Republican State Committee Candidate Has No Problem With Helping Democrats

Mary Burns, a candidate for the Republican State Committee, openly admitted today that she has contributed to the campaigns of Democratic candidates, and is also calling for the ouster of state chairman Jim Lyons. In an appearance on “City Life,” a local cable television program produced in Lowell, Burns openly admitted giving donations to Democrat candidates and saw nothing wrong with it, saying: “you have to take care of your friends.”  She charged Chairman  Lyons with failing to raise funds for the Party, and said that the direction of the MA GOP must be changed.

Burns is locked in a race for the First Middlesex Republican State Committee seat with Kathy Lynch of Westford.  The seat represents Lowell, Westford, Groton, Pepperell, Dunstable and Tyngsborough.  The committee is the governing board for the Massachusetts Republican party, setting its direction, strategy and priorities.

Burns statement came in response to charges made by her opponent Kathy Lynch, who cited Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) reports, showing that Burns contributed to Democrat candidates.  Lynch also found that Burns contributed to State Representative James Arciero’s campaign in 2018, a year in which Lynch challenged Arciero.  Mary Burns has also been censured by the Lowell Republican City Committee for her contributions to the campaigns of Thomas Golden and Dave Nangle, both Lowell Democrats, in violation of the city committee’s bylaws.

The race between Lynch and Burns represents a clear choice for the Republicans in the First Middlesex District.   Lynch strongly believes that a conservative message can resonate in Massachusetts if it is given sufficient support and the MA GOP remains united behind it.  Burns believes that this strategy should be abandoned in place of a go-along-to-get-along policy with regard to the Democrat establishment.  The choice couldn’t be clearer.

Jim Lyons was elected as chair of the MA GOP in January 2019 following one of the most disastrous elections for Republicans in recent state history.  Lyons began a reorganization of the Party and, during the process, uncovered significant levels of questionable spending under the administration of former chair Kirsten Hughes.   One fact uncovered by Lyons was that although millions of dollars had been raised by the pro-Baker/Hughes administration, only 4% of that money went to support state house and senate candidates.  Lyons has vowed to reverse this.  Lynch has thrown her full support behind Lyons’s strategy to retake the legislature, one seat at a time.

The election for Mass Republican State Committee will be held during the Presidential Primary scheduled for Tuesday March 3, 2020.   The race will be on the same ballot as the Presidential primary.   This is an important race for Massachusetts Republicans.

–  Dennis Galvin