Aniskovich Joins Race to Lead State GOP.
Former state Senator William Aniskovich is a candidate to become Republican state chairman. The contest for the position will be held by the 72 members of the party’s state central committee in June.
Aniskovich left politics in 2004 after loosing his seat in the state Senate to Democrat Ed Meyer. The Branford Republican has been testing the waters for several weeks and mending tattered connections from his colorful 8 terms in the legislature.
Other contenders may soon join the race, including Tom Foley campaign manager Justin Clark and well-regarded Greenwich Republican Town Committee head Jim Campbell.
State central members can often prove slippery in making firm commitments to supplicants. Proxies for members who are unable or unwilling to attend the election convocation can further complicate the process.
6 comments
Bill is the right choice for the position. Despite his past he has a great relationship with the party and can work within the establishment but is not responsible for the current miserable state of the party.
I think Aniskovich will bring great energy and intelligent leadership to the Republican party of this state. Glad to hear this news… it’s time for his comeback!
KEEP HEALY CHAIR!
Finally in this posting there is a discussion of the fact of just how extremely closed and cloistered the process is to elect a new CTGOP Chairman.
A review of the GOP State Party Rules states that only the 72 voting members of the State Central Committee are allowed to select the next Chairman.
The voting members of the State Central Committee are comprised of two representatives from each of the 36 State Senate districts who are picked in a convention by delegates selected by local members of the Town Committees whose membership is dictated in practice by a few local insiders in each town.
As you can see, what starts as a closed process resistant to change at the Town Committee level feeds the selection of delegates likely possessing the same aversion to change who then select the members of State Central, who then vote to elect the Party Chair.
The sad reality of the current process is that a candidate who is a well connected insider (i.e. part of the problem) has a huge advantage over a candidate with new ideas and maybe better solutions to the obvious problems we face.
Unfortunately, what the successful candidate for State Chair says to the media and the state’s Republicans in public is not nearly as important to what he/she says in person to at least 37 ultimate insiders on the State Central Committee who are, as the process stands, hardly truly representative of the state’s millions of Republican voters.
Yet another example of why we keep losing.
Thanks to Kevin for beginning to pull back the curtain.
Hey patrick, instead of complaining about the process why don’t you get involved in your local TCs. Then you might see the process is pretty fair and open, not some Wizard of Oz boogie man as you suppose.
I truly wish that Tom Foleey would get elected as chairman of the CT Republican Party. He would be great at that role. Then after cleaning things up for a few years around the state, he could run for Mayor of Greenwich and that would be very good too. Go go go TOM FOLEY!
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