Wednesday, November 29, 2006

CSI: Miami

Don't you think Carusso deserves an Emmy for his performances?

2007 Mission for Manhattan GOP Clubs

The New York Republican County Committee has a list of district clubs throughout the borough. There are 12 Assembly Districts in Manhattan and each is supposed to have at least one corresponding district club.

The purpose of district clubs is to organize registered Republicans in an Assembly District and build the party on the local level. To build the party at the local level in 2007, each district club should increase membership and encourage those members to run for open county committee seats. Below are the level of vacancies in each district, followed by the Manhattan District clubs.


64 AD
New Amsterdam Republican Club
Chinatown Republican Club (no website)
65 AD
Knickerbocker Republican Club
66 AD
Village Independent Republican Club (not active)
67 AD
G&M Parker West Side Republican Club
Riverside Republican Club (not active)
68 AD
(No active Club)
69 AD
The Fighting 69th Republican Club
70 AD
Harlem Republican Club
71 AD
Lionel Hamption Republican Club
72 AD
(No active Club)
73 AD
Metropolitan Republican Club
74 AD
Vincent F. Albano Republican Club
Gramercy Park Republican Club (absorbed into TR Group & Albano Club)
75 AD
The TR Group

The list of county committee members at the Board of Elections as of December 2005.

If you're currently active in the county committee, a district club or you're someone who hasn't gotten involved yet and would like to, here are some suggestions for Republicans in 2007.

1. County Committee Members not involved in their local club should join it for 2007. I'm involved in my district club and I know their are District Leaders and committee members who are not part of local clubs. Most clubs have nominal annual dues, so there isn't a reason for county committee members to not play a role. There's nothing preventing a person from being a member of two or more clubs. Clubs like the Met Club and Young Republican Clubs are good for social events with special guest speakers, but for grassroots work, your district club can play a better role in building the party.

If you're a County Committee Member and learn that your Assembly District's club isn't that active, you can start a club of your own. If you can organize regular meetings of a dozen or so registered Republicans in a District, contact the County Committee and learn how you can register your meetings into an official Club. You can incorporate a new Club in your district, or, County can arrange a way to get you the charter of the official district club, if it's not active.

2. District Club leadership should market their district club and solicit membership. It could be as simple as a postcard mailing to registered Republicans in the district. Each club should have funds available to design and print a club membership card or application. The card or application should include a contact phone number or email, a website if available and should tell the Republican the day of the month the club meets and where. It should also mention that club members are encouraged to run for county committee so their voice can play a role in district politics.

Your target audience would be registered Republicans in your district who actually voted in the last General Election. A district could have 8,000 registered Republicans, but only 2,900 in the district actually went to the polls in the last election. You can obtain the list of Republicans who actually voted from the County Committee.

3. If you're not active at all but want to be, and your area doesn't have a club, and you want to get things started, run for county committee in 2007. The Manhattan GOP is supposed to have two committee reps for each Election District. Each Assembly District has anywhere from 108 to 130 Election Districts. You can petition to get on the county committee. If you visit Grassroots Initiative, you can learn how you can run for representing your Election District and start playing a role in local politics. It's as easy as getting one or two signatures in your Election District for a petition and submitting it with a cover letter to the Board of Elections. Grassroots Initiative can help you with the process. The Board of Elections then registers your petition for a Primary Election. If no one else has submitted a petition, you have officially been elected to the County Committee.

You don't necessarily need to go through the County Organization to get the ball rolling, but once you're on the committee, you will have to. There is also no reason to primary other registered Republicans at this stage of the game. There are plenty of Election Districts out there with vacancies and according to election law, you don't have to represent your Election District. You can be a committee member for the ED next to the one you live in.

There are over 1875 vacant committee seats in Manhattan, so we have a lot of work to do in 2007. We will have accomplished a lot if we can reduce our vacancy level to triple digits instead of quadruple digits. Each and everyone of us needs to play a part, so let's start by making 2007 a year of grassroots party development.