February « 2009 « RHODE ISLAND REPUBLICAN ASSEMBLY | The Republican Wing of the Republican Party in Rhode Island

PROVIDENCE, RI — When state Republicans gather at Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet for their annual RIGOP convention March 19, their more conservative members will be seeking support for a proposal to restrict Republican primaries to registered Republicans, and require that voters produce a photo identification before they are allowed to vote.

Republican Governor Carcieri pushed Vote ID last year, but it foundered on a shoal of objections from the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union and 20 other organizations, ranging from the AARP to Common Cause to the Commission for Human Rights.

Carcieri said in his mind there is “no downside.”

But the ACLU argued: “These laws disenfranchise eligible voters, pose a particular burden on poor, elderly, disabled and minority voters, and divert attention from more serious problems facing the voting process – all in an attempt to ‘fix’ a largely non-existent problem of alleged voter impersonation.”

On the primary front, anyone who is unaffiliated – which describes most of Rhode Island’s registered voters – can vote in either a Republican or Democratic primary now, and then disaffiliate again on their way out the door.

Both proposals have emanated from the Rhode Island Republican Assembly, which bills itself as the Republican wing of the Republican party…working to unite all conservatives — both economic and social — whose interests range from tax cuts and reform to national defense, from Pro-Life to education concerns, from Second Amendment to national sovereignty.”

Also on the agenda for the state Central Committee RIGOP Convention: the election of a state GOP chairman.

Asked today if he intended to step aside, the current state GOP chairman Giovanni Cicione e-mailed this response: “I was seeking a successor, but no such luck. The deadline for nominations has passed and I’m the only candidate. There are races for 1st Vice Chair (3 way) and Treasurer (2 way). 2nd Vice and Secretary have only a single candidate.”

“The voting will likely take up the bulk of the evening,” he said.

Source: The Providence Journal

PROVIDENCE — A group of conservative Rhode Island Republicans is moving to close GOP primaries in the state so that only registered Republicans could vote to nominate the party’s candidates for elective offices.

The Rhode Island Republican Assembly (RIRA), billed by President Raymond McKay as “the Republican Wing of the Republican Party” voted last week to petition the state Republican Party to amend its by-laws to allow the change.

It is part of RIRA’s effort, McKay says, to “bring the party back to its conservative roots, to turn the party back to where it needs to be.” The organization conforms in many ways, he said, to the principles of former President Ronald Reagan, a conservative Republican who, McKay points out, carried Rhode Island in the 1984 election.

“We are not a different party,” McKay responds when asked about the reputation of Rhode Island Republicans as being moderates. “Our goal is to resurrect and save the Republican brand. We work within the Republican Party to support Republicans. We support the Constitution, we support the amendments, we support life, we are conservative Republicans.

“We are not, as some might call us right-wing kooks or neo-cons, nothing of that nature,” he insists. “We believe in diplomacy, we believe in working through the system and educating the opposition, whether they be fellow Republicans or Democrats.”

It may sound funny, but McKay declares that the way for Republicans to win in one of the bluest of the blue states is to not compromise.

“You have to give the voters something different to get them to think differently. You can’t be Democrat and Democrat Lite. You have to be something different.”

That is at least part of the idea behind making GOP primaries Republican only.

“It is important for Republicans to get their self-identity back,” McKay told The Times, “to define who we are. We do not need people who do not have the fortitude to put an ‘R’ next to their names. If you do not believe in us, then there is the general election for you. But if you want to be a participant and choose who the leaders of the Republican Party are, then by all means you are more than welcome to join us. We want you at the table, but if you can’t come to the table, then you are going to have to wait for us to make the decision.”

McKay does not think that reserving the primaries to party members will alienate non-affiliated voters to the point where they would not vote Republican in the general election.

“I don’t think they would go away,” he said. He believes that “Independents probably lean more right than left. They are conservative with their money, they don’t want government coming in and taking their wallets. Business, obviously, is all about smaller government and lower taxes. So when you get down to the day to day tactics, people tend to be more conservative fiscally.

“Social issues,” he adds, “that’s another issue we can work on. A lot of the people who come up here from the Third World up here tend to be very socially conservative. But they are Democrats because their friends are and everything else.”

He says unaffiliated voters can be swayed to support Republicans “if we give them something to believe in.”

Giovanni Cicione, chairman of the state Republican Party, says he is not sure what effect a closed primary could have on the GOP’s candidates. While RIRA believes it could bring the party’s nominees to the political right somewhat, “there is also another camp that says it might draw Republican-leaning Independents into the party and drive the party more to the center,” Cicione says. “When people are forced to make a choice to register as Republicans or not be able to vote in the Republican primary, then they will register as Republicans. It will grow the party and bring it more to the center.”…

Read More: The Pawtucket Times