My First NYSYR Meeting

I had the pleasure, and quite frankly, the honour to attend my very first New York State Young Republicans meeting this afternoon in lovely Goshen, New York. Which for me was a long-time coming, because my local Young Republicans club has been working for literally years to see this day occur, and finally, it did.

Although the meeting didn't actually start until roughly eleven o'clock, it started for me and two other YR's, who  are also writers on Pundit Press, when we got up at 8 in the morning and traveled over a hundred miles (added over 200+ on my Dodge Neon today) to attend the event.

Delegates from 10 counties were present and the business meeting lasted little more then an hour, which focused on officer's reports and keeping the delegate body up to date on the latest happenings within the statewide organization, including the treasury which stands at an impressive $10,000.

After this we adjourned for lunch, which was followed by a very interesting panel discussion led by New York Congresswoman Nan Hayworth, U.S. Senate candidate Wendy Long and two other female local officials. The discussion centered around their roles as Republican women actively involved in politics. Congresswoman Nan Hayworth received the first ever NYSYR Hamilton Fish Congressman of the year award.

Then the main event was keynote speaker Jedediah Bila, a Conservative author and columnist, who talked and answered questions for almost an hour on how to defeat liberal stereotypes, her book "Outnumbered: Chronicles of a Manhattan Conservative," education issues and the state of the conservative movement.

Delegates adjourned after Ms. Bila's speech for three hour recess, which in my case included an interesting off the beaten path adventure that ended up in New Jersey searching for gas, but I digress. At seven, most delegates met up for comedy, dinner, drinks and fun (at the adjoining bowling ally and arcade), where folks discussed a wide range of issues from politics to foreign policy to just catching up with one-another.

So how did I enjoy my first NYSYR meeting?

I absolutely loved it.

The camaraderie of the organization, which I have never witnessed before tonight, was something to admire and I met several incredibly wonderful people from all across the state, and in diverse backgrounds, who I'm looking forward to meeting again at the next meeting sometime this fall.  And even better - they are all young people who believe like me!

In conclusion, it was a blast.

What say you?