InFocus featuring Mass. GOP Chair Amy Carnevale

from the 22 News plus studio. [Music] >> This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Barry. >> Hello everyone and welcome to today's edition of In Focus. I am your host Patrick Barry. Politics is always a hot topic whether you're here in the Bay State or in New England or across the country across the globe. Here in the United States for the last, I don't know, maybe a hundred years or so, it's been a two-party system, you know, Republicans and Democrats. I am so very fortunate today to be joined in the 22 News Plus studio by Amy Carnival. She is the chair of the Massachusetts Republican Committee. Uh Amy, thank you so very much for joining me. I greatly appreciate your time. >> It's great to be with you. Really glad to be here uh joining you today. >> So, I have to ask you, and this is probably the question you get most often. We're in what everybody globally looks at as a blue state. It's it's it and it it's primarily a democratically democratically if that's the right word. You know what I mean? Democratic state. So how do Republicans get anything done? >> Yeah. So I would say probably yeah a state that's been controlled by Democrats at the legislative level. But it's really important to remember at the gubernatorial level, Republicans have actually won six of the last uh gubernatorial elections. So, uh, you know, that tells me that, uh, voters in this state really are independent-minded and they're really open to voting for a Republican, particularly on fiscal issues. And it's also really important to voters here in Massachusetts to have some balance. Um, so those are that's, you know, I probably the number one issue that me as as chair of the Republican party here in Massachusetts talks about is having that two-party balance. And I I love that two-party balance because then it it it really prompts negotiation, prompts discussion. When you have a one party system, I I feel that the other party, no matter which party is in control, just feels like they're getting shafted, you know. So, I always like the fact that, you know, whether it's a national politics or state politics or even in your local town, if you've got a, you know, Republican representative or and or or Democrat, you know, that the two parties just I think it's a better system that way. >> Yeah, you're right about that. It it really the dialogue between parties lead leads to better public policy and more transparency and more accountability. I even hear from moderate Democrats that kind of behind the scenes and privately they'll tell me, you know, you're doing a great job. Keep it up because that moderates us as a Democratic party as having a more successful Republican party. um so that the the more left side of the Democratic party really cannot uh kind of control that that agenda on Beacon Hill. And unfortunately what we've seen today is we are in a situation where we have uh Democratic supermajorities on Beacon Hill, both the House and the Senate and all statewide offices and all federal offices here in Massachusetts are controlled by Democrats. Um so that's a message that we're really pushing is we need to come back to that two-party system. So, looking at the party system here in Massachusetts and and through your travels, I I'm unenrolled. I I chose to be unenrolled many years ago because I want choices. I I I like I like the ideas of people on both sides and I want to be able to vote for whomever I want. Is that sort of a common theme here in the Bay State or are people really party specific? It is a common theme and in fact over 60% of voters now are unenrolled over 60% I think it's it's over 62% actually are unenrolled here in Massachusetts and we're seeing party registration in both parties um decline u uh as a result. Um, and I do think I think that speaks to the fact that again here in Massachusetts, people want choices and people um do like to consider uh voting for candidates based on their positions and um what they're advocating and uh more so than than the party label itself. >> So when it comes election season, you know, in the fall, whether it's, you know, in 2025 or 2026 next year, we've got midterm elections which are national. uh how do you how do you and your fellow party members whether either side of the either side of the coin, how do you get people to go to and vote for your candidate? >> Well, first of all, um the first step is really quality candidate recruitment. Okay. And that actually brings me here in Western Mass today, uh we're actually holding a uh candidate recruitment and training seminar um in Lello. So, so we we kind of put put the word out um uh to our Republican town committees and also through some text messaging as well using trying to use new media uh reaching out to voters to say, "Have you thought about running for office or do you know someone who's thinking about running for office? Come and meet the Republican party." And so we have the myself and the staff at the party um will be having a seminar talking to people interested in running and and talking about the tools that are available. Um and it's it's changing all the time. running for office is very different now than what it was even four or six years ago with with technology. Um thinking about texting capabilities, thinking about targeting voters. Um and again, you know, you identified yourself as an independent voter and those are the those are the types of voters that we want to be talking to as Republicans or our candidates want to be talking with. And so we have we have ways now through technology of identifying those voters and and being able to kind of microtarget uh those voters and have conversations on issues that that may interest them. >> So a question I I wasn't planning on asking. So you're here in Western Mass for an event to sort of educate potential candidates on your party. So is it just your party or will somebody from the Democratic party be representative or is just >> No. So, this is just today is just about our party and it's actually we were um we were out here um we were in Springfield and um in the in the spring uh talking to candidates thinking about running for municipal office and now we're thinking we're talking to people thinking about running next fall for legislative office. >> So, you're already talking about next fall that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. You have to get all your signatures. You have to become a qualified candidate. >> Exactly. Exactly. And so, you know, and it's really an advantage to think about and and our system here in Massachusetts for a lot of reasons. It's really an advantage to think about announcing before the end of this calendar year going into next year um to reach out to voters and our campaign a lot of reasons. Our campaign finance system is based on the calendar year. So, um, so we're we're talking to voter, uh, potential candidates now, um, and and people who are active in the party and getting them thinking about, uh, reaching out to potential candidates because we want to offer choices, um, to voters. Uh, so it starts with a quality candidate. Um, and then as as we think about reaching out to voters, um, talking about what we present as a party um, and and again, it it's based a lot on those candidates. is so the first step is really getting quality candidates who come from the communities um maybe you know they've coached a sports team um active in in in the schools um and whatever background they bring um they'll bring those experiences in the communities and so those are the candidates that we're looking to try to recruit to the Republican party and and then the next step is is talking about the message. >> Fantastic. We're up on our first commercial break. We're here in the 22 News Plus studio with Amy Cardali. She is the chair of the Massachusetts Republican Committee. We'll be right back after this. >> This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Barry. [Music] This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Barry. [Music] Welcome back to today's In Focus. Across the desk from me here in the 22 News Plus studios is Amy Carnival. is the chair of the Massachusetts Republican Committee. Amy, thank you so very much for joining me again. Uh, I want to shift gears a little bit. We talked, you know, in the first segment of, you know, just generalities, but I want to really get into a little bit more about the Republican party as a whole. Maybe not, you know, specifics, but as a whole, some of the values, some of the things that the party holds dear. Uh yeah, I I guess I would launch it with that is, you know, what are some of the the values of the Republican party that you you want people to understand? >> Yeah. So, um the Republican party here in Massachusetts um we we talk a lot about fiscal accountability and um also having uh decision making kind of closest to the family unit. Um so that means you know giving parents control u over their uh educational decisions for kids. Um, you know, that's an important factor. Um, we actually highlighted through uh the parties podcast a few weeks ago a a situation in in one city where uh middle school students were given an explicit survey, sexually explicit survey. Um, and we we highlighted that the parents were not given the option in this case to opt out, which actually is federal law that they should be given that. Um and uh the the podcast actually uh draw drew the attention of the department of education which actually then got involved and reminded this this school district that it again you know that that's that decision that's a decision that should remain within parents uh to opt their kids out of a survey like that and and in fact the survey had some questions that were even inappropriate for for middle school students. >> Inappropriate for adults. >> Exactly. Exactly. So um so those are the types of issues that we get involved with. Uh but again you'll see you'll see especially thinking kind of at the statewide level we really talk about that that fiscal accountability and and and that's an issue that resonates with uh a lot of voters here in the Commonwealth. Um and it's an issue where again getting back to that issue of balance that we really see that we we need that balance. Um, I'm sure you've talked about it at your on your show before. Um, uh, the the auditor. Um, and you know, there was a >> I haven't gotten into that one yet. >> Oh, okay. Well, that that's for that's a great subject to come. Um, there was a a ballot question that passed with an overwhelming amount of voters. Two years ago, >> it was last year. Um, and the auditor has been uh fighting ever since to enforce that audit against the legislature and the legislature just has not cooperated. Um and again that's that's something that where if you have more party balance um that you you'll see greater accountability um and you know and it's just crazy that over a year has gone by now and you know still no audit. You know, it's interesting. A statistic I saw recently was that Massachusetts in the in the current political year 24 25 or or most recently ended political year, I want to say it was like 4,800 bills were filed and about 40 passed. >> Yeah. You know, so >> I think it was the least productive legislature in the entire entire nation that also we also are one of the few that is considered a full-time legisl legislature too. Um well, I I'll just actually highlight another issue that um I was an original signator on is um a ballot campaign that we're trying to get on the ballot for the next election on the issue of stipens uh for legislative leaders. Okay. And it's something that has u I would argue and it's actually I've partnered with a lot of progressive groups on the on the on the left on this issue um that legislative leaders on Beacon Hill are are giving out these leadership stipens in in the form of salary uh to committee chairs and in some cases they're committees that have never even met over the last two years and the legislative and the leader of this committee is you know they're given up to you know $26,000 for leading this committee in the form of a salary that doesn't even meet. And it's and it's really a system that has uh is a it's a way for uh the speaker of the house and the leaders to control their committee chairman um rather than you know have a more diffuse system that's more accountable and open. >> So you started that comment uh by saying you're trying to get a ballot measure move forward. I had a an interview not that long ago with a political science professor and he said Massachusetts is one of those states that has so many ballot measures because of that you know that that infrequency with which bills get passed. Is that because >> the there can't be crossleisle negotiation and agreement that the public kind of rises up and says all right well if you're not going to get things done we're going to create this ballot measure. I think it's less about crossilele agreement than it is about uh the speaker of the house and the senate majority leader allowing bills to come forward for a hearing. Yeah. >> Yes. >> Interesting. See, I I really should probably take civics 101 again >> because I have to go back and you know I remember what was it, you know, the old uh the old cartoon when a bill becomes a law, right? But I should probably watch that again. That's civics 101. Although we would argue that here in Massachusetts it's uh they don't always follow the you know the way that the system should work. Um and and this is a case where um you know citizens have have risen up and in the case in the case of this stipened uh ballot question it's actually uh a former Democratic uh me legislator who is involved with that committee as well. So it's so it's a really it's an interesting group uh kind of supporting this effort. So, taking all of that and bringing it back to Republican values, sort of a um a conservative spending approach, is that sort of kind of at the root of the Republicans? >> Yeah, absolutely. And again, you know, trans having a more transparent system is one that we've been talking a lot about. Um and uh we we've seen um on Beacon Hill and and the audit is just one example of we've gotten away from transparency and accountability to voters um and spending within our means. I I should say, you know, um if you look at the budget in Massachusetts, it continues to increase year after year. Um and you know, there's a lot of reasons for that. And we could we could go down and and talk about the migrant crisis and a billion over a billion dollars a year. >> This show's only half hour. Yeah, maybe I could come back another day and we could talk about that. Um, but uh, you know, we would argue that uh, you know, we need to look within our own means uh, for spending reductions um, because Massachusetts has now become the second um, uh, least affordable state in the nation after Hawaii. Um, and so it's really hard to raise a family here in Massachusetts and stay here. So, so we need to look at budget reductions. >> You know, it's interesting you bring up the the affordability here in Massachusetts. It's atrocious. And I look at my kids who are late 20s and by the time I was in my late 20s, 30, you know, 30 years old, I had my first house. I don't >> my kids aren't going to have have their first house by the time they're 30. One daughter lives, you know, north of Boston. Um, and and one one daughter lives out of state, but it's still it's the same. It's the same. So do you think certain things like East West Rail, you know, kind of change things so it enables people to like live here in Western Mass, Mson, Lello, um Palmer and be able to commute to Boston for the higher earning jobs so that they're more affordable living out here. >> Sure. Absolutely. I mean, yes. Um East West Rail, um options uh for um easier commuting, um telecommuting. I I think those all need to be options. Um, you know, given the high cost of living in the greater Boston area. >> We are up on our second commercial break. We're here with Amy Carnival, the chair of the Massachusetts Republican Committee. We'll be right back after this. >> This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Barry. [Music] This is 22 News in Focus with Patrick Barry. [Music] Hello everyone and welcome back to today's edition of In Focus. I am your host Patrick Barry. We're here in the 22 News Plus studios. Across the desk from me is the chair of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee, Amy Carnival. Amy, thank you so very much again for joining me today. We've talked a lot about, you know, the Republican Party sort of abstractly, nationally, and you know, and so forth. And and I'm going to use a phrase you you know or refer to something you may or may not like. Tip O'Neal, all government is local. Does the Republican party believe that all government is local? And that's really sort of where the boots hit the ground and things get done. >> Yeah, absolutely. I'm actually glad you raised that. And you know, we we we absolutely agree that all politics is local and ultimately um when you see voters engaged um very often they're engaged at the local level. you know, thinking about how their school is funded. Um, you know, you we see some of our most competitive and I would say energetic campaigns tend to be school committee campaigns. Absolutely. Um, because there's parents are so vested in the education of their students and so when something is going, you know, very wrong or very right, um, you know, they they want to get involved. Um, and uh, they can be very vocal. Um, you know, overrides are another issue that we see, you know, uh, a lot of communities. Um, in fact, we we're seeing a lot of overrides uh right now being discussed at the local level. Um, and that's something that the uh that actually the Mass GOP is providing some some guidance and um to our local town committees um as they engage and think about overrides um and talk about overrides. Um so the local politics are really what energize um uh voters and um and we want to be as a republic a Republican party. We want to be running quality candidates at the local level, you know, for a lot of reasons because frankly those are the decisions that really impact the lives of residents in Massachusetts uh the most in many cases. Um and secondarily, um when we think about elected Republicans at the local level, you know, that's our bench for then thinking about running for state representatives, state senate, um you know, in our city's mayor. Um so, uh if we don't have uh people identifying as as Republicans at that local level, then, you know, we have less of a bench to to think about. You know, it's amazing to me when I look at voter turnout each election year, you know, and and you bring up a very good point and we both did, you know, lo politics is local. So when you see the presidential election turnout and I just shake my head and I go, why didn't you vote last year when we were voting for our city councilman, our mayor, our town manager, whatever it might be. It frustrates me to no end because that's really where your life as a resident of any community really changes. >> Yeah, that you're exactly right. And um as as we both said, you know, the impact on actually residents is is more greatly felt at the local level and people they elect at the local level and that tends to be uh the lowest turnout. So, you know, we we try to remind people about that. And ironically, you know, we see a similar thing with um people wanting to volunteer to help Republican candidates. Um you know, they they tend to come around every four years for the presidential election. And you know, even though Massachusetts is uh we'd like to see it more competitive, but it tends to be a tough state at the at the presidential level. And we see all kinds of volunteers coming out say, you know, I want to help the presidential candidate here in Massachusetts. and we'll say, "Great, but would you consider holding a sign for your local state representative or your, you know, your select board um while you're at it?" And um and so we we try to translate that, you know, that spirit of volunteerism at the to the local level. >> So, continuing with the local level conversation, Massachusetts is, as you take the the the 10,000 foot view is very different. you know, here in Western Massachusetts, we have a a significant amount of primarily Republican communities, you know, in the Hilltowns and so forth. I don't think you have that in the eastern end of the state, do you? >> No, we don't. And in fact, you know, it's interesting. Um, we've done an analysis um kind of following the last presidential election of communities. And as we think about recruiting candidates and where we want to do recruiting, um you know, 10 years ago, 12 years ago, it was many of those uh suburban towns around Boston. Um that uh and now it it's very different. You were thinking about western Massachusetts, central Massachusetts, some of the surrounding Worcester uh communities and down in Bristol County in particular. um you know those are um you know some of our more blueco collar communities uh tend to be those communities that uh either voted for Donald Trump or are voted in high numbers for for Donald Trump. So those are the communities now that we're looking at to recruit Republicans. >> So I will tell you and you probably hear it throughout your travels in western Massachusetts is tell those folks in the eastern end of the state that the state extends beyond 495. >> Very much so. Very much so. Yes. So, do you because of there there are a lot more um Republican communities out here. Do you do you spend a lot of time because I know you're based in the eastern end of the state. Do you spend a lot of time out here personally or maybe not not boots on the ground out here but >> actively analyzing how to grow the party out here and recruit more people out here? >> Yeah, absolutely. Um so I am spending time out here. Um and also, you know, virtual calls, you know, um spending a lot of time on the phone and virtually um communicating uh with our Republican town committees, recruit again, recruiting candidates and and just talking about issues. Um so I I do find myself spending more time because again, this is really one of the western Massachusetts is where we want to look to grow. >> It's a beautiful section of the world. >> It's beautiful, particularly this time of year. So >> I know Boston Common has wonderful foliage, but nothing like the Birkers and Fire Valley. >> You can't compete out here. Yeah. >> So Amy, what we only got about a minute left. >> It it's sort of the tail end of 2025, 2026. What do you see you and and and the other members of the the committee really targeting for next year? >> Yeah. So uh you know, just to talk at the high level, you know, we have three great candidates now running for governor. Um so that's really going to energize. Um, so we have uh Mike Connealy was first to enter the race. Uh, Brian Shortsleeve was second and Mike Manugg um just got in this week. Um, so all strong candidates >> and they're all from the eastern end of the state. >> Um, yeah. So, uh, Brian Shortlee is from Cape Cod and the other two are uh, from the eastern eastern. Yep. Yes. Um, but you know, having a competitive primary for the first time in a long time for governor, that's going to energize people. Um and uh so we I I think we'll see a lot of energy and a lot of interest um in the Republican party. Um and I think that's going to translate down ticket as we see more candidates running in Western Massachusetts, in central Massachusetts um and you know even down in Bristol County. >> It's funny people will come to me and say, "Hey, will you sign my paperwork so I can run for office?" I will always sign because I want and I don't do that for me. I do that for all of us because I want all of us to have a choice. Y, >> you know, let that person if they feel passionate enough to run for office, give them the pulpit where they can go up and and tell us about their views, their positions. Um, but yeah, I will always sign somebody's paperwork. >> Yeah, having competitive elections and giving voters a choice is always a great thing. >> That is a great way to end. Amy, I cannot thank you enough for your time today. I will certainly have you back. Uh, and then we'll talk a little bit more specifics about the Republican party and and the world we live in. Amy, thank you so very much. >> Thank you. >> This is 22 News in Focus. with Patrick Barry. [Music]