Fellow SOB-er BizzyBlog has jumped on the case we highlighted a few days ago, about the supposed "fair and open" endorsement process for Hamilton County GOP:BizzyBlog has obtained a copy of what I have been told by a reliable source was agenda of that meeting. The agenda reads more like a script. What follows is a word-for-word rendition, retyped by me, of what is contained in the copy I received. If the agenda/script accurately reflects what occurred Thursday afternoon, it clearly shows that Mr. Wilkinson’s report, for whatever reason, does not fully describe what went down, or how it went down.
2/13/2006
Has Hamilton County Become the Ohio GOP’s Kangaroo Korner?
Filed under: MSM Biz/Other Ignorance, Taxes & Government — TBlumer @ 6:37 am
Full (but in my opinion unnecessary) Disclosure: BizzyBlog has not endorsed, or formally opposed, any of the candidates in upcoming GOP Primary races who were considered for endorsement at last week’s meeting of the Hamilton County Republican Executive Committee. See the SUPPLEMENT below for links to various posts I have done about some of the candidates who did and did not receive endorsements Thursday.
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Last Friday morning’s article by Howard Wilkinson in the Cincinnati Enquirer (known to some as “The Invisibler”) about the Hamilton County Republican Party’s endorsement meeting had this to say about the process and its results:
Hamilton County Republican leaders listened Thursday afternoon to an appeal by candidate Jim Petro to stay out of the gubernatorial primary, but went ahead and gave the party endorsement to their hometown candidate, Ken Blackwell.
About 100 members of the Hamilton County Republican Party’s executive committee met behind closed doors at the Queen City Club later Thursday to first decide whether to endorse in the Blackwell-Petro race, and then to choose one of the candidates.
Party Chairman George Vincent called the final vote “overwhelming” for Blackwell, the former Cincinnati mayor who is now Ohio secretary of state.
“People expressed their opinions on both sides in a most eloquent fashion,” Vincent said. “In the end we had two good candidates; and we chose Ken.”
Both candidates spoke for about 15 minutes each.
….. The party’s executive committee also endorsed Sen. Mike DeWine, the Republican incumbent, in a primary contest in which he faces three little-known opponents; and Rep. Steve Chabot, who has no primary opposition.
Interesting. But, it appears, somewhat incomplete.
BizzyBlog has obtained a copy of what I have been told by a reliable source was agenda of that meeting. The agenda reads more like a script. What follows is a word-for-word rendition, retyped by me, of what is contained in the copy I received. If the agenda/script accurately reflects what occurred Thursday afternoon, it clearly shows that Mr. Wilkinson’s report, for whatever reason, does not fully describe what went down, or how it went down.
* * * * *
Here is a copy of the schedule.
Note it has an outline of who will be saying what, including who will be making motions, who will be seconding...I wonder, was this written in Columbus by Mr. Bennett, or did he dictate it to the County GOP secretary?
This is an effrontery to the citizens of Hamilton County, to the Republican voters of the County, and to the other county committees, as well as the Democratic process itself. I demand of electoral authorities to look into this, and I would encourage candidates to file complaints against this biased, apathetic, and completely disgusting display of back door party politics. Again, I must ask:
Is this the 21st century or are we still in the time of Boss Tweed?
Stand up, call the people listed by Bizzy and ask them why they acted like blind robots instead of actually discerning and debating the merits.
