In the past thirty-odd years,the East Hartford Republican Party has taken over Town Hall administration with two completely different approaches. This is an attempt to describe how that came about. There might be a lesson or two for those presently involved.

The make-up of the GOP Town Committee remained pretty much the same in both elections, in mid 60s and some 20 years later. Empty committee seats, poor attendance at meetings, and with an abundance of committeemen who made little effort to perform tasks not unlike that noted at the present time. In the earlier period, a mayoral candidate was secured a few weeks before the election with only a modest entrance to the post and with limited campaign skills, a local businessman. In the later election, the mayoral candidate was very well known having served as a councilperson and more importantly conducted a personal vendetta against the majority party and even her own party in some instances, often on a daily basis.

On performance it must be stated the winner in 1965 lacked people skills and was buffetted about by conflict within the party. Single term. Next winner, actually two consecutive terms, achieved a remarkable feat by enlisting town employees in Public Works, Police and Fire personnel and other in the initial win. The town employees took it upon themselves to wreak havoc on the Democratic Mayor simply because he wanted to run town affairs as a legitimate business operation. A revolt set in and carried over to a second term by the Republican administration. However performance was chaotic in all eight years with many wondering about management techniques or lack of.

But this piece is about how to get there, not what to do when upon arriving. When thinking about it, a last minute candidate with minimal visibility as a fuel oil businessman, a soporific speaker to boot, does not seem to hold the ingredients for victory. But a full time gadfly can make it work.

Basically we're talking about productivity and even more important, accountability. Where town committees have a reputation of dragging their heels, a smart candidate will conduct the race with his/her own people and more or less ignore the committee (who look the other way). Of the two situations explained above how can a lackluster candidate still win?

In both situations described, the majority party pretty much lost because of easily contested issues. But, and here lies the answer; someone must convince the voters wanting a change to vote for the minority party candidate. Should the town committee seek a super gadfly? Should the town committee rebuild the committee along a straight business operation?

These questions can lead to some self-examination by those who lead the party At this point the subject of techniques available have not been mentioned, and there are many proven ways to overcome failure. If the local minority party wish to enter into a discussion on these matters, there's always e mail