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To the Editor:
It has been an incredible few months for the Greenwich Republican party. Beginning with conventions, Greenwich Republicans have been busy with voter registration drives, community outreach, fundraisers, Memorial Day festivities, freedom parties and signature collections. Those involved have not only gotten to meet and know each other better, but have had opportunities to interact with dozens more of our fellow Fairfield County residents. It has been a grass-roots push at its purest and finest. This push was inspired by the populist, freedom-fighting segment of the Republican Party. No longer silent, this group has now become the loud majority of the New Republicans. The Common-Sense Conservative Party with a broad streak of Libertarianism. A party of hard working, live and let live patriotic Americans from all walks of life and backgrounds.
Like many of you, I have had the pleasure of getting to know one of these individuals very well over the past 6 weeks or so. Dr. Michael Goldstein is not a politician. He is not a former first selectman. He may not be “polished” in the historical sense of a chosen candidate. He also has no strings attached to Hartford or the state GOP. He is not a cookie-cutter “conservative” candidate who recites all the same platitudes and promises we have been hearing for years. For these and many other reasons, I backed his efforts in the early stages. Sadly, those are the same reasons so many RTCs, following an outdated concept of “electability”, used compulsory block-voting to deprive him of his rightful number of delegate votes.
As a result, Dr. Goldstein was faced with two options: He could either
- Give up and go home, or
- Gather enough signatures to force a primary
He did not hesitate in accepting the challenge – thirty days in which to gather over 2,000 verified registered republican signatures in Fairfield County. Door knocking, attending countless events, many mornings at the town dump, Home Depot parking lots, VFWs, fairs, parades, picnics and anywhere else he could go to shake hands and meet like-minded constituents.
All in all, 3,600 or so signatures were collected. More than One-thousand fifty (1,050) verified in Greenwich alone. That equates to 10% of all registered Republicans in town, signed in under thirty days. A truly remarkable feat, in my opinion. Tens of thousands of people were met; information, opinions and inspiration were shared on many fronts. This push laid the groundwork for policy, talking points and agendas. It was a true poll of public opinion and sentiment.
To my knowledge, the last time a Connecticut candidate for U.S. Congress was able to get on a ballot and force a primary in this manner was forty years ago.
In addition, Dr. Goldstein’s team signed up over forty unaffiliated voters as Republicans, converted at least ten Democrats to Republicans, and helped register at least ten never-been-registered new voters in the process. Always listening, he has leveraged his interactions with constituents for the greater good. To my knowledge, no other single local candidate has ever achieved so much in such a short period of time.
I hope many of you are as inspired as I am by this true testament to democracy and freedom. I encourage you to consider Dr. Michael Goldstein as our Republican candidate to unseat Jim Himes. Anyone with the courage, dedication, tireless work ethic and bravery to overcome such adversity has earned my vote. Some of us saw it within him early on and I am proud to say we were correct. These qualities, combined with his immense knowledge, life experience, and convictions prove he is the most well-rounded candidate to represent all of us this November for U.S. Congress’ 4th Congressional District.
Republicans are building a brand based on truth. Our list of candidates is extremely strong and we will accomplish the red wave our country so desperately needs this November.
God Bless you all and I look forward to seeing many of you over the next several months.
Joe Montanaro
Greenwich, CT