Threat Level Nada: Kool-Aid Kult Spins Its Wheels on the Day of Reckoning
State Committee elections culminated in massive support for Amy Carnevale
Photo courtesy of Lisa Kashinsky/Politico.
Days after the newly elected Massachusetts Republican State Committee met for the first time in Burlington, the dust has settled and word is starting to trickle out about what conspired behind the curtains.
By now, we’re guessing you know the top-line results: Amy Carnevale was ratified 47-25, receiving over 65% of the vote among members present. Ron Kaufman was ousted as national committeeman after 30+ years in the post, losing to Brad Wyatt 35-37 in a mirror result from four years ago. The Kool-Aid Kult celebrated the day, but one glance at Geoff Diehl could tell an attendee all they needed to know about how his plan to retake the MassGOP actually went.
Readers may recall we wrote previously about a “project” orchestrated by Jim “Jones” Lyons to oust Carnevale at Saturday’s meeting based on a novel interpretation of a bylaw that requires a chair to stand for a ratification vote in the middle of their term. This vote was weaponized by Lyons, Diehl, and others in a bid to force the MassGOP chair to participate in a mid-term election where Diehl had suggested his side would put forward a candidate, something he and Lyons had previously told former state committee candidates like Jeffrey Yull as well as radio host Jeff Kuhner.
In the end, Diehl never introduced a serious challenger to Carnevale. One person who spoke with Rick Green last week said the Chinese auto parts magnet predicted that Carnevale would win “by a few votes,” which is an early contender for understatement of the year.
At the meeting, Diehl, seated toward the middle of the room next to his wife and fellow member KathyJo Boss, barely registered as a blip on the radar. He didn’t rise to oppose sections in the party’s new bylaws like his traditional allies Todd Taylor and Kathy Lynch. Instead, the two-time statewide loser and his beau headed for the exit after Kaufman lost and national committeewoman Janet Fogarty was reelected. Paul Ronukaitus, who ran for vice chair of the party next, allegedly called Diehl an “asshole” to one of the people seated near him after the perennial candidate failed to show up and vote for him against consummate RINO and ultimate winner Judy Crocker.
Someone must have screamed at him, because Diehl returned for the next vote, wearing an olive green pullover and playing with his phone while speaking to no one. He stayed long enough to watch Anthony Ventresca lose the treasurer’s race to newcomer Eric Calton before leaving a second time. Ventresca went on to cede the assistant treasurer’s position to Mindy McKenzie and also happened to lose his race for the Billerica planning board, leaving him 0-for-3 in a single day.
One officer candidate who called Diehl in advance of Saturday to ask for his vote retold their conversation in which the Whitman Republican sobbed on the phone, denying that he “owes all this debt” and generally lamenting the ruination of his storied name.
Other winners of the day include Amanda Peterson, the 19-year-old former campaign manager for Senator Peter Durant who defenestrated Maureen Maloney in March. The Kult was looking for payback but wasn’t able to close the deal after Kathy “If I Talk Louder They’ll Get it” Lynch gave a rambling 10-minute stump speech nearly five hours into the marathon meeting. With no Diehl on hand to oppose her, Peterson was elected Secretary. Elizabeth Hinds-Ferrick won the assistant secretary’s post by acclamation.
Jeff Kuhner, meanwhile, is licking his friends’ wounds on Twitter and encouraging attendance for a “Close the Border” rally next month featuring speakers including none other than Diehl. How can we miss him when he won’t go away?
Despite badmouthing Howie Carr for getting paid by the MassGOP, Kuhner has his own trail of cash that leads back to these dullards: Jason Ross, a Lyons/Diehl ally who chairs the West Bridgewater Republican Town Committee, recently approved a $1,500 payment to Kuhner to speak at their next meeting, according to a local Republican activist. Why fund candidates when you can hire carnival barkers instead?
We’d truly love to close this blog after such a happy chapter. But that would require the Kool-Aid Kult to be finished for good. Sorry to disappoint you, dear readers, but that will almost certainly never happen. Not as long as Rick Green is around to continue forking over fuel for their various cash bonfires. The Pepperell Republican has told allies in recent weeks that he’s contemplating a run for governor in 2026, which if true would almost certainly mean he’ll fund another attempt to get rid of Carnevale when she faces reelection next January. Has he given up on Lyons and Diehl, and will he bring in a new team of numbskulls to do his dirty work? Time will tell.