TEA vs. ORP

Let's get ready to RUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMBLE!

Regular readers of WMD know that I'm a huge fan of neither side in this fight, so I can be fairly objective about calling this particular match. The TEA Party has the best of intentions and wants to get our agenda moved forward. The ORP has the experience in politics and elections (which are NOT the same thing).

Tom Zawistowski (Tom Z. from here on...) ran for Chairman of the ORP because he thought that the party was the best way to advance our agenda. He learned a valuable lesson just days before the election...

I did not understand until I had the opportunity to talk to Matt Borges last Saturday and he told me privately, and then said publicly, that the Ohio Republican Party's role is to elect candidates and specifically to re-elect Governor Kasich. When I asked him about policy, he looked me in the eye and said "We don't do policy." When I specifically asked him about policies like the "Navigator" bill in the Senate, he repeated "We don't do policy." Even after I pointed out that if Navigators are allowed to register voters, with the presumption being that they would register mostly democratic voters, and that would devastate the Republican Party, he held firm.

His words took me back to one of the first times that I met Bill Batchelder over three years ago. We were asking the "Party" to help us with something, perhaps it was Issue 3. Speaker Batchelder candidly said something like, "You don't understand, we raise money to win elections and after we win elections we stay out of the way until the next election where the cycle repeats itself." They were not involved with Policy. We did not get that. Even when current Chairman Bennett would say something like, "The Ohio Republican Party is a Party without Policies." We did not get that. It did not make sense to us.

ORP's objective is to win elections and over the years the collective wisdom at ORP was to stay out of policy and let the elected officials handle those concerns. It makes sense from the point of view of keeping the party out of the line of fire when it comes to the hot button issues of the day. The problem with this strategy is that rank-and-file members and grassroots activists (but I repeat myself) don't want to see their agenda -- that they worked so hard for -- be tossed aside by thoughtless politicians. Those folks look to the ORP and see a level of indifference that is simply mind-boggling.

Now the ORP is trying to raise money off the IRS scandal in which conservative groups (read TEA Parties and liberty groups) were targeted for more scrutiny than usual. Which from the ORP perspective it is their way of reaching out and magnifying the issue. From the TEA Party perspective, it is ORP reaching their hands out for cold hard cash with one hand while slapping these very groups in the face with the other.

In an email distributed to Republicans throughout Ohio, Matt Borges, the Chairman-Elect of the ORP, asks for recipients to "Help us hold them accountable and demand answers!" by donating money to the Ohio Republican "Party". Tom Zawistowski, Executive Director of the Portage County TEA Party, said "After using TEA Party and social conservative groups to help elect Republicans who have failed to represent our conservative views and values, the ORP is now attempting to use the illegal targeting of TEA Party groups by the IRS to raise money for itself. They are doing so under the totally false claim that the ORP will in any way help our Liberty Groups fight the IRS. They can't and they won't. I find that totally classless. In fact the ORP itself has been fighting TEA Party and social conservative attempts to hold our own elected republicans from straying from their conservative campaign promises. They are not helping us, they are fighting us." Zawistowski is the recent past President of the statewide Ohio Liberty Coalition. His letter in February of 2012 stating that the OLC would not comply with the IRS demands, began the successful effort by TEA Party groups all over the nation to challenge the IRS which resulted in the apology that was issued yesterday.

Zawistowski continued by saying "I find it reprehensible that the Ohio Republican "Party" would take advantage of this situation by claiming that they would help "hold them accountable" when in the Chairman's race, in which Mr. Borges was chosen over me, he made it perfectly clear that the ORP "Does not do Policy" and they are not in the business of holding anyone accountable for anything. Particularly if they are Republicans who want to grow government by Expanding Medicaid and who want to support gay-marriage. Anyone who gives money to the Ohio Republican "Party", which by it's own admission is not a political party at all but actually just a perpetual campaign organization, is wasting their money and will not help us fight the IRS. Donations should be made to the Ohio Liberty Coalition which is actually holding the IRS accountable for this illegal activity and defending Freedom of Speech for all Americans. Donations can be made to the OLC on its webpage at www.OhioLibertyCoalition.org."

Donating to the ORP will have exactly ZERO impact on the issue at hand. What's worse is the ORP intelligentsia know that. That they do it anyway is the biggest insult of them all.

Ohio Democratic Party Shenanigans Enter ORP Chairman Race

I am not going to go in to the details of this, but if you haven't heard from elsewhere: Ohio's Democrats have taken notice of the ORP Chairman race and have decided to have their smearmeister, Jerid Kurtz, do his usual slime...

Kurtz called Tom Zawistowski, who is a Tea Party leader and is running for ORP Chairman, and told him to check his email and that there would be information he could use against ORP Executive Director and front-runner for the Chairmanship, Matt Borges. The information that Jerid provided via email (information which I have not confirmed and really isn't as "hot" as Jerid would have us believe because if it were, Jerid would have used it already) regards Borges' old voter registration in another state.

Tom Z. did the right and honorable thing when he received this email. He sent it to Borges so he could be ready to defend himself to this attack when it comes from Kurtz or whichever operative ends up running that particular hit. But that didn't stop the establishment hacks in the ORP State Central Committee from running their own sleaze against Tom Z.

State Central Committeewoman Sarah Brown of district 29, sent an email out to the entire state committee claiming that Tom was working with Jerid. You couldn't devise a more ridiculous or absurd lie than that but that is how far the establishment is prepared to go to protect their anointed one: Matt Borges.

Borges has enough skeletons in his closet as it is. If the state central committee is stupid enough to elect him, then it would appear that any legitimate means to reform the party are dead. The Know-It-Alls in Columbus think they can shut down anyone who opposes their scheming, but all they are doing is losing voters who are sick of this sort of backroom deal-making that can only ultimately benefit Democrats.

Ms. Brown ought to be ashamed of herself playing in to Jerid's hands like that. What utter tomfoolery and asinine charlatans we have on the state central committee. Personally, I am disgusted with them and their nonsense.

Zawistowski to Run for Ohio Republican Party Chairman

When confronted with the reality that there was no other candidate than Matt Borges, Tea Party "leader" Tom Zawistowski announced today his intention to run for Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. In an email sent to WMD, Zawistowski reveals the thought process that leads him to believe it is time for a liberty movement leader at the top of the Ohio GOP.

After the letter went out, we started to contact State Central Committee members asking them to not vote for Mr. Borges. Many of them told us that they had to vote for Mr. Borges because he was the only candidate. Some even said that they were told that "no one else wanted the job" and "no one else wants to make the commitment." No one wants to be Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party? What does that say about the Ohio Republican Party? Nothing good. The fact is that their is only one candidate, because the party does not want any other candidate. So, even though the vote is not until April 25th, the vote is only a formality that the State Central Committee members have to go through even though they are being denied any choice for their vote. So, many Liberty Leaders, who did not want Mr. Borges, started to make calls asking other prominent Republicans to run and none would. We decided that if we did not want Mr. Borges, then we needed to offer an alternative. Otherwise we were just all talk and no action. That is the initial reason that I decided to run for Chairman.

Tom Zawistowski

Then after considering carefully what I was about to do, it became clear to me that this was actually the only logical thing to do at this point in our movement. First, I was qualified. I can do the job and do it well. Second, we are all sick and tired of fighting each other and would really like to come together and take the fight to our true enemies, the "regressive" left. The best way to do that, would be to bring the various factions of the Republican coalition together and focus their collective energies to be effective. I believe that I can do that and if I can do that I should do it. If they reject my bid, and more importantly push through Medicaid Expansion, then it will be clear to all of us that they do not intend to change the direction of the Party or more importantly embrace us as part of the party. The bottom line is that we have been dancing with the Republican party for four years and it is time to either come together or go our separate ways. I think most of us are more than ready to go our separate ways, but that something that we all know is not the quickest way to reach our goals. Therefore, I believe that we must try, one more time, to reach our hand out to the Republican Party to form a conservative alliance

WMD is of the opinion that Zawistowski would indeed be the better choice, but knowing the State Central Committee as we do it is more likely that Don Quixote will finally strike his windmill. We would, however, be pleasantly pleased and surprised if the alternative were to actually happen.

For far too long, the players in the smoke-filled backrooms of the party headquarters have been making their deals and setting the rocky course for our party. This sort of move is exactly the kind of reform that WMD considers necessary in order for real change to take place.

PREDICTION: ORPSCC will stick with the establishment and go with Borges even though it is the wrong move.

DOCUMENTS:

Tom Zawistowski letter to ORP Dated 4/2/13:

ORP Letter 4213

Tom Zawistowski Letter to ORP State Central Committee:

ORP State Central Com Members