Republican thinks outside the box

Patrick Guerriero, executive director of the Gill Action Fund and former Massachusetts state legislator, said in an on-campus discussion Tuesday that his diverse and unorthodox character has helped him in many significant ways throughout his political career.

“People create stereotypes,” Guerriero said. “I blow up those stereotypes because I don’t fit into the box.”

As an openly gay Republican from Massachusetts, Guerriero seems to be a contradiction to many people. He embodies many segments of the population not traditionally found together, and uses this to his advantage by bringing people together from different backgrounds.

Since he was hired as executive director by the Gill Action Fund, a group that advocates for gay and lesbian equality, Guerriero has traveled across the country talking to many people, including college students. Conflicting groups often meet and discuss his speeches after he visits a campus, he said in an interview. The dialogue between these groups often shows them that they actually have more in common than they realized.

In his “Politics, Public Opinion and Polling” speech to the journalism department at Cal Poly, Guerriero discussed his background and what he has learned about politics and the media work together. Throughout his career, he has learned many lessons that are priceless to his dealings with the press, he said.

One of those lessons is to always define yourself before someone else does. When you control the public perception of your character, then you have a hand up, Guerriero said. When you wait to see how the press reacts to you, your image may be distorted or warped.

“I think he’s a model for American citizens,” said Brian Kennelly, modern languages and literature department chair. “He’s level-headed, fair, articulate, and believes strongly in integrity.”

Guerriero was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature at age 25. He ran on the campaign motto of “integrity,” which he said was something people could accept from a young and inexperienced candidate.

“People saw me as this 25-year-old who had no problems, yet (they thought) ‘he can’t be corrupt,'” Guerriero said.

After three terms, Guerriero ran for mayor of the town of Melrose, Mass. He chose “civility” as a campaign motto because it was a nonpartisan concept that people could support. It also spoke to the heart of why people moved to a suburban town like Melrose.

Guerriero carried this theme into his legislation as mayor, creating what he referred to as the “civility initiative.” This idea was implemented to create a climate where people were courteous to one another. It covered issues such as cleaning up the language of spectators at little league baseball games and improving relationships between senior citizens and high school students.

The idea received national attention, and Guerriero said what started out as a small idea showed that many Americans were concerned about the coarseness of daily life.

In retrospect, Guerriero said that you cannot “legislate decency,” but the project made people take a step back and look at how their actions affected others.

Guerriero said that part of his success was probably due to the young age at which he was elected to office.

“I was willing to take on leaders and brought a maverick streak to public service,” Guerriero said. “Young people are not cluttered with cynicism and negativity.”

As a result, he tries to focus on encouraging young people to become involved in politics, either by running for some type of office or simply being active in the voting process.

In his speech, he also discussed his involvement with the Log Cabin Republicans, an organization that strays from mainstream party lines. Guerriero had heard that the group was more in the habit of apologizing for conservative republicans rather than taking action, he said. From 2003 to 2006, he was the executive director of the group.

“(I told them) I’ll take the job only if you give me complete control to change the profile of the group to take on Republicans,” Guerriero said.

This experience allowed him to tackle many controversial topics like gay marriage. It was interesting to go on a news program, he said, and have two Republicans argue different sides of the same issue.

In 2006, Guerriero joined the Gill Action Fund, which is currently looking into various ways to legislate for gay rights in states like California, and the work is extremely important, he said.

“He’s a person to watch for the next 10 (to) 20 years on the political scene, he’s not done yet,” Kennelly said.