Brian Duprey’s Letter

In my KJ/MS column today, I discuss the plans of Rep. Brian Duprey to return to relevance and return his Party to the majority in the House. Here’s the text of the email he sent to his caucus:

Dear House Republican Caucus,

After careful consideration, I have decided not to run for Assistant Republican Leader and will be supporting Rep. Deb Sanderson instead.

I said from the beginning that I was only interested in leadership if I can bring more to the table than the others in the race.  Although I am confident with my experience I would have prevailed, I have to think of the caucus before my own aspirations and I have realized that Rep. Sanderson brings more to the table than I can at this critical time for Republicans.

As Rep. Harvell stated we are perceived as the party of angry white men who only help the rich at the expense of the poor.  I feel having a woman in leadership is critical to helping us close the gender gap.  Rep. Sanderson is extremely well spoken and able to successfully articulate the Republican message and will be an excellent face of the Republican Party to the media.

I have decided that I can do more on the outside of leadership to accomplish my goal which is to help us retake the Majority in 2014.  With Gov. LePage running for reelection in 2014, and his chances of winning reelection slim based on how the last election went, we have to ensure that we control at least one chamber or the Democrats will undo all of the progress you made in this past session.

I will be forming a M14 (Majority 2014) recruiting and training team right away made up of seasoned veterans that know how to win elections and raise money.  We will start work right away and be working behind the scenes supporting and propping up incumbents and getting opposition research together on Democrats that are vulnerable to defeat in 2014.  We will also analyze each and every race and see what mistakes were made and what we did right and make sure we have a great plan in 2014.  We will also train caucus members on how to use the power of incumbency to your advantage.

I have identified several key things that we should have done differently in last week’s election.   I am confident that had we done things differently we would still be in the minority, but I feel we would have 5-6 more seats which would make a big difference in floor and committee votes.  With fresh leadership we can take an honest assessment of the mistakes we made and develop a plan for the majority in 2014.  Your leadership vote should be based solely on who can be an effective fundraiser and can articulate our message the best. In my opinion, Ken Fredette and Deb Sanderson will be our best leadership choice.  Big donors will have a hard time writing a big check to leaders that lose almost 20 house seats (Bob) and those who cannot obtain a majority while in past Senate leadership (Paul).  I am much better friends with Bob and Paul (at least I was before this email) than I am of Ken Fredette, but we must put friendship aside and vote with our heads and not our heart.

If you would like to be on the Majority 2014 recruiting and training team, let me know.  All are welcome.

I look forward to meeting each and every one of you next week.

Brian Duprey (Dupe)

And here’s his memorable appearance on the Daily Show in 2005:

Mike Tipping

About Mike Tipping

Mike is Maine's longest-writing political blogger and explores state politics and policy with a focus on analysis and explanation. He works at the Maine People's Alliance and Maine People's Resource Center.