A Message from NYSYR Chairman Christopher Dziedzic

Last month, I started to expand on some of the main goals the current Executive Board has for the NYSYR. Earlier this year, I wrote that, "The continued success of the NYSYR, and in fact the entire Republican party, is based upon victory in three ongoing battles. We must be able to contribute significantly to the battle of numbers, the battle of wallets, and the battle of ideas.”

It is nice rhetoric, but how do Young Republicans put it into practice? How does the NYSYR contribute significantly to Republican efforts in the "battle of wallets?" We do it with the financial support of our Republican candidates.

During the 2006 election cycle, I am proud that our organization was able to hold successful fundraising events for our statewide Republican candidates that generated roughly $8,000 for gubernatorial candidate John Faso and approximately $6,000 for comptroller candidate, Chris Callaghan.

We also made significant donations to a variety of fellow Young Republicans who ran for office themselves. Congressional candidates Richard Hoffman and Italo Zanzi, State Senate candidates Flip Pidot and Viviana Hernandez, State Assembly candidates Yvette Bennett, Bill Faulk, Robert Heim, Patricia Laudano, Marcus Molinaro, Dan Panico, Chemung County Legislature candidate Chris Friend, and, in my own Town of Wappinger, Council candidate William Beale all received support in their bids—many of them successful.

However, as a wise man once said, any fool can spend money; it takes someone with smarts to raise money. As Young Republicans, we need to give a great deal of credit to former NYSYR Chair Jason Weingartner (2003-2007) who helped change the culture of the organization to one that aggressively fundraises. Jason instituted a pair of annual events to serve as fundraisers for our state federation. The Annual Holiday Dinner in Manhattan each December and the Annual Day at the Races in Saratoga Springs each August have successfully established revenue streams to give the NYSYR the solid financial foundation to take part in “the battle of wallets.” I have sought to build upon that developing a third annual fundraising event, an Annual Golf Outing, that we held in late May.

I’m enthusiastic about our financial strength and would encourage all of our county chapters to look at various fundraising options to establish themselves as local powerhouses, just as the NYSYR is now a statewide powerhouse.

Christopher Dziedzic is the Chair of the NYSYR. Send your questions, comments, suggestions and great chili recipes to chairman@nysyr.us.