Jan Face-Glassman: Voters have opportunity to reclaim the Belknap County Republican Party

To The Daily Sun,

Sept. 13, Belknap County voters have the opportunity to reclaim the Belknap County Republican Party.

The Belknap County Republican Committee’s 2021 bylaw revision created an "exclusive" fraternity. All Republicans used to be welcome at meetings. Now, only registered Republicans residing in Belknap County can apply and must be approved for membership. Belknap County is too small for a BCRC modeled after large counties in other states with a formally-structured Republican Executive Committee of elected precinct members. This Belknap "Republican" fraternity is not the party of Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, or Donald Trump. Visitors may attend a limited number of meetings, but only by invitation. Summer residents pay taxes and donate to local candidates; yet, they are no longer welcome. These same people are ambassadors for Belknap County and the New Hampshire First in the Nation Primary.

At my first BCRC meeting 20 years ago, I felt welcomed as part of a strong, politically-active Republican team. Meetings combined social interaction and political discussion. We may not have always agreed but conversations were reasonable, rational, and respectful. Belknap County was a showcase for Republican politics. We hosted national speakers including David Webb, Sirius and Fox; Frank Gaffney, Center for Security Policy; and numerous presidential candidates. Barnstead-Alton Republican Committee sponsored an internationally-broadcast U.S. Senate debate. Today, it would be embarrassing to bring nationally-respected speakers to BCRC events.

Your vote on Sept. 13 is critical. For Belknap Republicans to again be respected, those state committee members who decimated the local party must be replaced. Delegates elect state committee members who then elect BCRC officers. Delegates are Republican candidates who win their primary plus those running specifically for delegate. Vote carefully for delegates and Republican candidates who will do what is right. Then, advise them whom to elect to the state committee and to leadership to save the Belknap County Republicans.

Jan Face-Glassman

Center Barnstead