Conservative Political Winds Hit Hard on Massachusetts South Coast

New Bedford ___ Now that I've had a little more time to think about it, the decision to remove Ken Pittman from WBSM’s lineup to make room for social Conservative Mike Huckabee fills a need in my opinion for a stronger social conservative voice on the station, whether that was their motive for doing so or not.

According to Republican State Committee member from the greater New Bedford area,  Brock Cordeiro, “Cumulus Media (the corporate owner in Atlanta) ordered budget cuts months ago, before the New Year, but the station held off until the bitter end.” In other words, according to one of the most entrenched establishment figures in the MA GOP,  it was purely a business decision. 

Still I find the timing interesting that the decision was made at a time when Conservatives are gathering a stonger hold on the MA GOP after many years of progressive leadership and WBSM seems to be getting more and more conservative on a daily basis since Cumulus took over the reigns of the long time talk radio station last fall.

Ken Pittman, who like Cordeiro, prides himself in being a conservative, but in reality is simply another establishment Republican who always seems to support candidates who purposefully shy away from social issues to which I always think …”If not now….when? Talk about a bunch of spineless wimps down here in the bowels of the Massachusetts SouthCoast GOP. 

In fact Pittman who I stated in my earlier post can be quite insulting accused me, a 26 year US Navy veteran of being a Nazi once because I opposed the position of the former head of the MA GOP, Jennifer Nassour,  when she came out in favor of gay marriage, which is hardly a conservative position. Me...a nazi! Bite me, Ken! 

There is much evidence that Pittman, Cordeiro, and many other Republican establishment figures took up stands against prominent social conservative candidates in the past and are still targeting conservative activists, which is quite sad in a state where Republicans only comprise 11% of registered voters.  

One prominent GOP establishment guru, Susan Blais of Attleboro, who has consulted for the campaigns of many GOP moderates in the past including Sean Bielat, and Scott Brown, recently told a source of mine at a meeting at the Shamut Diner in New Bedford, MA (which BTW is owned by another announcer from WBSM that survived the shakeup, Phil Paleologos, of her agenda to target specific social conservatives in the area who I’m proud to say are friends and mentors of mine. 

This is the same Susan Blais who is presently giving training classes to prospective GOP candidates and was invited to speak to members of an RTC (republican town committee) in Fall River, MA  in 2008 and actually screamed at members to NEVER , EVER, discuss social issues in a campaign, especially abortion  and directed her venom at a great man of God and political hero of mine, Earl Sholley, who was running against Barney Frank in the 4th District GOP Congressional Primary at the time,with no help what-so-ever from the MA GOP .In 2010, I’ve been told Sholley's primary opponent, Sean Bielat, was receiving advice and guidance from Blais which explains why Sean appeared to be wishy washy on social issues during his campaign against both Sholley and Barney Frank, causing many South Coast Conservatives to either stay home on election day or leave that part of the ballot blank.  

This is something that RINOs like Pittman, Cordeiro, and Blais never understand….you can’t win an election if you don’t energize your conservative base, as Rush Limbaugh says constantly. “Keep running moderates and you’ll lose”, as happened in 2008 with John McCain. Social Conservatives and particularly Catholic and Evangelical Conservatives are people of principle who are more concerned with standing before their God someday than they are in winning an election and now we're about to nominate another moderate, Mitt Romney….God Help Us! Every body join in the singing of “Where  Have All the Flowers Gone” please…”when will they ever learn…when will they ev…er…learn!”

 Pittman, by the way, was running a private investigative service during the 2010 election cycle and  threatened that he would turn me into one of his "special projects" after I enthusiastically stood up for the candidate I was supporting during a blog discussion and even publicly revealed court records and distorted  reports of a very good man , Earl Sholley, while pretending he was an unbiased  member of the press instead of a political operative for Sean Bielats campaign. I only bring that up because I believe he should have been fired by WBSM for a conflict  of interest and mean spirited movtives  long before this, but that's just my opinion.  So as Obama's pastor, the Reverand Jerimiah Wright, once said...."What goes around,  comes around! Or was it...You're  chickens are coming home to roost or something? Whatever...

Anyway…despite all of the best efforts of the MA GOP establishment  to destroy the burgeoning conservative movement in MA, they failed to prevent what amounted to a long over due revolt by  grass roots activists from taking place on Mar 6, 2012 in the election for MA State Committee members, which was engineered very  quietly from within the ranks of social conservatives and tea party activists following the devestating and embarrasing defeats the  MA GOP  endured during the 2010 state and federal elections under-the-leadership of Nassour, Cordeiro, Blais and their  RINO allies, like Ken Pittman and many other "country clubbers".

The following press release posted by the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA),  explains what happened. 

MARA Members Win 17 Seats on Massachusetts GOP State Commitee

 Posted by NFRA Staff • March 29, 2012

The Massachusetts Republican Party experienced a shakeup in the primary elections of March 6, 2012, thanks in large part to our members in the Massachusetts Republican Assembly.

The Boston Phoenix   featured the changes in a story by David S. Bernstein, “The Massachusetts Republican Party is Undergoing MassiveDisruption--Or Finding the Right Balance, Depending on Your View.” Bernstein traced the struggle of grassroots conservatives to reclaim their party and make party structures work for them on a local level and not just favor the “few elite, moderate, statewide candidates.”

The Phoenix noted that while Mitt Romney may have won the Massachusetts' national primary, “on the same ballot, Republicans also elected their state committee members: 80 in all, one man and one woman from each State Senate district. Thanks to retirements, redistricting, and some surprising upsets, more than 30 MassGOP state committee members were replaced — nearly half.”

The Massachusetts Republican Assembly was singled out as “one of the most active” among the grassroots groups: “MARA endorsed 36 candidates for state committee, 17 of whom won — including 14 new members. And four MARA board members are now on the MassGOP state committee.”

Among the MARA members elected to the committee were Marie Bergeron (district vice president), Mark Bergeron, Deborah Martell, Thomas McCarthy, Mike Potaski (Northeast Regional vice president), Sandra Martinez, Horace Mello (national committeeman), Kim Incampo, Steven Aylward (MARA state vice president), Joyce Kelly, Joe Ureneck, Timothy Sullivan (district vice president), and William Gillmeister. MARA state president David Kopacz, district president Linda Rapoza, and district president Sheila Mullen candidated for seats as well.

The new faces in the Massachusetts GOP are “not as old, or as rich, as has been the norm”--Bernstein observes that Horace Mello is a 23-year-old student at Bridgewater State-- and the NFRA is delighted that Mello, with MARA, are tweaking stereotypes.

We are so proud of MARA’s hard work for freedom and conservative principles. The work is indeed far from over, but we rejoice in MARA’s successfully making such a difference in Massachusetts!

Very informative Press Release. The photo in the lower left is another young conservative up and comer, Timothy Sullivan from Westport, MA who now represents his area on the GOP State Committee. Tim ousted David Rose who had been a thorn in the side of social conservatives for years.