Republicans Elect New Leaders

After a year of laying the groundwork for a growing organization, the elephants of Harvard are charging forward with a new executive board.

The Harvard Republican Club (HRC) elected Stephen E. Dewey ’07 as its new president at its annual elections last Wednesday night. Dewey will be accompanied on the board by Vice President-elect John M. Souther ’07 and Secretary-elect Craig R. “C.R.” Sinock II ’07, among others.

The new board, Dewey said this weekend, will take a bottoms-up approach to leadership and will focus on becoming more involved in campus politics.

The HRC’s budget, along with its level of activism, has increased dramatically over the last year under the presidential term of Matthew P. Downer ’07, and the new leadership is hoping to deal with the challenges of a larger organization.

Dewey, who ran unopposed, said that all of the candidates for all positions shared the same general vision for the club.

“All the candidates expressed agreement with the goal of the bottom-up leadership and the greater watchdog role,” Dewey said.

The watchdog role that the HRC is trying to attain will involve playing a greater role in campus politics, such as the Undergraduate Council (UC) and dealings and dealings with the University administration.

The HRC is also seeking to play a larger role in national politics, taking advantage of the upcoming Congressional elections to contribute their time to campaigns nationwide. The group is planning trips to key battleground states including New Hampshire and Florida, as well as a visit to Washington, D.C.

These trips were made possible, members say, because of a recent increase in the club’s annual budget during Souther’s time as HRC treasurer from $5,000 a year to $17,000.

The increase in the budget has come through additional grants from the UC that stem from the termbill increase, and the payoff from a recently-created alumni network.

“We focused on getting more grants from the UC, we improved alumni mailing and sent them to more people than we had before” Souther said.

Souther said he plans to continue these efforts along with holding fundraising dinners to keep expanding the budget.

“Basically, our concept is that HRC has become such an active organization that it needs an organizational structure,” said Dewey of the campaign platform on which he and Souther ran.

Dewey and Souther have promised to enact a platform that will focus on a “bottom-up” approach to running the HRC, allowing autonomy to the leaders of the club’s different subgroups, which will be oriented towards political issues and more practical functions.

According to Downer, this election had a different tone than last year’s.

“Last year, I think there were a lot of people who were willing to go negative to win” said Downer. This year, he added, “as a whole, the tone was very productive; both sides are eager to contribute to the club.”

Downer, who presided over the tripling of the HRC’s budget, decided not to run for a second term as President.

“I thought it was time for new leadership, for fresh vision. This year has been one of the best of my life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything” said Downer.