The Brown County GOP Central Committee held its meeting last night, to discuss several issues. A successor to Audrey Worthington in the treasurer position was slated to be chosen. A discussion about who gets the money generated by the Republican Club's endeavors was also due to be discussed, as well as the contentious issue of establishing an endorsement policy.
I had to work late, so I arrived late for the meeting. I did not get a chance to vote on the successor to Audrey, but someone told me who got the job (name escapes me at the moment) and they appear to be a good fit. In my dealings with the gentleman, I find him to be a forward thinker about where the party should be going.
In terms of the money issue, I arrived at the tail end of a heated discussion. I have no clue what was discussed or voted on, as it was being done as I arrived, but everyone seemed satisfied with it.
Which brings me to endorsements. I was one of the people who pressed for a policy on endorsements back in the last primary season. I feel that EVERY central committee should have some type of endorsement policy. However, some in my central committee feel as Bob Bennett that we should have Machiavellian ideals about deciding for the voters who should run. I think endorsements make a difference. I think that if enough parties would stand up against incumbents no one is fond of, ie Mike DeWine, that would produce a buzz that would make someone else able to get the money and the pub to win.
Our chairperson, Paul Hall, wanted to establish a policy similar to other counties where the steering committee would check out the qualifications and attitudes of the candidate, and report back to the central committee. Then the CC would vote to endorse. If a candidate got 45% of the vote, they would get a highly qualified or recommended rating. If they achieved 65%, they would get fully endorsed.
Oh, you would have thought we were talking insurrection with some of these people. Two elected officials, close to retirement, bemoaned it. They talked about how "we ain't big enough for all that stuff" and "the candidate just needs to get the voters." In other words, they think Brown County will always be a hick county where Billy Bob's family is known as being so cool and he is your neighbor and helped out raising that barn back when so you should vote for him. Obviously they don't drive very much on the main highways. There is huge expansion of new homes, homes for sale. People from Hamilton, Clermont, et. are moving into the area to get out of the immediate city. These people have no history of who Billy Bob's cousin is. Therefore, the endorsement of a party will be very important in telling voters who the right candidate is in a primary.
Our sherriff, Dwayne Wenninger, made another salient point. Dwayne has been very active in the party, attending meetings and the like, for years. Say, as will happen this year, someone decides to run against him in the primary as a Republican, and the CC does nothing to say, this is our person. How will that get any elected officials to come to party meetings?
Of course, the old school types said primaries are evil and break up the party. They cited some example a few election cycles ago where our CC endorsed someone and they ended up losing. However, ethically and morally, after reviewing the facts, the CC at the time made the correct call. There were questions about the other guy's qualifications and background that could have nailed the party. But, that one race just seems to get stuck in these people's head.
So, we compromised. We said that in federal, state, and local elections, the screening committee will interview and check out the candidates in primaries, and will report their findings to the central committee. The CC will then vote on endorsements. A candidate must get 2/3 of the votes of members of the CC in good standing in order to get an endorsement. If they don't get that 2/3, we do nothing.
What was it that sold the "good ol' boys"? It was the suggestion that our endorsement process could give the county chair leverage to tell a challenger to get out of the race and that a 2/3 vote would discourage people from going ahead and filing. Which leads to the second part of the deal: the candidate must ask for the endorsement 30 days before the filing deadline, and the CC must meet at least 7 days before the filing deadline to decide to endorse. In this way, the candidates would know where they stand and a challenger might be dissuaded from running.
I know, it is not ideal. However, it is a step in the right direction. Too many of the party still think as Bennett does that primaries are nothing but evil. However, in the primary between Paul Hall and Danny Bubp, our party gained new members of the central committee and activists precisely because Paul Hall challenged Bubp. It did not weaken the party, but strengthen it. Danny and Paul ran a clean race. In the end, Danny won. Life goes on. Our party hasn't been damaged by it, but rather helped. The good ol boys don't see that. They see only that they will have to do more work to fight off a primary opponent. If they are so popular, they should be able to get an endorsement, and part of our job as a central committee is to find the best candidates for the community and the party. But, it must be done on the basis of allowing people to decide, not just using secret backroom strong arm tactics, as the good ol boys have advocated. Part of the reason Ohio's GOP is going to suffer for a while is that Bob Bennett for years through party machinery has dissuaded certain people from running and has put a sour taste in many mouths. So, Ohio has a weak bench as this current crop of officials retires, is term limited, or whatever.
The other thing, as I indicated over and over, is that we must be forward thinking. We cannot keep thinking that Brown County is always going to remain a sleepy little county of people who just vote for their neighbor or who has the family name. As more people move out to Brown County, they are going to wonder why a county party is not putting its reputation on the line in order to endorse the right candidates. Endorsements tell people the party believes in that candidate. It means that the party has determined this is the best candidate for them. Now, of course, Butler County has decided the ol' Cashola will determine that, as evidenced by other stories Matt has covered. But in Brown County, my hope and my mission is to keep it about looking at qualifications, beliefs, and electability, not just on who is JimBob's cousin or who has the money. And I believe this process is a good first step.
Note: we also discussed how Jennifer Brunner has politicized boards of elections, as in Cuyahoga County, but we also learned what the issue was, and it looks like the ol Board of Elections in Cuyahoga County did do a little bit of chicanery in terms of counting votes in a recount. See, what you are supposed to do is to pick a district, recount the votes and then check the machines against it or something. The board had prepicked and counted the ballots or something. It sounded shady, and typical Bennett. What surprised me is that many in our party did not know that the Bob Bennett in Cuyahoga was the same as the Bob Bennett of the State Party Chairmanship. We still have a long way to go in educating even those who should be the more educated among the electorate.
