My GOP in the news

Oct 7, 2009 - Free-spending Democrats make strong case for GOP gains in 2010
Aug 18, 2009 - All Access TV Barnstable
Jul 31, 2009 - My GOP review by Ann Canedy
Jul 17, 2009 - That's a Wrap - WTKK with Michael Graham
Jun 18, 2009 - My GOP video on YouTube
May 6, 2009 - My GOP interview, WGBH online, "The Point" with Mindy Todd
Apr 16, 2009 - State Rep. Jeff Perry's new book dissects GOP
Apr 12, 2009 - “My GOP," Jeffrey Davis Perry
Feb 13, 2009 - State Rep. Jeff Perry Self-Publishes Treatise on State of GOP

State Rep. Jeff Perry's new book dissects GOP
By Paul Babin,
Originally published Apr 16, 2009 Sandwich Broadsider

State Rep. Jeff Perry, R-Sandwich, says his new book “My GOP” is a “soul searching effort” for the Republican Party.  The book lays out the party’s core principals, its “proud history,” and its hope for the future as Perry sees it.

He says the party lost touch with its core values in the 2006 and 2008 elections.“In the last election with John McCain, we had a Republican candidate who on the issue of illegal immigration stood next to Ted Kennedy and favored amnesty, on the issues of the financial bailout of the financial service sector voted the same way as the Democrats and Barack Obama.“We had a candidate who didn’t talk about family values the entire campaign.”

Perry’s family, and particularly his grandfather, were card-carrying Democrats throughout the 1960s and 1970s.  Perry describes them as “conservative Democrats” who believed in small government.

Perry changed parties during the 1980 election when he voted for Ronald Reagan over Democratic Incumbent Jimmy Carter.  “That was when I decided that I was a Republican. That’s when my family made that transition too.”  Perry claims the Democratic party has moved away from the more conservative principles of John F. Kennedy. “Why is a pro-life Catholic JFK Democrat a Democrat today when their party doesn’t subscribe to any of those values?” he says.

Perry’s message is that Republicans need to embrace conservative principles.  He says conservative voters didn’t have a candidate that represented them in the past two elections.  He says Kerry Healey lost the 2006 race for governor because she shied away from hot-button issues like gay marriage and the “ethical problems on Beacon Hill.

“She just stayed away from anything that seemed too hot or too controversial. At the end of the day my thesis is that when we don’t act like Republicans and don’t stand for the principles that people expect us to, why would they vote for us? Quite frankly, they shouldn’t vote for us.”

“My GOP” tackles illegal immigration, welfare reform, and the second amendment.  It also breaks down Reagan’s “Rendezvous with Destiny” speech and the importance of so-called “Reaganomics.”

Perry says Reagan won Massachusetts in 1980 and 1984 because voters understood his core beliefs.

“When Republicans yell from the rooftops what these principles are of limited government, of law and order, of family values, of honoring the taxpayers and the voters when they speak at the ballot box, when we do these things, the people recognize that we are the better candidate to represent them. Even in Massachusetts, I think that’s true.”

Although Perry admits the GOP is “rudderless right now,” he says former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is the party’s “best hope. “As far as moving forward, I think he’s our brightest star.”

Perry hopes the book will appeal to Republicans, independents, and Democrats that are questioning their allegiance to the party.

“It’s our job as Republicans that we’re fighting for certain things. And when we do we win, and when we don’t we lose.”

“My GOP," Jeffrey Davis Perry (PerryBooks.com, ISBN 978-0-615-27561-1, 329 pages, $19.95)


Back to Top

“My GOP," Jeffrey Davis Perry
Originally published Apr 12, 2009 Cape Cod Times

Barnstable 5th District Rep. Jeffrey Perry, an East Sandwich resident, has published a book that discusses "issues I believe Republicans should be addressing, such as illegal immigration, real welfare reform, honoring the will of the voters and, of course, the growing size and scope of government." Perry pulls no punches, titling Chapter 2, for example, "Lessons from the train wrecks of 2006 & 2008." Other chapters cover the history of the Republican Party, why Perry has chosen that party and how to bring party tenets into the 21st century behind new and dynamic leadership.

Back to Top

State Rep. Jeff Perry Self-Publishes Treatise on State of GOP
By MICHAEL C. BAILEY
Originally published Feb 13, 2009 Enterprise Newspapers

State Representative Jeffrey D. Perry (R – Sandwich): legislator, former small businessman and police officer, and now, author.

Mr. Perry is preparing to roll out My GOP, a self-published non-fiction book in which he examines the current state of the Republican Party, its setbacks in the 2006 and 2008 election cycles, and the importance of returning the party to the fundamental principles embodied by Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.

“It’s great to be done with it,” Mr. Perry said Monday afternoon, mere hours after sending the final package off to the printer’s, capping off about eight months of work. “I’m pretty proud of it.”Mr. Perry said he began working on the book last summer but put it aside during the elections. “I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to publish it,” he said, but the results of the state and national elections “re-energized me…it was very cathartic just to be able to tell the story.

That story includes a look at the history of the GOP, the lasting influence of key figures such as the late Presidents Lincoln and Reagan, analysis of recent elections, and personal anecdotes from his upbringing in a Democratic family up through his service in the state Legislature.

However, Mr. Perry was quick to add that “it’s not a tell-all book about the State House.

“What I’m hoping to accomplish with this book is to remind people why certain [Republican] issues connected with some people,” he said, that reminder aimed at voters in general and fellow Republicans in particular. “My part has made some consistent mistakes lately, and if we don’t correct them, we will continue to be unsuccessful.

Mr. Perry said he opted to go the self-published route partially to maintain editorial control over the content, “because I didn’t want anyone tinkering with my voice,” but also because of the realistic hurdles to finding a publisher “interested in a first-time author whose book is of more regional interest.”

He said the entire process was fun, though more complex than he’d anticipated as he had to acquire a Library of Congress catalog card number and an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) for the book’s barcode, both of which are normally handled by a publishing house.

Mr. Perry is accepting pre-orders for the March release, and plans to sell the book through local retailers.Pre-orders may be placed through Mr. Perry’s promotional website at www.mygopbook.com. Copies are $19.95 plus $1 sales tax and $4.95 shipping and handling, and discounts are available for bulk orders.


Back to Top