The Vermont Republican Party’s Winter Gala – which featured remarks from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie – was upbeat and well-polished with an emphasis on party unity, attendees say.
Democrat Ed Adrian, a former Burlington City Councilor who ran for Vermont Senate in 2012, paid to attend the event. He said he was impressed.
“The scene was wedding-like, or wedding reception-like,” he said. “It was in a big hall, it was lit kind of a bluish purple, so the lights were sort of turned down.”
Attendees sat around tables of eight and got their food from a buffet catered by Gobeille Hospitality.
“I was somewhat surprised [by] the tenor,” Adrian said. “I think that the GOP realizes that nationally, and even to some extent they’re in Vermont, have been branded unwillingly by the Tea Party faction and now everybody is associating the GOP with the Tea Party, and obviously it’s broader than that. I think they’re trying to distance themselves as much as possible.”
Those messages weren’t just coming from Vermonters. The GOP’s guest of honor also had a moderate message, Adrian said.
“Chris Christie actually said, and this is a quote: ‘People say we have a party problem. We don’t have a party problem, we have a candidate problem.’ And that’s a pretty strong statement,” Adrian said.
Jeffrey Bartley, chairman of the Chittenden County GOP, said the event had a different feel from past fundraisers.
“It was completely different than what we’ve traditionally done, and I think a lot of people left excited, because all these fundraisers – it’s the same thing every time,” Bartley said.
Despite the event being closed to the media, Bartley and Adrian both said the message wasn’t markedly partisan.
“It wasn’t a ‘Hey, we’re going to beat the Democrats,’” Bartley said, as much as a unifying message for the Republicans.
On his blog, Adrian quotes Christie as advising Vermont Republicans to “show up in places that are uncomfortable.”
He encouraged candidates to “start going to communities where Latinos and African-Americans live and work every day.” “You don’t go from 49% [of the vote] to 61% by going back to the Chamber of Commerce.”
Bartley said Christie’s remarks largely avoided policy, focusing instead on politics and strategy.
“The message doesn’t matter unless you have the candidates” was one of Bartley’s take-away lessons from the event.
“It wasn’t like ‘Hey, you guys need to target the governor’s seat or you need to take the Senate or the House,’” Bartley said. “It was what you need to do to build a party.”
