Past MassGOP Chair Lyons: ‘Howie Carr Fabricated, Plagiarized, or is Outright Lying…”

NOTES BETWEEN PRINTED EDITIONS

Past MassGOP Chair Lyons: ‘Howie Carr Fabricated, Plagiarized, or is Outright Lying…”

[Apologies that we mis-posted this press release, issued recently by former MassGOP Chairman Jim Lyons. It came in too late for the March edition (the paper was in the mail when it was received), but was supposed to appear here prior to the recent election. ]

PRESS RELEASE

JIM LYONS
Past Chairman, Massachusetts Republican Party

Once again, Howie Carr is repeating an outright falsehood about me in order to fit his smear campaign against the pro-life conservative wing of the Massachusetts Republican Party.

Howie claims that I ran for the state legislature as a Democrat in 1984. I say that is 100% false. It is either a blatant lie or a fabrication that Howie simply made up. Or did ol’ Howie steal from the Mike Barnicle-style plagiarism playbook and repeat a lie that he copied from someone else without so much as bothering to check it? Or maybe he’s just become a lazy reporter who can’t even get dates and facts straight.

Just the facts: I had been part of the pro-life conservative wing of the old Democrat Party at a time when Massachusetts Governor Ed King was described as “Ronald Reagan’s favorite Democrat governor.” Ed King was the most conservative and most pro-life governor we’ve had in Massachusetts, Republican or Democrat.

Both Ed and I lost in the Democrat primary in 1982, when Mike Dukakis and the liberals came to dominate that party. It’s worth noting that both Ed and I soon became Republicans, following in the footsteps of Ronald Reagan himself, who had been a longtime Democrat before joining the GOP.

Let’s get to the truth: I became a Republican in 1983. It would have been rather difficult for me to run as a Democrat in 1984, as Carr continues to falsely claim.

In 1985, Ed King then joined Ronald Reagan and me in the Republican Party.

Howie seems to have a chip on his shoulder about former Democrats who become Republicans. Of course, Howie’s GOP mentor is Bill Weld – who came out of the old elitist Country Club wing of New England Republicans. Weld was also the most pro- abortion governor in state history, while Ed King and I were always strongly pro-life.

I suspect Carr has never forgiven me for cutting his political hero Weld down to size, when the former Massachusetts governor challenged President Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination in 2020. As Chair of the Mass GOP, I delivered a putdown comparing Weld to Benedict Arnold. It got a lot of media coverage at the time. That must have really stung Weld and erstwhile booster Howie.

So now Howie is completely beholden to the Weld wing of the Republican Party, trying to drive out conservatives – especially conservatives like Reagan, King, and myself – conservatives who were once Democrats. Imagine our effrontery trying to take the Grand Old Party away from Weld and the pro-choice, socially liberal country clubbers.

But back to the main point. I say Howie fabricated, plagiarized, or is outright lying about me running for the legislature as a Democrat in 1984.

And let’s make it interesting. I’ll bet Howie $1,000 to the charity of the winner’s choice. I am confident I have truth on my side. If Howie is confident in his reporting skills and fact telling, he will take the bet. But I’m not holding my breath on that one. Nor am I waiting for him to write a check to a charity, once he is embarrassed that his falsehood is exposed.

Once it is revealed that a journalist is just making things up, no one can ever trust your humbug again.

In the meantime, we conservatives will celebrate the fact that Governor Ed King and President Ronald Reagan were former Democrats whose pro-life and conservative values brought them over to the GOP. I am proud to be counted in their number. And we invite all other conservatives and pro-lifers to join us in the Republican Party.