Strafford County Republican Committee

SOMERSWORTH — Close to 75 people braved the wintry mess Friday night to attend the Strafford County Republican Committee Lincoln Day dinner.

Phyllis Woods, Strafford County Committee chair, welcomed the crowd to The Oaks and thanked them for coming out in the bad weather. “I guess this is some of that global warming the Democrats have been warning us about,” she joked, before introducing many of the night’s guests.

In attendance were former U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley, state Sen. Joe Kenney, state GOP Committee Chairman Fergus Cullen and the night’s keynote speaker, U.S. Sen. John Sununu. Massachusetts state Senate candidate Jim Ogonowski was scheduled to speak as well during the dinner, but due to the inclement weather was unable to make it.

“This evening was designed to be a thanks and testimony for Senator Sununu,” Woods said. “We want to especially recognize his efforts that led to the defeat of the inclusion of new energy taxes in our recently passed national energy bill, and we want to thank him for his leadership in helping keep taxes and energy costs from getting further out of control.”

Woods said the turnout for the event was great.

“We usually have a good turnout,” she said. “Republicans come out regardless of the weather.”

There was a standing ovation as Sununu walked to the podium. “I consider myself a pretty normal guy,” Sununu said. “Unlike most in the Senate, I will be brief.”

Sununu spoke primarily about the Republican Party’s founder, Abraham Lincoln.

“Lincoln understood that our country’s freedom was tied to the individual’s freedom,” he said. “What makes our party strong is our confidence in people.”

The senator equated what he said was the strongest economy and strongest country in the world to Republican ideas. “We put trust in the men and women that serve in the armed forces. We put our trust in people, and when it comes to our communities and our country it isn’t the government,” he said. “It is the people.”

Sununu said liberals place confidence in big government and bureaucrats. “They want the government to control health care, to control business and our communities. This all goes against the beliefs that our party was founded on.”

“We are the strongest and best state in the country. We are the strongest and best country in the world and that is because we place our trust in the individual,” he said. “The ideas that have made New Hampshire the greatest state are our low taxes, the limited government, more local control and keeping the trust in the hands of the people.”

New Hampshire’s junior senator said he believes government control over businesses and health care is wrong for everyone.

“It is wrong for the communities, its wrong for the economy. It takes away our rights as individuals.”

State Sen. Joe Kenney said, after Sununu’s speech, how impressed he was with his message.

“He really represents New Hampshire. He is the youngest and brightest senator and the only engineer on the Senate.”

Kenny mused about how strong Sununu’s family values were and how well he represented small businesses.

“New Hampshire needs to hold on to him,” Kenny said of Sununu, who is seeking re-election this year. “He is a bright, young and talented man. He, along with his wonderful staff, has done a lot for this state.”

Source: Foster’s

The Strafford County Republican Committee began the year with a whole new slate of officers and a host of new committee members.

With the goal of electing Republicans to office in 2008 a number of initiatives were begun with an eye to increasing membership and participation in our county events. Members were encouraged to invite friends and associates, anyone who is interested in working to take back Republican seats in 2008, to come to our meetings and become activists in this effort. Consequently we have been fortunate to have new people at practically every monthly meeting in 2007.

Early in the year we began planning for a Lincoln Day Dinner and were happy to have Congressman Duncan Hunter as a guest speaker at the Oaks for a great dinner and a delightful evening program where we had approximately 120 members and guests.

Simultaneously we began work on a new website which has been up and working since early in the year and can be found at www.straffordcountyrepublicans.org We post our meetings and events, bylaws, links to other appropriate sites, and other items of interest, including a blog.

A bylaws committee was named and they met several times and crafted a whole new re-write of our county committee bylaws. One of the goals was opening up the process of allowing new members to come on board and, while they would not be elected members of the State GOP Committee, they would be able to have full membership in the Strafford County Republican Committee. Growing our organization and bringing in increasing numbers of Republican activists is an important goal of our board and our committee.

To complement this change, a Membership application was made available, and can be found on the website, which allows any interested newcomer to become a full voting member of our county committee. The number of County committee members who are also voting members is limited to thirty-eight but we are able to have an unlimited number of County committee members.

Meetings were scheduled to be held on Saturday mornings one month and on Thursday evenings on alternating months in response to a questionnaire in order to accommodate the schedules of as many members as possible. Our monthly meetings have averaged between thirty and sixty members.

In March, our county committee held its first three-hour training for city and town chairs and those who are interested in working on organizing city and town committees throughout the county. Nearly two dozen people attended the breakfast training where they heard from several speakers and leaders.

A new picnic committee worked for many weeks to put on our annual County committee picnic fundraiser which was held in a new venue in Center Strafford. With nearly five hundred people in attendance to hear from a number of presidential candidates and other state politicians, we were tremendously encouraged with its success.

Our committee has hosted, along with the candidates, two luncheons; one with approximately thirty in attendance to hear John Cox of Illinois and another with about two dozen in attendance to hear Dr. Hugh Cort of Alabama. This is our ‘retail politics’ at work in New Hampshire where we have the benefit of meeting so many relatively unknown candidates who have a message they want to get out. At our monthly meetings we have had a variety of speakers and candidates and have heard from former Congressman Jeb Bradley and former HHS Commissioner John Stephen. Congressman Tom Tancredo brought about eighty people to our meeting to hear his as our guest speaker.

The committee has had two events where they have had an opportunity to socialize and fellowship with other members; one was at the Weathervane Restaurant in Dover where we were treated to a free luncheon courtesy of WTSN for the donations that were made last year to the Caring and Sharing program, and another where members came together for a breakfast brunch Christmas party at the Gateway Restaurant.

Our members have been very busy this year as many attended the presidential debate at UNH this summer and the State GOP Committee meeting in Manchester this fall. Many have also signed onto the campaigns of a large variety of presidential candidates. Members have also hosted events for the candidates at their homes throughout the year and have worked to organize their city and town committees.

We participated with a booth at the Rochester Fair and Apple Harvest Day in Dover to hand out literature on the candidates and encourage people to join our committee. We also had a table at the Main Street event on presidential visits in Dover. Many volunteers were involved in these efforts.

I would like to thank the members for their faithful participation with our committee efforts, especially those members who gave many hours of work and effort on our special events. We have a lot of work ahead of us as our challenge is to recruit candidates and get Republicans elected in 2008. A lot has been accomplished and we have had a great start to this two-year term thanks to the hard work and efforts of many members.

Certainly special thanks should go to the folks who have worked so hard to put together this and other issues of Elephant Prints. The county committee supports and applauds their efforts.

Phyllis Woods, Chairman
Strafford County Republican Committee

The annual Strafford County Republican Picnic was held on August 18th, 2007. Here are the results of the straw poll that was held.

Sam Brownback 1
Fred Thompson 3
Rudy Giuliani 3
John Cox 5
Duncan Hunter 5
John McCain 7
Tom Tancredo 8
Mike Huckabee 20
Mitt Romney 26
Ron Paul 208