seats to Beacon Hill in the 2010 elections. She has the experience and, obliviously, the fortitude to meet a challenge.

What is most interesting about this particular GOP State Chair contest is that – there was a contest for Mass State GOP chair. The fact that there may be so-called “division” in the State Party, is being touted by the media as some sort of problem, however, it appears that to have a robust party, one must have an exchange of ideas, rather than a dictatorship or, “cronyism”, the later being prevalent in Bay State politics. In past years, there was little to no “news” on the Mass GOP chair position and very few either cared or knew who was being elected, and to what position within the State Party – things changed in 2009 and 2010. Those being referred to as the “right” of the MA GOP – are the fiscal conservatives and yes, Tea Party members, who were elected to State Committee Seats. Without a doubt, one might suggest that if this were the Democrat Party, there would be “blue dog” Democrats a la Stephen Lynch, MA Congressional Representative, recently announcing a bid for the Senate Seat open via John Kerry’s rise in status as Secretary of State, versus, Ed Markey, also a Congressional Representative and a screaming Progressive, who also is vying to the Senate Seat.

Enter the media, and what was left out of the story as “tweets” coming through last night suggested the following, that there was a “crowd” in attendance to support either one of the State Chair candidates, and that Boston P.D. was brought in for ”crowd control! With the long night and extremely close race, the Mass GOP is seen as marginal, rather than evolving and merging into a competitive party from the ground up. The general consensus among Mass. Politico’s is that “experience” (i.e. the longer one is in a particular elected position) trumps all. In most years it is unusual for a Democrat to have any competition at all, in 2010 there were over 200 Republican’s running for State and Federal offices, a stunning amount. Massachusetts needs good, solid competition going into elections, a two, or three party governments would help shift the Bay State towards reality.

Over at the Boston Globe, , reporter, Stephanie Ebbert, who was in attendance at the GOP Chair election, and “tweeted” throughout, writes about the division and saw the race for Chair as a boost for Scott Brown, should he decide to run for Senate, which is looking likely. “The contentious fight over leadership had further divided the state’s minority party, which is still reeling from its losses in November and is preparing for an upcoming special election to fill John F. Kerry’s seat in the US Senate. Many thought that a loss for Brown’s candidate would leave him looking weak as he potentially positions himself for another ¬political move.” Ms. Ebbert speaks about the Mass GOP chair position being less than valued, as it has had volunteer, temporary chairs, etc (this alone makes it huge that there was an actual fight for the position). She closes by pointing out that the Democrat Chair, John Walsh, has held that position since 2007. (Boston Globe).

John Walsh, on Twitter, returns the favor, by giving a “shout out” to Ms. Ebbert, “Great Work this time, you didn’t even get kicked out!” (Paraphrased, see Screen Shot). Walsh also congratulates Kristen Hughes, and announces Scott Brown’s candidacy for the Senate Seat (which may or may not be premature). Of note, the AP had run a story on the 30th noting that Brown as leaning towards a run, which, if that is the case, Walsh will have his hands full with a primary between a Blue Dog Lynch, and a Progressive Markey, both unknown outside of their own districts. His job, once the dust clears and Markey wins the primary, is to manufacture enough votes to beat Brown a second time. The problem with most special elections is turnout, which will be, honestly, harder for Hughes without the backing of those on the “right” who had backed “Green”, but not impossible, given the 2010 results.

Walsh and the media know that is the case.



Above Screenshot - speaks volumes

What is a treat to watch, as a Massachusetts resident, is the fact that there is actual news about a party other than the Democrat Party! In previous years, a mention maybe on page 57 of the Globe versus this morning’s offering by the Massachusetts Press.

Congratulation to the new Mass State GOP Chairwoman, Kristen Hughes, one two counts, one for being elected and putting up a fight for the position, and two, for making the Democrats and the Globe a bit nervous. Congratulations to Rick Green, who ran a robust campaign, and his commitment to fiscal sanity in the Bay State. The fact that both factions of the Party had a “favorite horse” in the race for the Chair, speaks volumes about the import of the seat and the State GOP. The MA State GOP has always been dismissed in the past, should over the next ten years, one see more Republican State Legislators and State Senators, and City Councilors and Mayors, then those leading the State GOP would have done their job. It’s a long process to the top of the heap, and it starts at the bottom, ward by ward, precinct by precinct – long and arduous but not impossible.

The Bay State needs division rather than one party rule.



Highly recommended insight into Massachusetts Politics

Massachusetts Politics: Special Election – Stephen Lynch (D-MA) Jumps In – No Republican Candidate, Mass GOP – New Chair to Be Elected Today

Politics, in the two-party system - image bostino blog

From The Boston Globe Congressional Representative, Stephen Lynch, announced his candidacy to fill the Senate Seat being vacated by John Kerry, now Secretary of State. The other announced candidate is Democrat Ed. Markey, another one of the nine Congressional representatives in the Commonwealth. Lynch, is possibly a moderate, who had a faced primary challengers from progressive Democrats in the past, and has been noted by the Blog “Buzzfeed” as being “too Conservative” for Massachusetts Lynch is pro-life, voted against the Iraq War and the Obama Health Care Reform Act.

The primary is set for April, 2013 with a special election to follow in June. Markey is favored by the DNC, as a strictly reliable vote, neither man is well known outside of their own districts.

Markey has a site up Ed Markey.org To date, none found for Lynch.

Should no Republican enter the race, Lynch should be given a second look as a moderate. That said Lynch will be with former Senator and newly appointed Secretary of State John Kerry today in Western Mass. The association with Kerry may give those more conservative voters pause.

Meanwhile, the Massachusetts GOP will elect a new chair today. The candidates are Kirstin Hughes and Rick Green. The 80 member Mass COP Committee members will make the selection. As of the 30th of January there was a 1 point difference in Committee endorsements per candidate with Green leading by 1. (Red Mass Group). Green is a fiscal conservative appealing to both moderates as well as the more right wing members of the Mass GOP (keep Mass GOP in mind) – Kirstin Hughes is a GOP stalwart, having worked on Scott Browns campaign. It remains to be seen if the clout of the Boston GOP’s members supporting Hughes will be enough to win the Chair for her against Green. The Mass GOP Chair Election with profiles is available hereat this blog – updated December 12th. At that time, Green was the favorite, again based on party unity.

Texas Governor Rick Perry – Return Tax Surplus to Taxpayers – Follows Alaska’s, former Governor Palin’s Plan -Democrats Balk at Returning Excess to Taxpayers

Rick Perry and his Book - "Fed Up" - how most American's feel on so many issues - image talking points memo

From the El Paso Times : Governor Rick Perry has had the unmitigated gall to suggest that excess taxes collected by the State of Texas be returned to the taxpayers, restore cuts previously made to education and spend additional revenue on infrastructure. The article refers to the Texas surplus as a “so-called rainy day fund”. The rainy-day fund in Texas is at $12 Billion dollars, yet with his proposals Democrats are crying foul. The El Paso Times reports: “But Democrats panned the address as willfully blind to the needs of low-income Texans and school districts.

"What I heard was a lot about investing in infrastructure, roads and water, but not enough about investing in people," said first-year Democratic Rep. Gene Wu of Houston. “ (El Paso Times)

One might say, “It figures” should a Republican wish to return excess tax revenue to those that gave them the revenue in the first place, it’s a problem. It must be a problem to put money into the hands of taxpayers who might spend it and further stimulate the already robust economy in Texas. It is also not investing in people to suggest improving infrastructure, as that provides construction jobs – but then again, Texas is a right to work state, so no union kickbacks to the Democrats whom they support. It is not investing in individuals by putting money back into the budget for education, apparently. As to low-income people, (which now includes anyone who isn’t making more than $40K pre-tax or more) Texas is a mecca for those who want to work and earn a living, get a decent education for comparatively less than other states (especially with Perry’s $10,000 four year degree challenge having taken hold in the State University System). As to the Texas State Sales and other taxes, one can find those at the State of Texas site here: www.window.state.tx.us.taxes). the sales tax rate is a combined state and local rate no higher than 8.25% - every single tax and fee is listed on the site, for both businesses and individuals and includes additional easy to understand explanations of each category.

Therefore, if one is “low-income” and one is paying the same sales tax rate as everyone else, has access to schools at extremely low costs and can expect a refund, somehow this is extremely unfair – if one is a Democrat.

(A note, it is getting to the point where the “war between the parties” is out of control, and frankly, from the media the division between the parties is becoming – ludicrous. If a plan makes sense, should it not be embraced by individual politicians regardless of which party banner they choose? There are good and bad in both parties, the later being the case more often than not – there is very little bi-partisanship unless there is a cave in from one side or the other, by a “gang of five, six or seven”, and it is – in word nauseating. There is a reason why Washington, DC never changes, has a large gap between the haves and have nots, produces nothing and yet is the wealthiest City in the nation. One might find microcosms of Washington, DC in their state capitals – but apparently, that’s not the case in Texas. – with the exception of the partisan press and the obligatory Democrat crying foul. – Thus formations of new political parties should be encouraged)

Perry is not the first to suggest giving tax revenue back to the people – Sarah Palin gave tax rebates on oil production to Alaskans and caught flak for doing so – See Bloomberg.com, complaining about Palin’s increase on taxes to Oil Companies and the rebate of increased tax revenue to the local populace!

State Tax website Comparison

After viewing the Texas State Tax site in paragraph 3, take a look at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Tax informationhere: mass.gov.dor/alltaxes/all taxes-a-z. When one visits a category, there are additional subcategories, and so on.

California (where residents are fleeing to – Texas) offers a county and city taxes – at the Board of Equalization website here - and a State Income Tax site here

For sales tax rates: a list of all 50 states and their sales tax rates – the Sales Tax Institute

For Income tax rates visit the Tax Foundation

It goes without saying that those politicians’ of long-standing (and multiple terms) that cry foul that the “poor” will suffer, if the other guy cuts taxes, or vice versa, understand that they are making scads of money and hanging out with the same lobbyist - they are far removed from their constituents. There are those in this nation who still believe that the government is run by the people, that here is no aristocracy, that those who try hard, do well in school have the opportunity – not the right, to change their income brackets. In this nation, there should be no divide over who has the cash and who does not, as everyone has the right to earn the cash – not given cash on a silver platter for doing – nothing.

It is a philosophy that is uniquely American, and there are few countries if any others, that offer someone from a “lower income” to rise to be a billionaire – on their own wits, steam and hard work. When an individual pays taxes (tribute) to a government – and the government is living large, with ample moneys to run the government itself – then the balance should be proportionately refunded to those how paid – not hoarded or projected in order to fund unnecessary programs or more give aways that prevent individuals from doing what is their right – succeed or fail on their own merits.