Archive for the 'RIRA' Category

RIGOP Nominations Committee endorses RIRA’s President McKay for Chairman

Dear fellow RIGOP Delegates and the RIRA membership:

My friends, I am writing to you as a Party friend and loyalist with the deepest appreciation and respect for the consideration, time, and effort put forth by the RIGOP Nominations Committee for their Official Endorsement of my candidacy to be the next Chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Party. I am truly honored by your confidence in me, and my vision to build-up the RIGOP. I am ready for this challenge.

As you know, the Special Election to choose the next Chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Party will be held this Wednesday, December 21, 2012 at the RI Shriners at 1 Rhodes Place, Cranston, RI. The election will be held in the very same room where we just held the very successful and enjoyable 7th Annual RIRA Christmas Dinner Party on Saturday night. The special election meeting on Wednesday is scheduled to begin promptly at 7:00 P.M., so please arrive early for the credentialing process. There is also a cash bar and dinner menu at the RI Shriners, which you are encouraged to enjoy.

Let me state a few things, to clear up any possible confusion or misperceptions. As I have said many times, it is the grassroots of politics that will help move this Party forward. That means, a leader must lead, but also listen and hear from those whom he would ask to follow him. It was made very clear to me during the RIGOP Nominations Committee process that it would be impractical for me to lead two similar, but obviously different Republican organizations, and to do both well simultaneously.

Let me say this for the record and so there is no misunderstanding: If I am so fortunate as to be elected Chairman of the RIGOP on Wednesday evening, I will submit my resignation as President of the Rhode Island Republican Assembly.

With that said, please know that I am absolutely determined that I will not do to RIRA, what the prior Chair of the RIGOP unintentionally did to the RIGOP by leaving his position so abruptly. The RIRA Board of Directors, as well as myself, have already planned for a very smooth transition to new leadership once I am elected as the new Republican Party Chairman. That being said, RIRA Bylaws are somewhat more complex than those of the RIGOP.

• First, the RIRA Board of Directors must meet to approve my written request to resign. I know this will not be an issue.
• Second, unlike the RIGOP, my leaving the helm of RIRA does not necessitate holding a “special election” to determine my replacement. RIRA already has very clear leadership transition procedures in place.
• Third, as the RIRA Board of Directors already has a regularly scheduled meeting planned for January 7, 2012, and being that we are right in the middle of the Christmas season already, I believe that staying with that previously announced meeting schedule would be best for all of us to be able to enjoy a stress-free, enjoyable, and politics-free Christmastime.

I realize that after over 6 years as the RIRA President, this change will not be easy for some RIRA members to absorb at first. However, it has often been said that “the only constant in life is change.” I want to change the RIGOP and make it something that we can all be proud to belong to. That is my mission, and I know that it is RIRA’s as well. Although I will no longer be the public face or spokesman of RIRA, I will still remain active within the organization. Those RIRA members who may be concerned that their grassroots Republican organization which was built up over a period of 10-plus years will fall apart at the seams without me at the helm, need not worry. RIRA is much bigger than one person. As I’ve often said: “This is not about me.” This is about all of us.

If I am so fortunate as to be elected as your next RIGOP Chairman on Wednesday, I am ready, willing, and able to take on this new challenge — and it will be a challenge. Together, we will create a viable, identifiable, and competently-run Republican Party organization in this “bluest of blue states” which we can all be proud of.

As my role model, President Ronald Reagan often said, “Our best days are yet to come.”

The hard work ahead of us will yield the fruits of change that we, and this State, so desperately yearn for, and rightfully deserve.

Thank you so much for your time, and I ask for your vote of confidence on Wednesday evening.

Conservatively yours,

Raymond T. McKay

President, RIRA
Candidate for RIGOP Chairman