Moss more than just a drinker:Boston native has deep roots in Republican party
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Of the many reasons people move to this community, most aren’t of a medical nature, but that’s what brought Moss here about a year and half ago. Living in Atlanta at the time, the Boston-born, longtime Balti-more resident collapsed on the floor one day with what turned out to be a super enlarged prostate. Upon hearing of his longtime friend’s condition, local resident Ken Whipple moved him to McMinnville for his convalescence. It didn’t take long for him to become interested in local politics.
“I was in and out of the hospital for a year. When I felt better I wanted a drink. Boy was I surprised. I never knew a dry county still existed in America,” Moss said.
When he heard this summer of an effort to get a liquor by the drink referendum on the ballot it didn’t take long for him to get involved.
No novice to campaigns, Moss brought with him years of experience in the political arena. Beginning in 1988 he became heavily involved with the Baltimore Republican Central Committee, serving as a member as well as the organization’s treasurer. In 1990, he was named both Baltimore Republican Man of the Year and Maryland Republican Man of the Year.
In 1992, he spearheaded an effort which collected 15,000 signatures to place a single member district initiate on a city’s ballot, a measure which eventually failed at the polls, but which gained Moss further political attention, as he was elected as a delegate to the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston.
His involvement in Republican campaigns also caught the attention of several candidates who ended up hiring him as a political consultant. Over the years he’s worked on a gubernatorial campaign, the U.S. Senate campaigns of Alan Keyes and former Senator from Tennessee Bill Brock, as well as a Congressional campaign.
Moss decided to become a candidate himself in 1995 when he ran for a seat on the Baltimore City Council. He ran a good campaign, he said, but the numbers were against him as a Republican, as he was running against three Democrats (one of whom is now mayor) in a heavily Democratic precinct.
After his medical recovery this year, he said returning to the campaign trail in favor of liquor by the drink was just the thing he needed.
“The campaign made me get active again, it made me feel better,” he said, adding, “It’s much better to win than to lose.”