Kumudini Gupta, a resident of Quincy and a community activist broke new ground when she became the first Indian American to hold a political post in the Republican Party in Massachusetts and also the first Indian American woman to do it. This double distinction came when Kumu Gupta was unanimously elected to be Vice Chair of the Quincy Republican Committee and Chair of her Ward Committee on March 11th, 2008. Kumu ran for a seat on the Ward committee this Super Tuesday. “I came late into the election” she said “and became a write in candidate. It was still very exciting since I made many calls to local residents, many of them seniors who promised to vote for me and consequently got to know my town residents better”. In her role, Kumu Gupta will work with the new Chair for the QRC who is the daughter of past Mayor of Quincy, which Kumu said is "fine", since "I am a relatively new comer to Quincy and haven’t had a chance to get to know my fellow republicans in town - this has been largely due to the fact that there was practically no Republican Committee in Quincy in recent past”.

 In her new role, Kumu Gupta hopes to re-energize the Republican Party and get people engaged in the election process and connect to other fellow republicans who, she admits are a minority in heavily democratic Massachusetts. Her plans are to initiate a round table discussion on cable TV on town issues and invite guest speakers and town officials in political involvement.

 â€œI have been a Republican at heart for a long time” she said, “and the reasons are personal. While I was living in Kuwait, Desert Storm took place when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. I remain grateful for the involvement of the US Government at that time under President Bush. That was the beginning of my affiliation to the party and it has remained steadfast till now”

 Being a  part of the community is not new to Kumu Gupta. Kumu’s work in the Indian American community in the US has involved working with TiE and FIA of Northern California and CRY. Born in India, she grew up in Kuwait and came to the US for her MS/BE. Kumu is a Consulting Wall Street Analyst for Standard and Poors (S&P 500) and has her own firm KUMU Consulting, here in Quincy. A long time republican, she worked on Gov. Romney's campaign when he ran for Governor's office, on Kerry Healey's campaign when she ran for Governor of Massachusetts and Bush Cheney 04 campaign. Kumu was also a delegate at the last Mass. Rep. Convention in Lowell in 2006. She was a guest speaker on cable TV show "Voice of Today's Republicans" for discussion on "Women in Politics" in 2004.

 Kumu was given an honorable mention at Senator Paul Harold Awards Ceremony for service to the community. She also founded the Donate A Cell Phone program for Saheli- South Asian women's group and with the help of The Wireless Foundation in Washington DC was able to get phones donated for women’s shelter. She also served as the honorary chair along with Senator Kennedy and Senator Kerry  on Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) second Gala 'Give Liberty A Hand Gala 2008' which honored three prominent citizens of the Commonwealth who made significant efforts  in promoting and protecting the rights of  immigrants and refugees .

 Her involvement and engagement in the community extends to being on the Advisory Board of the newly formed Asian American Commission of the Commonwealth and as Vice Chair of Quincy Human Rights Commission. Early in August on the occasion of India’s 60^th anniversary of India’s Independence, Kumu filed a proposal for issuance of a postal stamp of India with the US postal headquarters in Washington DC. The proposal is under consideration and she is hopeful that it will happen, given the history of the first Indian on US soil in 1624 and the contributions of the community in recent years.

So what does she think of John McCain, the Republican nominee for President. “McCain is a good man, with compassion and is level headed which speaks of his maturity”. Kumu was in touch with the McCain campaign in the planning of the panel discussion of the Asian American event at the State house. “At that time I was asked if I can help to connect the Asian electorate here. I am also excited to see who he will choose to pick as his running mate. As you know, Bobby Jindal is a possibility”.

 On a parting note, I asked her the story behind her signature at the end of every email on how she sang the American national anthem at a Giants baseball game in 1998. Says Kumu, “The Company I worked at took us to the ball game for a day. They asked if any of us would like to sing the National Anthem and I volunteered. I got a chance to be part of the national anthem before the start of the game. In a few seconds, I became an American 'star' and it changed my life forever. This was especially dear to me as I just became a U.S. citizen in September 1997 after coming to this country 17 years before that. Today I have a mention in the National Baseball Hall of Fame (Cooperstown, NY) national anthem file.

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