Tea Party movement sweeps into South Boston
Photo by John Wilcox
A diverse mix of longtime Southie conservatives and young professionals packed a standing-room-only
Tea Party launch meeting yesterday, energized by Scott Brown’s U.S. Senate win and mobilized by ire at Washington. “The
Tea Party is a movement of all the heroes of this country,” South Boston Tea Party organizer Susan Long told a crowd
of 65 gathered at the Perkins VFW Post. The meeting was part of a burgeoning GOP grassroots revival
from Boston to the Berkshires. Long, a nurse and mom of four, spoke on conservative themes - anti-abortion,
low taxes, small government. Brian Camenker, a Newton anti-gay activist, also spoke, and GOP gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos, Shrewsbury Rep. Karyn Polito and former City Council candidate Doug Bennett also attended. Some
in the crowd took turns venting against the status quo. “We’re tired of the way the
government is treating American citizens,” said a 70-year-old South Boston woman. Jason Healey,
who recently restarted the Ward 7 Republican Committee, said he hoped the gathering would draw out office seekers. “There’s
a lot of politically interested people (with a) conservative tinge in South Boston,” he said. A
year ago, a meeting like this would have been unheard of, said Sara Smiarowski, 30, an accountant and independent voter. Her
husband, Chuck, heads the Greater Boston Young Republicans, which increased membership from 40 to 100. “I
see increased excitement and I attribute a lot of it to Scott Brown’s success,” she said. Several
blocks away, the Democratic machine continued to hum as 90 Dems met and elected state convention delegates. U.S. Rep. Stephen
F. Lynch, Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley, Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and state Rep. Brian P. Wallace were among the attendees.
Red army galvanizing in our bluest towns
Republicans coming
‘out of the closet’ in wake of Scott Brown’s win
 Photo by John Wilcox
The
state’s loneliest Republicans - those who languish in the navy blue regions from Northampton to Nantucket - are shaking
off their years-long malaise and rebuilding a political machine in the land of Birkenstocks and Priuses. “People
are coming out of the woodwork saying, ‘We’ve been Republicans in hiding and now we want to be out and help,’
” said Jeffrey Hopkins, chairman of the City Republican Committee in the old Democratic union stronghold of Fall River. In
the wake of Scott Brown’s victory in his Senate campaign versus Martha Coakley, a surge in interest in the GOP has come
from longtime Republicans, independents, Tea Party activists and even Democrats, dazzling many organizers. “It
was not a team that anybody wanted to join,” said Larry Giunta, 41, chairman of Newburyport Republican City Committee,
which grew from zero members to 60 in one year, thanks to organization and Brown’s win. “The days of meeting in
the basement of your local library and having two or three people show up are over.” The GOP is organizing
across Boston, the heart of the Democratic Party’s network in the state. This past year, Republican ward committees
reorganized in traditionally Democratic Southie, Charlestown and Dorchester. “Since Scott Brown, the interest
has exploded,” said Karen MacNutt of Dorchester, who took over Boston’s Republican City Committee, which, until
November, had not met in five years. In lefty enclave Jamaica Plain - where Republicans make up only 4 percent of
voters and Che Guevara T-shirts are more common than pickup trucks - a new GOP ward committee formed after an eight-year hiatus. “I
got a lot of interest,” said Edward Wagner, 50, who formed the Ward 11 committee in 2008, but only recently started
monthly meetings at Doyle’s Cafe, the traditional Democratic pols’ hangout. Statewide, the GOP has 400
local committees, up from 300 a year ago, said Jennifer A. Nassour, chairwoman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, who
set out in January 2009 to reorganize. Another 200 of 600 possible committees are still unorganized, but Brown’s
victory is revitalizing long-demoralized Republicans. “Since the Brown victory we’ve seen other committees
sprout up,” Nassour said. “We’ve seen more and more people come out.” On Nantucket, where
U.S. Sen. John Kerry windsurfs and lefty celebrities rub elbows every summer, the Republican Town Committee gained 20 members during Brown’s
campaign. “We are, at a grassroots level, feeling empowered for the first time in a long time,” said
Chairwoman Donna Hamel. “It’s lifted the rock and let everybody crawl out.” In the far left of
the state, bucolic Berkshire County, “the big change is at the grassroots level,” said Matt Kinnaman, a Republican
state committee member. “Scott Brown’s victory has ignited new energy among those who have not been involved and
may have been discouraged that it wasn’t going to make a difference.” Dr. Jay Fleitman, who is running
for Congress against Springfield Democrat Richard Neal, said Republicans in his ultra-liberal hometown of Northampton are
finally speaking up. In the past, he said, “You tend not to talk about your political beliefs very much. You
won’t find anyone who agrees with you and you end up getting into fights.” But now, “That’s changing.” The
Northampton Republican Town Committee is meeting in March for the first time since 2008. In Pittsfield, where Coakley
received 70 percent of the vote, Republicans are organizing ward committees for the first time in years. Despite
the momentum, Republican leaders are realistic about success in a state where Democrats outnumber them 3 to 1. In
Boston, despite reorganization, no GOP ward committees have the maximum 35 members, said David Trumbull, secretary of the
city Republican committee. In the People’s Republic of Cambridge, the Republican committee membership is more
active, but numbers are steady. “We’re trying to reach out and create ways for people to come out of
the closet,” said Chairman Henry Irving, 59. “We do face rather insurmountable odds; we’re keenly aware
of that.” And in Newton, Republican City Committee Treasurer Bob Whitten warned that Brown’s victory
in the short, unusual race may have given some of his comrades false hope. “Republicans sense there are winds
of change coming and that may provide openings for Republican candidates,” said Whitten, 69. “That is wishful
thinking.” Indeed, in some diehard Democratic towns - for example Provincetown, where Coakley cruised to victory
- it’s still taboo to be a Republican. One Provincetown businesswoman and closet Republican said she’d
like someone to organize a town GOP group, but she’s not sure it will happen. She didn’t want her name
used out of fear she’d lose customers. “Everybody has to have the courage of their convictions,” she said,
“but I’m worried about my business.” Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1232740
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