State
Maine GOP Forces Augusta Legislative Candidate to Withdraw: Pro-Life Republican Jarody (DiPietro): Leaders "Pressured Me Out" of Race
By Mike Hein (Christian Civic League)
Aug 4, 2008 - 12:09:44 PM

AUGUSTA -- House District #57 Republican Candidate Jarody (DiPietro) claims Maine Republican Party leaders forced him to quit his legislative campaign this week. Jarody recently legally dropped his last name of DiPietro, and now lists only Jarody as his full name.

In a Capital Weekly article (not available online) published July 31, and a subsequent email received by the League Record, Jarody states Maine House Republican Leader Joshua Tardy and Maine Republican Party Chairman Marcos (Mark) Ellis "sat me down and pressured me out" of his State Representative race.

He alleges the meeting with Maine GOP leaders took place on July 30, two days after the State's deadline for party candidates to register, and only nine days after Augusta's city committee nominated Jarody to run. According to the Capital Weekly report, he claims "skeletons in the closet" as the reason Tardy and Ellis gave for him to abandon his candidacy.

However, Jarody was more clear about the reasons given to him in his email comments to the Record. He said the Republican leaders targeted online comments as being the "most prominent issue" that his opponent could use against him in a campaign. Jarody said that although some of the online comments "did not represent my actual views," that "it was repeatedly hammered into my head during the meeting" with Tardy and Ellis that the comments would be a problem.

Jarody went on to state that Tardy and Ellis told him that he would not have the support of Maine's Republican Party, and that they would have the Maine Republican Party distance itself from him if he continued his campaign for the Maine Legislature. Jarody expressed disappointment that the Maine Republican Party would refuse to support his candidacy.

Jarody stated his pro-life and pro-family stands in a July 24 email to the League Record. In it, he wrote:

"Life begins at conception, and regardless of the circumstances surrounding it, abortion is still the termination of a human life. ...I will cast the votes necessary to make sure the truth remains known: Abortion is murder. I would not support homosexual Civil Unions here in Maine because my personal view of it is that 'Civil Union' is just another word for [homosexual] marriage."

The text of Jarody's email to the League Record, and the Capital Weekly news article follow:      

"[Maine House Republican Leader State Rep.] Josh Tardy and [Maine Republican Party Chairman] Mark Ellis sat me down and pressured me out. They made it clear I would not have the [Republican] Party's support. That the Party in fact would distance itself from me if forced to.

"They also stated that my very presence in politics as a republican in this election cycle could end up costing several local [Central Maine] republicans elections.

"I am disappointed... A party I believed in refused to support its own. I'm unsure where my future lays in terms of politics and the [Republican] party."