It appears that a crisis is brewing over the Massachusetts College Republicans endorsement of John McCain. A member of the executive board has e-mailed members with the following message (this is an excerpt of the e-mail):
Dear Fellow Massachusetts College Republicans/State Republican Party Leaders:
I write to you today about a very important situation of concern relating to Massachuetts College Republicans. As a member of its Executive Board, I learned with profound dissapointment today that Massachusetts Alliance of College Republicans (MACR) State Chairman Michael Miltenberger, a Florida native, unilaterally decided that the MACR should prematurely endorse the presidential aspirations of U.S. Senator John McCain, a decision that was covered in today's edition of "The Hotline," a major national political news website
Endorsing one presumptive GOP presidential candidate over another when the race for our Party's presidential nomination is still more than eighteen months in the future is premature at best. However, the most dissapointing part of this endorsement is its snide tone and the perception it disingenuously offers. While he has not yet officially announced his intentions, many expect our Governor, Mitt Romney, to announce soon that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. Governor Romney has faced unfair and unwarranted criticism in recent weeks over the authenticity of his conservative beliefs. So you can imagine why national news outlets picked up on Governor Romney's homestate College Republican federation endorsing a likely presidential nomination opponent, Senator McCain, and noting his "authenticity" and "straight talk" - in a subtle but clear jab at the Governor.
Governor Mitt Romney has been an amazing asset to Massachusetts Republicans of all ages these last four years, and many of our members are excited and eager to assist him with his likely presidential bid. But with Miltenberger's unilateral endorsement of Senator McCain today, I speak on behalf of many MACR members concerned that top Massachusetts Republicans supporting Governor Romney's presidential bid would look unfavorably on MACR members because of the imprudence of the current MACR State Chairman.
For the sake of the future of the MACR, the final straw must be today's imprudent act of profound disrespect towards Governor Romney by Michael Miltenberger. The Massachusetts Alliance of College Republicans desperately cries for new leadership. This being the case, I submit the following requests:
*I call upon members of the MACR Executive Board and State Committee to join me in demanding Michael Miltenberger's resignation as State Chairman, effective immediately.
*I urge Massachusetts Republican Party leaders to do whatever is in their power publicly and/or behind the scenes to provide the MACR new statewide leadership.
Sincerely,
MACR Executive Board Member (identity withheld due to fear of retribution)
The member must either be someone working for, or planning to work for, Gov. Romney or someone who is looking to become the next Chairman.
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2 comments:
My sense is that this is fabricated. There are 4 executive committee members. The Chair, the Executive Vice President, the Secretary, and the Treasurer.
Only the Treasurer did not sign the endorsement letter. And it would be hard for him to send the letter anonymously, given the math.
Now, there is a central committee. But, if that's the case, the guy who wrote it is totally ignorant.
As a former state chairman (1990-1991) of the Massachusetts Federation of College Republicans (the immediate predecessor of the MACR), I find the current chairman's actions, if true, unacceptible. Not once during the course of my chairmanship was a single endorsement in a primary made without a vote of the entire Exec. Board after a consultation of the entire Executive Committee. In fact, we largely remained neutral in primary fights as an organization with the exception of the 1990 nominations for Gov. and Lt. Gov. where we endorsed Steve Pierce over Bill Weld and supported Paul Celucci over Peter Torkildsen respectively.
Had we been faced with a similar situation where we had a "hometown" candidate facing others in a presidential primary, I am confident that we would have either supported that candidate or else remained silent and allowed each individual member of the organization to work for whoever they so chose.
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