New Year, New Chair for State GOP

It’s been a year in flux for the Rhode Island Republican Party. Last March, took the reins as head of the state’s GOP party, only to and take a position with Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson in Washington, D.C. Now, another North Kingstown resident is stepping into his shoes.

Though Zaccaria, 62, fell to Rep. James Langevin in 2010, Zaccaria beat out RI Republican Assembly President Raymond McKay and newcomer Tina McKendall in a three-way race for position of chair on Dec. 21. With an election less than 10 months away, Zaccaria looks to have his hands full.

One of Zaccaria’s primary duties is raising funds for Republican political campaigns. In a Democrat dominated state, putting together competitive and well-funded campaigns has proven to be a trying task.

“We have a couple of advantages this year,” said Zaccaria. “One of which is the dissent on the other side of the aisle.”

Zaccaria hopes to reap the benefits of that dissent and augment the state’s GOP presence in the General Assembly. Of the 113 members of the state’s legislature, only 18 are Republican – eight in the Senate and 10 in the House. Zaccaria’s goal is to boost that number to 45. To do that, Zaccaria says many long-standing incumbents must fall.

“The landscape for representatives in Rhode Island has been an impenetrable phalanx of incumbents,” said Zaccaria.

For Zaccaria, Doreen Costa’s underdog win over 18-year incumbent Ken Carter in the 2010 election is proof that it can be done.

“Ken Carter’s defeat at the hands of Doreen Costa proved that a message of energy and fiscal responsibility works for Rhode Island voters,” said Zaccaria. “That is a microcosm of what we need to do.”

The state GOP looks to offer more services and aid to candidates this year, including training sessions (the first of which will be held in North Kingstown on Jan. 21), polling, telephone banks and assistance with lawn signs, palm cards and other materials.

Things got off to a rocky start for the new chair, however. Steven Farias, the party’s acting chair following the departure of McKay, discovered that the RIGOP’s most recent filings with the Federal Election Commission and the Rhode Island Board of Elections were incorrect. An internal audit discovered discrepancies going back as far as 2002 – discrepancies that made it appear that the party had tens of thousands of dollar more than what it actually had in its coffers. Zaccaria attributes the $45,000-discrepancy to “human error” and that the final amount in the party’s coffers is about $32,000.

“We noticed a problem, we faced it and we fixed it,” said Zaccaria, adding that he doubts were will be any punitive action from the FEC.

Zaccaria’s ascension as head of the state’s GOP party comes just more than 12 years after he and his family moved to Rhode Island. The Massachusetts native and Colby College graduate was commissioned into the Air Force in 1970 and became a flight instructor toward the tail end of the Vietnam War. Though never deployed to Vietnam, Zaccaria had his fair share of travels, including Texas where he met his wife Ruth, who was stationed there as a medical officer. After decades of traveling around for work, Zaccaria and his family settled down in North Kingstown in 1999.

Accustomed to moving around and acclimating to new towns, the Zaccarias formulated a to-do list: within a week, they joined the North Kingstown United Methodist Church and the North Kingstown Republican Town Committee. The following year, Ruth tested the political waters and ran against Ken Carter for a seat in the General Assembly, eventually losing out to the longtime incumbent.

In 2002, Zaccaria was appointed to the North Kingstown Town Council, replacing Robin Porter who left to seek statewide office. In 2004, Zaccaria was elected to a full term.

Zaccaria now leaves his position as chair of the North Kingstown GOP, a position he has held for less than a year. Next month, the committee will elect its new chair at its February meeting.

“I think I received the NKGOP in good condition and I think I left it in better condition,” said Zaccaria. “If my successor can say the same thing, I think that’s quite an accomplishment.”