GOP dissident rebuffed in effort to oust chairwoman

At the first Republican State Committee meeting after the election, Worcester state committeeman Bill McCarthy tried to oust Jennifer Nassour from leadership based on the GOP losses. He was immediately beaten back by the party’s parliamentarian, secretary, and lawyer, who said he had not followed the bylaws that call for 15 members to request in writing a meeting to remove the chairman or chairwoman.

Nassour is up for reelection in January, and some state committeemen concluded that the controversial debate over her continued leadership was premature.

“I personally do not believe that the chairwoman has done malfeasance, nonfeasance, or misfeasance,’’ said Ricardo Barros, a committeeman from the Cape and Islands, spurring loud applause. He questioned whether “anyone else in the Commonwealth feels they can do a better job at the great pay that they give her.’’

Nassour, who has not accepted a salary, was elected chairwoman of the party in January 2009. This year, Scott Brown’s surprise special election to the US Senate in January heightened expectations of a party that seemed on the verge of a comeback. But despite recruiting 139 GOP candidates to run for office and making some gains in the Legislature, and reviving 100 Republican town committees, Republicans lost every statewide office and race for Congress in Massachusetts.

“She had a strategy that just focused on the governor’s race and whatever that reason was behind it, it failed miserably, so we need a change especially now,’’ McCarthy said in a phone interview before the meeting. “At the beginning of the year, with Scott Brown’s win, there was a lot of hope and a lot of energy and a lot of people who were motivated. And now you have this.’’

Republicans picked up 17 seats in the Massachusetts House, but not nearly enough to dent the Democrats’ majority. McCarthy contends that the state party did not do enough to sway the local races, even for candidates who ended up winning.

At last night’s meeting, the most heavily attended in years, Nassour told the crowd of about 150 at the Newton Marriott that despite the disappointing election results, the party had reversed years of decline. She said Republicans put up credible contests in many congressional districts, forcing Democratic incumbents to fight to retain their seats.

“They were all here fighting for their political lives,’’ Nassour said. “They had to spend their money here. They couldn’t help their friends anywhere else. For the first time in a long time, Massachusetts had a huge impact on the national scene.’’

She also addressed criticism from some activists that the state party focused too heavily on the top of the ticket, contributing $2 million to the ad campaign of gubernatorial candidate Charles D. Baker. The party spent just over $91,000 on legislative campaigns, including $20,000 on the special election to replace Brown with Republican Richard Ross in the state Senate.

Nassour offered a feisty defense of her leadership, saying that the legislative candidates who did not receive contributions from the party nonetheless received some in-kind campaign assistance, whether in candidate training, polling, mailings, or media advice.

She also helped candidates organize fund-raisers and, in some cases, offered personal contributions, she noted. “We were helping in every way we could possibly help,’’ Nassour said.

In recent years, Republican state party chairmen were installed by the candidate at the top of the ticket and left along with the party standard-bearer. Nassour was elected chairwoman in 2009 without an incumbent GOP governor and set about rebuilding the party’s grass roots and paying off debt.

The party chairman under Governor Mitt Romney, Darrell Crate, presided over heightened expectations, as well, as Romney recruited 130 candidates and spent $3 million on a push to boost Republican representation in 2004.

The GOP actually lost three seats in the Legislature, but Crate stayed through November 2006, when his predecessor, Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, lost the race for governor.

Stephanie Ebbert can be reached at ebbert@globe.com.