Opinions
            Floyd County Republican Party
   

Dave Matthews

Chairman, Floyd County Republican Party

Chairman's Letter After the Election

Folks,
      Cheryl already said it earlier but I wanted to add a note to each of you as well. Thanks so much for all the hard work many of you did to help our Republicans get elected November 4th. I don't need to repeat the results.....you know those already. I did want to thank each of you for the enthusiasm and support I saw evident in the final days prior to the election. We had the best Get Out the Vote Campaign our Floyd County Republican Party has ever seen. We raised more money for the Party this year than we have in any year in recent history.

     You were one of many who added your enthusiasm to a campaign designed to show the difference between liberal, "government is your guardian" ideals and the ideals we represent which include smaller not larger government, responsible leadership and an honest view to solving our current economic crisis. Thank you for that!
     Our congratulations go out to Ed Clere, our newly elected representative to the State Legislature, Steve Bush our re-elected County Commissioner, Linda Berger the new County Treasurer, Lois Endris our new County Recorder and Bill Gibson, re-elected as County Surveyor. Our thanks and congratulations for well run campaigns to Rick Fox and Chris Lane for Judges, Dana Fendley, Harry Harbison and Larry Summers for County Council and Dr John Click for Coroner and Tim Hunt for State Representative. We must continue to acknowledge not only the spirited campaign Mike Sodrel's team offered the ninth district but remember to thank Mike for keeping our conservative, forward-looking ideals in the eyes of our fellow voters and our newly re-elected congressman......let's keep his feet to the fire to represent those ideals he promised, whether he truly represented them in the campaign or not. Thanks Mike.
     Our congratulations also go out to our Governor Mitch Daniels and Lt Gov Becky Skillman and our local "home team" of newly elected Supt of Public Instruction Tony Bennett and Attorney General Greg Zoeller. Three out of four Southern Hoosiers at the top can't hurt us at all.
     Let me add a quick note of thanks to every one of you for your outstanding help in my unsuccessful campaign as well. I know a lot was done....much of it behind the scenes....to help me beat Chuck Freiberger for the County Commissioner race. I wish the results had been better, but I know they wouldn't have been near as good without your help. All of us.....win or lose.....learned a lot this year from this election experience. Lots of issues were out of our hands due to the voter turnout in support of our President Elect.
     The issues that seemed to win the day are now at our feet to deal with. The work for us is far from over. The challenge definitely needs to be seen and addressed now and in the days, months and years to come. I still believe that our Party best represents the issues that most Americans believe in. It is our job to keep them up front and hold our elected representatives responsible to move the country into the future without sacrificing our strength, integrity and morals for their liberal ideas that do not represent us.
     Our Floyd County Republican Party has made great gains this year. I am sending you this email because you were part of that success. I hope you'll stay with us as we march on. As your Central Committee, we surely intend to build on that enthusiasm and make the Party stronger. We have another election just two years ahead. By the time we get there, I'm sure America will be begging to return to conservative values that worked for us in the past. We will have the candidates that best represent those values. Work with us to build the base for support of those candidates and those ideals.
     I would encourage you all to keep checking our party website at http://www.floydgop.com/ regularly. We have a new section there titled "Opinions". I hope you will check it out. Please continue to be involved in our numerous areas of involvement in Young Republicans, Women's Republicans and Party activities. We're working on details for an early December Christmas Party, probably December 5th or 6th and a swearing in of our elected officials before the end of the year. Of course, Lincoln Day Dinner next year should be a big occasion that we want you all to participate in.
     You can see that the Republican Party has no plans of going away to hide in a closet. Our gains this year are worth praising. The defeats we suffered encourage us to work even harder. We still firmly believe in the principles which distinguish us from our opposition and plan to continue to promote those ideals every chance we get. I hope you will stay with us, run the course we have committed to and help us make the Floyd County Republican Party even better than we have already made it. Thanks again for all your hard work and committment. Let's keep our heads high as we press on to the work that we have ahead.
     God bless you for your faithfulness,
          Dave Matthews
          Chairman, Floyd County Republican Party

Hey Dave,
     Just thought I would send you a quick response. You may or may not remember me from last year, but I came with the class last spring from Hanover. I just wanted to say that even though we had a couple set backs in this election, I think it is very appropriate to quote Ronald Reagan, "We fought, we dreamed, and that dream is still alive." Well the Republican dream will always be alive. I have read too many articles during the past few weeks that question the youth base for the Republican Party, and I think it is misinformed information. There are young Republicans out there, ones that don't buy into the pop phenomenon that our President Elect carried with him. While I hope for the best, I must worry about our future. I worry about a voting populace that cannot see past excitement and look at the true issues at hand. We need a hard effort in four years Dave. Maybe this loss is what the Republican Party needed, we need our Reagan now more than ever. I hope you and your family are all doing well.
     Jon Archer




Dave,
     I found you guys too late before the election to really get involved, but I really want to be very involved on a go-forward basis - what avenues do we have (i.e. like monthly lunch meetings, etc) or other volunteer work I can do for you? I know the work is not done - and we need to gain momentum over the next 4 years - it was sadly disappointing to me that Indiana went to Obama. I really want to get involved.
     Thanks

     Cody

Cheryl,
     I have to appologize. I am wary of opening e-mails from addresses that I do not recognize, and so I think I missed several communications from you. I did not realize that this was your address until the weekend before the election.
     My husband, Jonathan, and I are very upset about the nation electing Obama. We feel the only thing we can do is to pray and work harder for our cause in the next election. Please keep us on your mailing list and let us know what we can do to help Republicans in Floyd County.
     Thanks,
     Kristy Ziegler




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Floyd County Republican Party - Floyd County, Indiana 2008
This website paid for and authorized by the Floyd County Republican Central Committee
Dave Matthews, Chairman
 

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