Last night was the first Fairfax County Republican Committee meeting under the leadership of new committee chairman Tim Hannigan and the energy was very positive.
Around 300 attendees filled the room to hear Hannigan offer his plan for re-organization. Among his new structure is replacing full-time paid staff with a large team of volunteer vice-chairs to free up the allocation of funds to better help Republican nominees. In a county with a population as large as Fairfax’s the pool to draw from is large enough to find plenty of talented volunteers. The new structure will embolden the volunteer base. New ideas and new approaches on how to engage the community are encouraged and welcomed.
Hannigan spoke of the need to cease the in-fighting that plaques too much of the GOP. We need to concentrate on outward fighting with our Democrat opponents. Hannigan also stressed the need for the county committee to function more like a business, with chartable goals to monitor success.
Another welcomed change Hannigan has already led is a brand new website for the committee. This new site is much more user friendly with a ton more information than the previous one. Check out the link here.
I am told not everyone enjoyed the PowerPoint presentation, but that is something that was needed for the first meeting to outline the changes, which will require some change to the Party Plan. The membership will need to vote on those changes and therefore they need to be informed. Future meetings will not include such lengthy presentations. But the monthly meeting is a business meeting so expect a business style format each month.
The last four years have been dismal for the FCRC. The mood at their meetings has been a defeatist rush to hurry through the meeting so that people could get home, giving members little reason to be an active participant. Hannigan’s focus on winning elections and positive can-do spirit is contagious. The opportunities he is offering to volunteers are exciting and substantive. You can sign-up to volunteer through this link.
It’s a new day for Republicans in Virginia’s most populous county. With new leadership the Fairfax County Republican Committee has the potential to start winning again. Onward to Election Day!
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