1. The first step in rebuilding the party is to contact your county committee and offer your time and support by seeking the smallest elected (or appointed) position within the party. The smallest unit in NYC would be a county committee representative for an Election District (ED). Each ED should have two representatives and there can be anywhere from 70 to 130 EDs in each Assembly District (AD). A committee rep serves a term of two years.

The responsibilities for a committee rep are quite simple. When candidates need to petition in your district, you should collect signatures from your republican neighbors to assure ballot status for a candidate. You may also be responsible for calling your neighbors and informing them about a candidate and the issues that he or she is running on. As a committee rep, you become the connection between the local party and the average registered voter.

A recent non-partisan study called Democracy Takes A Nap was performed by Grassroots Initiative and it found there are over 14,000 vacant committee seats between the Republican & Democratic committees. More than 5,500 Election districts have no committe reps at all. The Democratic Party has the 5-1 voter ratio advantage, so they don't need to worry as much with all the vacancies. The Republican Party, however, should make an attempt to have at least one county committee rep for an Election District. This would further connect the republican party with the registered voters on a block to block basis.

2. Using Manhattan as an example, if there are to be roughly 200 committee reps per Assembly District and there are twelve ADs in New York County. That means there should be 2,400 county committee representatives for Manhattan alone. You might think, how would the county committee be able to keep so many committee reps interested in political action? The best way to keep committe reps involved is to have monthly meetings and the best way to organize meetings is to organize a republican club. Clubs are important, because they gather like-minded individuals to listen and discuss current events and political issues that every New Yorker faces.

My first recommendation would be to learn if there is a Republican Club in your Assembly District. Of course, we would welcome anyone to join the New York Young Republican Club, but we encourage you to also get involved in a district club, especially if you desire to build the Republican Party on a local level.

District clubs are a great source of support for candidates running for City Council, Assembly, State Senate or the US House of Representatives. It should be a given that if you are a county committee rep for an ED, you are also part of your local Club, so you can be available to volunteer in some capacity for these candidates. Returning to the county example, the Republican Party should have at least one club in every AD, which means a minimum of twelve clubs. And, if the club is successful in filling committee seats and every rep is a member of the club, the district could split and create a second club. The Democratic Party already has two, three, even four clubs in many Assembly Districts throughout New York City.

The New York Young Republican Club will gladly assist anyone who is interested in becoming a county committee representative and joining their local district club.

Becoming a county committee representative and joining the local district club (as well as being a Young Republican club member) helps build the Republican Party at the local level outside of elected government office. Now with a strong force, the Republican Party should have the army to get a candidate elected, because the candidate's message will have hundreds of soldiers working on the streets and making a candidate known. But the message needs to resonate. Without a message that differentiates a candidate from the democratic opponent, the numbers generally go to the numbers with voter registration. Not one City Council District, Assembly District nor Senate District in New York City has more registered Republicans than Democrats.

The forum last night showed that there are issues for republican candidates. In order for our party to return to some viability, we need to break away from the current establishment and mean something to the People of New York.
1. We should not apolgize for being a Republican.
2. We should have five key issues that differentiate us from a democrat and mean something to voters like: taxes, education, quality of life, government & housing reform. One attendee suggested a "Contract with New Yorkers", similar to Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America".
3. If two or more individuals wish to run for a local office, we shouldn't shun primaries. If we are successful in building district clubs and base of committee reps, there will be plenty of activity for multiple candidates. Competition should also get press. Local papers and even regional papers would leap on coverage of a republican primary. Why? Because it would be novel. A Republican Primary for a local seat? It doesn't happen. Democrats do it all the time and are constantly in the paper on a daily basis during election season. Republicans should learn to do the same. Plus, campaigns can attract people to the party who may wish to join a club or get involved and become a county committee representative. Remember, press is FREE! and it helps get your message out.

Clearly, a lot needs to be done if the Republican Party wishes to to be a force in New York City politics. The seeds are there. As Republicans, we need to continue watering the seeds, so they grow the party into a strong force in local government.