As a great writer once wrote...
...it was the best of times; it was the worst of times. The Brown County GOP met tonight and had a tremendous turnout. All of the candidates not in Iowa running in races important to Brown County were there. There were some blowouts, some surprises, and yes, some disappointment.First, the process. In order to be endorsed by the Central committee, a candidate must receive 65% of the vote of the Central Committee present at the endorsement meeting. If no candidate gets 65%, there is no endorsement, no qualification rating, just nothing. Also, at the endorsement meeting, each candidate was given 4 minutes to talk and had to answer three questions put forth by the screening committee.
Let me say, I am glad that we have an endorsement policy, and this is a good start. However, I think we need to have something in close races with candidates rating them as qualified or acceptable, as I believe both Clermont and Butler counties do (Matt, Correct me if I am wrong about Butler). Also, I think the meeting should be opened up to questioning by the entire central committee members, or at least executive committee members. These are parts of the process I think need ironed out.
The votes were tabulated by two Clermont County GOP members, one being auditor of the county.
Central committee members could vote to endorse one candidate or another, or vote not to endorse.
Note: I voted to endorse in EVERY race.
Now on to the results:
County Sheriff
In the race for county sheriff, incumbent Dwayne Wenninger received 81% and won the endorsement over Don Neumann of Ripley. My analysis: Neumann had a tough road to haul with a popular incumbent with ties to the party leadership as well as a devoted following among the central committee and the populace of the county in general. No word on if Don is going to continue to seek the nomination in the primary with the people.
US Congress, 2nd District
Since Tom Brinkman announced his candidacy after the deadline to seek endorsements, he was not on the ballot. Challenger Phil Heimlich was first to speak. He talked about his priorities and his faith, and I got a chance to meet his lovely and kind wife. He talked about basically the stuff he wrote in his Red State essay about pork and how we needed to have a Congressperson who was respected. Phil also repeatedly talked about his faith and his devotion to preserving farmland. Incumbent Jean Schmidt then spoke about how we all knew her and how she was fighting for us and will help to get things done in the district and represent us well in Washington. Incumbent Schmidt carried the endorsement with 66% of the vote. My analysis: I was frankly shocked. I thought more people in the county would vote not to endorse or would split the vote. This is almost a clean sweep of the counties in the 2nd district that do endorsements for Team Schmidt, and they seem to be carrying a lot of momentum into the primary, especially now that Brinkman has talked of entering and also Deb Krause who said she will file, all who will split any anti-Schmidt vote. Mr. Heimlich was very gracious in not winning the endorsement but the night belonged to Team Schmidt, who brought along 3 staffers as well as her husband and frequent guest at Central Committee functions, Peter Schmidt.
County Treasurer
This is an open seat as incumbent Gail DeClaire will not be running for re-election in this post. Connie Patrick and Warren Wagner are the candidates. Both candidates spoke about the local ties and love for the county, Connie talking about her work in the treasurer's office and Warren talking about working as a personnel officer in the Marines as well as being his township clerk. Both were well received by the committee, and the screening committee found nothing to be worried about in their investigations (it should be noted that the screeners found nothing wrong with anyone in the sheriff's races, or the US Congress, either). Neither candidate received the required 65% endorsement mark, and both pledged to fight an honest and fair campaign and may the best person win. These two were both very gracious and it appears to be a race about what primary politics should be: just putting the message out and letting the people decide. My analysis: both candidates acquitted themselves well and were honorable and decent in their speeches and mannerisms. Both bring good experience to the office and will make good standardbearers for the office.
Common Pleas Court Judge
Scott Gusweiler is running unopposed in the primary and received a unanimous endorsement. My analysis: Scott nearly won in his last attempt at judge, and he learned a lot and is a shrewd operator. I think he will be a great candidate and we are lucky to have someone as savvy as him in the party.
County Prosecutor
Jessica Little is running unopposed in the primary and received the endorsement with 97% of the vote. She has done great work as a working mom and in Adams County working there, and does a great job for the party as counsel. My analysis: This has been Democrat territory for a while now, but the incumbent is not very popular anymore, but still, Jessica is a newcomer, and it can be tough to buck the establishment.88th District State House
Danny Bubp, currently serving in Iraq in the USMC, our incumbent, is running unopposed in the primary. He received 93% of the vote, winning the endorsement. My analysis: To the other 7%, what the hell is the matter with you? This man is serving our country in several ways and you were too lazy or too goofy to mark his name down. Shame on you. Bubp retains this seat in the general.State Senate
Tom Niehaus visited with us and brought his wonderful wife Emily. She is doing better after appendicitis and looked great considering that bout and a battle with breast cancer. Tom is running his last campaign as he is term limited. He is running unopposed in the primary, but he will have opposition as a democrat in Brown County named Holly Stutz is planning on running against him. Mr. Niehaus reported to us that due to some changes in the Senate, he might very well be in party leadership soon, and would know about a week from tonight. My analysis: Barring anything crazy, Niehaus gets reelected to serve out a final term in the state Senate and continue representing our area well.12th District Court of Appeals
A late filer, Mary McElwee, had been calling over the weekend asking for our support as she wanted to run for one of the two seats, but did not ask for the endorsement by our deadline. Therefore, she could not speak but she did come and leave som literature. Bob Ringland of Clermont County was running for one seat and Bob Hendrickson of Butler County was running for the other. Both of these two gentlemen received endorsements and sound like they would make great candidates with Judge Ringland getting 96% vote and Judge Hendrickson 89%, to secure endorsements. My analysis: Mary McElwee, who also seems very qualified, got in too late. Ringland and Hendrickson will go on to the general, and both should make for strong candidates.Brown County Commissioners
We currently have one candidate for two seats officially, as Rick Eagan has been the only person to file papers for one of the seats, the one being vacated by retiring Republican Perry Ogden. Rick ran a tight race against Margery Paeltz in 06 and is seeking to keep a seat Republican. Randy Fulton, who had petitions and was going to run against Rick for Perry's seat, was not in attendance, hadn't filed his papers yet (deadline 1/4 @4pm), and was currently in the hospital. So, we aren't sure what he is going to do there. A gentleman named Mr. Steele said he is going to file papers 1/4 to run for the other seat, being vacated by retiring Dale Reynolds. The committee voted not to endorse, mostly, I believe, not due to anything involving Mr. Eagan, but due to the uncertainty. My analysis: Stupid, stupid move. With a democrat operative in the crowd, Mr. Eagan could have received a nice united front for the husband of Margery Paeltz to take home to her. However, the committee, I think, was too cautious in this race and the lack of an endorsement in this race will hurt all Republican candidates for the position. I do think Mr. Eagan will win in the primary for his race. I think, unless some serious groundgame is played, these two seats fall to the Democrats.County Recorder
Two newbies to replace the retiring Gary Himes; Mariah Votel and Amy DeClaire. Mariah spoke first. She had some prepared remarks, but didn't need to look at them very much. She spoke about what she wanted to do in the office, her experience, as well as wanting our young people to be educated about local offices so they would get involved (simple answer: get a school district in the county to hire me to teach government!!!). Anyway, she seemed polished and emphasized customer service. Both candidates talked about their strong family history in the county and both had great qualifications, with Mariah in the private sector and Amy working for Clermont County and knowing about county government, having been involved in it. However, Amy seemed a little nervous at times and I think this hurt her with the crowd. Mariah Votel won the endorsement of the party with a 78% vote. My Analysis: Both candidates expressed a desire to serve, and I think both will fight hard. Even though she comes from some well known families, Mariah is not a name, and I think if the Dems put forth a tough candidate, this could be a tough battle. Both candidates were gracious and both were worthy of the endorsement. No word yet on if Amy is going to continue in the primary.Brown County Clerk of Courts
Finally, we did the endorsement for Brown County Clerk of Courts. Tina Meranda, the embattled incumbent, still involved in an OPEN investigation of impropriety in her office, and Gail DeClaire, current Brown County treasurer. This race had the potential for fireworks, as Gail's daughter was involved in the investigation as well. Gail spoke first, and said she was running because she wanted to keep the office in Republican hands, and noted how she had always worked for the party going back to her beginnings in it in the 1970s. She said we all knew her and knew she was honest and upright, and would work hard for us. She also said she struggled with the decision, and that if the party thought she should let things go to vote for Tina. Ms. Meranda got up and began her discussion with how she had helped change things in the office, how they were now self-sufficient and weren't part of the county expenses, and how she was working to modernize looking up info on the computer and scannind documents. Then she turned nasty. She then proceeded through some subtle remarks to basically say that Ms. DeClaire and her daughter were liars and that the daughter had a drug problem and was a criminal, even though another person in attendance was cited in the State Auditor's investigation, besides Ms. DeClaire's daughter and Ms. Meranda. I thought this was low and underhanded, but there was more. Ms. Meranda had been handing out literature to selected members of the central committee, highlighting excerpts from the Auditor of state's report and passing them off as the complete audit. In her documents, she also cherrypicked certain things to make this whole investigation come down to a she said/she said deal with Gail cast as the deluded angry mother. Why she didn't give this to every central committee person I would like to know. Because of this, and in part to the lack of courage of many in the central committee who fear the type of personal and negative tactics of Ms. Meranda's camp, the committee narrowly voted to give Tina Meranda the endorsement with the 65% minimum. My analysis: Gail tried to stay positive, and Tina came with the dirty tricks and the mud. So much for positive campaigning. There is more to the auditor's audit and invesigation, and there is at least one Democrat who has the FULL AUDIT and was waiting to see if Meranda won on whether to file or not. This Democrat will be told by the Democrat operative in the crowd about the results and you can bet he will be filing tomorrow for the Democrat nomination. By cherrypicking the audit and distributing half truths, Ms. Meranda has done what she claimed Ms. DeClaire was doing: weakening the party. I was told by some members of the Central Committee that they had heard there was all sorts of backdoor negotiations going on, and at least two members of the Central Committee, one in a high leadership position, told me as a result of this crock and cowardly vote they were not going to file papers to continue on the central committee. Gail has said she is finished and will not file her petition to run in the primary, so unless someone files tomorrow who had signatures, Ms. Meranda and the dark cloud of impropriety hanging over her head will get a free pass to the general election, where the Democrats will pounce on her ALLEGED indiscretions, and will paint her as a manipulator, a cheat, and a fraud. I think the party missed the call on this one and out of fear of not endorsing an incumbent and fear of some type of reprisals voted for the candidate who will lose in the general election. I talked to members of some other campaigns and they just shook their head and said, "uh oh." One central committeeperson said regarding this vote, "wow, that's not how I voted." This race will be dirty, and Ms. Meranda will lose. If I were Republicans, I would write in Gail DeClaire's name on your ballot in the general election or someone else, because the Dems will not be as fair or as positive or as gracious as Gail DeClaire was. They will take this story and run with it, and it will hang over Ms. Meranda's head like Tom Noe hung over Ohio Republicans in 06.
In the race for President, we had an informal caucus, and Mike Huckabee was first with no more than 33% of the vote, Thompson was third, and Guiliani I believe was 2nd.
Well, Brown County is moving away from the "if he says Jesus he must be for real" type candidates, but this tells me we have a LOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG way still to go. Huckabee is just a snake oil salesman, with little substance and a whole lot of skeletons in his closet from his days in Arkansas.
In other party business, Party worker and Indispensable Man Al Spiller had a stroke on Christmas day and is in Drake Center. Please hold him in your prayers. This guy ran our fair booth, is the firs to volunteer, and put in a lot of time with the party. My dad worked with him for years at Cincinnati Milacron, and Al is one of those rare gems, salt of the earth. Al, we missed ya at the meeting, brother.
