Boston Globe: Nassour facing Challenger defends role as GOP head

By Stephanie Ebbert / December 26, 2010

The same Worcester Republican state committeeman who tried to have the State Republican Party chairwoman removed last month is now challenging her for the post, calling for a series of five debates across the state before the vote.

Bill McCarthy, a Republican activist and political science professor, blasted GOP chairwoman Jennifer Nassour for the party's showing in the November election. Though Republicans picked up seats in the state House, they lost every statewide and congressional election - a disappointment in a year of Republican gains nationally.

McCarthy blames Nassour's focus on the governors race, and he argues she did not do enough to support legislative candidates or to get out the vote. McCarthy said he would focus on redistricting, voter fraud, and the upcoming local elections, as well as rebuilding the GOP grassroots, with an eye toward the Tea Party movement uprising. "The current leadership wasn't as welcoming to the Tea Parties as I am," McCarthy said.

Nassour, who has served a chairwoman for two years, defended her performance and said she paid particular attention to the grass roots, holding training sessions for candidates and for legislators, building up a fund-raising list, and helping to jump-start some 100 new Republican town committees across the state. "This is all about who is best for the Republican Party in Massachusetts and who has the best vision and ideas," she said. "I think that my record speaks for itself. For the first time in 20 years, we actually won seats in the Legislature, having 36 members between the House and Senate is phenomenal for us."

Nassour survived a procedural coup that McCarthy tried to stage at a state committee meeting in November, and she expressed cautious optimism about her reelection. The vote on the chairmanship is planned for January 6th so that the new chairman can participate in the election of the new national chairman the following week, Nassour said. McCarthy is disputing the time frame, suggesting the vote is just after the holidays because Nassour is trying to "fix" the election by scheduling it while people are distracted.