Women's Republican Club of Winchester Holds Fundraiser for Candidates

It's a rare opportunity, but something the Women's Republican Club of Winchester does every year. Each September around this time, the club invites the Republican nominations to Winchester for a cocktail party and fundraiser.

It's a chance for some of the Republican candidates who have never met before to introduce themselves, brainstorm with each other about some ideas and use Friday's event as a fundraiser.

"It's an opportunity to network with other candidates," said Winchester's State Senatorial Candidate, Dave Carnivale (R-Medford). "It's to make sure all the Republicans know who's running and gives us a chance to meet them all."

Along with Carnivale, Winchester's State Representative candidate, George Georgountzos (R-Stoneham); Secretary of State candidate, Bill Campbell (R-Woburn); U.S. Congress hopeful, Gerry Dembrowski (R-Woburn) and Richard Tsei (R-Lynnfield) who is running for Lieutenant Governor, were all inside a private home along Everett Avenue for the event.

 "It's a great chance to meet people," said Marie Baratta, President of Women's Republican Club of Winchester. "Our only goal is to get Republicans elected, that's our prime reason for being."

For the candidates, it gave them a chance to meet some of the residents of Winchester who will be helping them get elected to office.

"(Gubernatorial Candidate) Charlie (Baker) and I have been to Winchester a number of times; we have great support here," Tsei said. "A lot of people in Winchester are concerned that Massachusetts has become so unaffordable. They're concerned about the economy and we've had a strong message that has been resonating with people: roll back tax increases, create jobs and clear up the budget."

"These are all my constituents," Dembrowksi said. "These are my supporters for my campaign. There's no 'I' in 'We the people' and our campaigns can't run without the support of the people."

The night served as an unofficial kickoff towards November's Election Day. The candidates gave speeches to their supporters, spoke strategy and were able to here some advice as to how to have a more successful campaign.

But it was also a chance for the Republican hopefuls to get out their message.

"The democrats have a super majority," Georgountzos said. "When times are good that's fine and they can spend that money. But they're very ill-equipped to handle this down turn. Their only solution is to increase taxes to pay their bills."

The cocktail party was the beginning of what many Republicans hope is a very successful run up to Election Day. And Friday night was the first of many opportunities for the candidates to continue to get out their message.

"When we're faced with a  $2 billion deficit you have to make tough choices to balance the budget in a way that allows the economy to grow," Georgountzos said. "Tax increases stifle growth and we will pay for it two-fold if we don't reverse that trend now."