Sie sind auf Seite 1von 2

Contact: Rachel Jansen Phone: 763-486-5056 Email: teamhasek@gmail.

com

WHY I AM RUNNING TO BE THE NEXT MNCRs CHAIR


Desire to help promote conservative principles among students, success at St. Thomas, propel bid for MNCR State Chair
By: Andrew Hasek I grew up in a small farm in southern Minnesota where nearly every family knows each other. Fairmont is a poor town; the median wage here lies nearly $10,000 below wage earners in the rest of the state. I was fortunate that my parents were able to provide me with nearly everything I needed because there were many that were not as fortunate. My parents instilled in me how important it was to live within your means, work hard, and how important friends and family were in your life. Ive worked in restaurants since I have been 14 in order to pay for my own college; I have worked extremely hard for everything I have ever earned. My parents pushed me to be the best that I could be and I am blessed to have been as successful as I have been here my first 21 years on earth. I am truly living the American dream, but each and every day I see that dream harder and harder for average citizens to achieve. I became interested in politics after completing the Minnesota High School Page Program during my junior year of high school. I met one of my longtime mentors in State Representative Bob Gunther during that program. He ignited a fire and passion in me that stays with me to this day. I began to understand the policies that conservatives advocated: low taxes, low spending, less involvement in the lives of an ordinary citizen, and they believed in small government. I enthusiastically embraced these ideas and began to pursue avenues in which I could personally advocate for these ideas. I was excited for what college had in store and I most definitely knew that I wanted to join College Republicans. I have been a part of St. Thomas College Republicans since my freshman year at St. Thomas. Up until this past year, I had not been as involved as I would have liked because of a prior commitment I had with the AFROTC program at St. Thomas. I left the AFROTC program in December 2011 on good terms. A year ago, I was virtually a nobody within the organization of Minnesota College Republicans and at a chapter that was hardly involved at the state level. With more time available in my schedule, I was able to become involved with both St. Thomas College Republicans as well as at the state level of Minnesota College Republicans. I helped out with the Minnesota Caucus results and was afforded the opportunity to attend the CPAC conference out in Washington, D.C. I had a great time, met many great College Republicans throughout the nation, and became hooked: I knew that I wanted to continue putting my time into this organization. During much the same time period, I was not entirely happy with the structure of St. Thomas College Republicans. I knew more could be done at St. Thomas; the meetings could

have been better organized, they could have had more people in attendance, and there was not a whole lot of excitement for a critical election year. It had to change and I announced my candidacy for Chairman of St. Thomas College Republicans. I ran unopposed and when I was elected there were only 10 people in attendance. My sister, Angie, was elected as Vice-Chair as well. Things got off to a rocky start at St. Thomas. We had no continuity plan going into the fall and I found out shortly before the fall semester that I was left with financial problems; effectively, our club was bankrupt. I engaged in private fundraising operations to ensure that we remained financially solvent throughout the fall. Our board put together an ambitious agenda for our meetings and worked on it the entire summer. We had weekly meetings and had a high profile speaker at every meeting ranging from Congressman Erik Paulsen to Minority Leader Kurt Daudt. We recruited heavily at St. Thomas; I was able to nearly triple our email list and double our number of Facebook likes. We now have a presence on Twitter. We have had huge turnouts at our meetings ranging anywhere from 30 to 70 students. St. Thomas College Republicans was back. I had never been as excited as I was this past fall for our organization. We did not just have USTCRs meetings every week. We recruited our members to help at phone banks throughout the Metro area. We even made multiple trips to help Congressman Chip Cravaack in the 8th Congressional District. Overall, St. Thomas College Republicans put forward more than 630 hours of campaign volunteering this fall among 30 active members. St. Thomas gained recognition for being one of the most active chapters in Minnesota this election cycle; we were the go-to chapter in the Metro. Our membership is strong; St. Thomas looks to be one of the largest College Republican chapters in Minnesota long after I graduate. I decided to run for Chairman of Minnesota College Republicans in January. It was a tough decision to make but after careful deliberation and with the backing of my friends, I knew it was the right one. If I am elected, there are many things that I would bring to the table. The first is that I have proven record in chapter development. This should be our number one focus in a non-election year. We need to increase our base number of College Republicans, start new chapters, and strengthen existing chapters in order to be well prepared for 2014. As Chairman of USTCRs, I developed fundraising skills and will be able to effectively fundraise for our organization. This is important because if we do not have funds, then it will be more difficult to get resources to chapters that need them. I want to see greater cohesion between College Republicans and state legislators; social media will also be a focus of mine. In addition to the preceding qualities, I will bring my charisma and strong work ethic to MNCRs. I have the ability to effectively communicate conservative principles to college students and ensure they understand why our side is the right one. If elected, you will see a team-first attitude and an energetic staff in place ready to give their all for the organization. I have the desire, passion, and commitment for the organization, and you most definitely can expect the same thing from me if I am elected as the next State Chairman.

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen