Political Operative accused in false Facebook pages

A political operative was ordered to appear in court recently, accused by fellow Republicans of stealing their town committee's identity by setting up a Facebook page to tout a candidate he favored in a contested central Massachusetts primary race.

Ralph Zazula of Bedford appeared in a clerk magistrate's hearing in Ayer District Court, where Shirley Republican Town Committee members presented their complaint.   Previously, Committee chairman Kevin Hayes went to the Shirley Police claiming Zazula had set up a Facebook page that purported to represent the views of the town committee without permission.

Hayes said Zazula's posting made it appear that the town committee was backing Tom Weaver, who was running against Jon Golnik for the Republican nomination for the third congressional seat currently held by Nicki Tsongas (D-Lowell).  Police confirmed they investigated the matter, and advised Hayes to take the matter before a magistrate.

Marlboro Republican City Committee chairman Paul Fero, meanwhile, said he wants to get control of a similiar Marlboro-related Facebook site which he said "gave the false impression that the we were supporting Weaver.  We were not intending to endorse anyone."

Zazula informed the Boston Herald that he started more than 27 pages that were identified by a town name and included the words GOP.  He said none of his sites used the actual names of the committee's Republican committees.   Zazula, defending his actions, claimed that he "created these pages because I had an interest in making connections to the community.   Zazula said he believed that the matter will thrown out of court because it was not a violation of the law."

A spokesman for Weaver, who lost the Republican primary to Golnik, said the former candidate is standing by Zazula.

  

Grassroots Effort Wins in Wisconsin

Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus in remarks made on Twitter noting that the Recall win by Governor Walker was made possible by the crucial support of dedicated volunteers stated: "In less than four years after Obama won Wisconsin, Democrats lost an election of their own making.  That's because the GOP excelled at our ground game, now giving us a significant advantage for the presidential race." Priebus argues, "Working with the Wisconsin GOP, the RNC ran joint voter contact Victory operations and opened 26 statewide offices.  Since January our volunteers made over 4 million voter contacts, more than the GOP did in the entire 2008 campaign and substantially more than Democrats and their union allies in this election... In the process,more than 3,400 Wisconsin volunteers have signed up to help the Party.  And the data collected by door-to-door volunteers for Governor Walker was all properly added to the RNC's data center, thanks to the use of iPads, iPhones, and iPods."

 

Test of Fire: Election 2012

The Roman Catholic Church has come out with a very powerful ad.   It is a compelling video, and a must see.

To view video, click here.

Rest in Peace

We are saddened to learn of the death of Adelaide (Landi) Penta of Medford, beloved wife of the late Anthony N. Penta on Friday May 4th.   She was the mother of Richard M. Penta and his wife Irene, Medford City Councilor Robert M. Penta and his fiance Susan Conley, and Anthony J. Penta and his wife Mary.   Adelaide was also the mother-in-law of the late Linda Penta.

Regrets and sympathies are extended to on behalf of the Committee to former City Committee Chairman and Ward Eight member Robert (Bob) Penta and to the rest of the entire Penta family on their loss.

 

Winchester Star Stifles Writer's Free Speech

Lynne Eagle a conservative journalist from Winchester who has contributed articles regularly to the Winchester Star has been informed by the Editor that "she may not submit political pieces during election season because it is unfair to those who disagree with [her]."

This action by the Winchester Star appears to be yet another effort to stifle views that the mainstream media would prefer not to be discussed or revealed in public by persons they do not agree with.  'Letters to the Editor' have historically been the public soapbox available to all.

The question that remains is who will be allowed to express an opinion on issues or reveal facts about candidates for public office?

Letters to the Editor

Congratulations to Richard Grant and Mark Cresse for their expressions of support for US Senator Scott Brown in the April 19th edition of the Medford Transcript.  Both submitted 'Letters to the Editor' that were published.  Their efforts are not just expressions of defense against unfair partisian criticism but well written commentary.

State Committee Elections Mixed

With 79 elected and re-elected State Committee members in attendance, and one vacancy, barely a handful of votes decided two highly contested elections during the organizational meeting of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee which took place on Thursday April 5th.

The election process began with a highly emotional race for Republican National Committeewoman in which former Lt. Governor Kerry Healy was elected over activist Channel Prunier. The election became very fluid after the incumbent Jody Dow withdrew from the race the previous week and Healy entered the contest.

Healy's election was quickly followed by the unanimous re-election of Ron Kaufman for Republican National Committeeman.

The other highly watched election, the election of Vice-Chair of the State Committee, followed. Jean Kangas was re-elected by a slim-but-firm margin over new State Committeeman Steve Alyward.

In other officer elections, Brent Anderson was re-elected as Treasurer of the State Committee, Angela Davis was elected as Secretary, Elizabeth Mahoney was elected as Assistant Treasurer and Bonnie Johnson was elected as Assistant Secretary. Each of the four were elected without opposition.