Government Must Not Lie to its Citizens

My name is Joshua Gary Norman and I am running to serve as your next Massachusetts Republican State Committee Man from the First Middlesex & Norfolk District – Newton, Brookline and Wellesley (Pcts. A, C-E, H). There are many reasons why I am running for office, one reason that I would like to touch upon is my belief that government (and the political class) should not lie to its citizens!

We live in a country where if the government lies to us, its “politics”, but if we lie to government, it’s a felony. Of course, this is what happens when we have a government that is run by a political class that no longer respects The Constitution of the United States, or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, or even the charters of the various cities and towns in this country. There is even a book written by a political science professor titled Why Leaders Lie: The Truth About Lying in International Politics.

One can find examples of dishonest politicians at all government levels and in both parties. The most glaring example of a lying politician was when the Democrat President Barack Obama said “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan”. Even Former Congressman Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) called out Barack Obama for lying about Obamacare.

Not to be outdone, Republican Presidential Candidate and Florida Senator Marco Rubio has managed to show that political lying is a bipartisan tradition. When he campaigned for Senate in 2010, he ran as an immigration enforcement hawk, sought TEA Party support and won. Since then, his most notable achievement as a Senator was co-sponsoring the Gang of Eight Amnesty.

At the state government level, we remembered how the Democrat-controlled legislature sold an increase in the individual income tax rate from 5% to 6.25% as a temporary, emergency measure. Yet 25 years after the emergency has passed, and 15 years after the voters passed a ballot question to reduce the income tax rate back to 5%, the income tax rate is still above 5%. I hope that it will finally make it to 5% on or before 2018.

At the local level, Newton’s Democratic Mayor Setti Warren claimed that the new Angier School building project was $1 Million under budget. Mayor Warren is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts. In 2011, Newton expected that the new Angier building would come in at $30 Million, but the projected cost for Angier is $37.5 Million. There was no reason for him to make such a blatantly false statement about Angier’s status.

As part of my campaign, I promised to create and distribute a Voter Guide for the contested races Republican Party Presidential Primary to voters in the First Middlesex & Norfolk District to enable them to determine where the candidates stand on the issues. Regarding the Presidential races, all the candidates had too many flaws to prevent me from getting excited about one or the other, however Ted Cruz seemed to have the fewest flaws of all the remaining candidates who didn’t suspend their presidential bids.

In the First Middlesex & Norfolk District State Committee Man race, I found that I was the only candidate who has demonstrated honesty, integrity and consistent commitment to conservative principles. One of my opponents (Peter Lorenz) gave lip service towards building the Republican grassroots in our district and across the state, yet would not be in a position to raise money for our candidates should he win because state employees are legally prohibited from doing so.

Another one of my opponents (Charles Grillo) claims to be an anti-Establishment conservative yet has a record of voting against grassroots conservative candidates in contested party primaries. When my third and final opponent Tom Mountain endorsed the two worst Democrat incumbents on the School Committee in 2009, he admitted some of his printed TAB comments toward them were “grossly exaggerated, or even patently unfair”. In contrast, I stand by what I write in my printed and digital columns and blogs. I even wrote an article in the June 2014 edition of The Boston Broadside emphasizing the need for greater integrity in our party to bring about party unity.

On Tuesday, March 1, I would appreciate your vote to serve as Massachusetts Republican State Committee Man from the First Middlesex & Norfolk District in order to revitalize the Republican Party in Massachusetts. I ask for your vote because I am the only candidate running for Massachusetts Republican State Committee Man who has conducted his campaign with honesty, integrity, commitment to conservative Republican Party principles and reforming the Republican Party from within in order to rebuild and revitalize its electoral prospects in Massachusetts.