I attend a Republican Party dinner the week before the Presidential election last November and was mortified at what I saw.   Until today, I have refused to attend any meeting where the term “Republican” was attached to it.  What was so bad? 

	SummitCountyGOP.org Completley Blank! Number of pages of content indexed by Google: 7
	SummitDems.org Content, News and More Number of pages of content indexed by Google: 209
Data and acreen captures taken on Sat Oct. 24  10 Days before an Election!

Sitting through a rally where the County leader Alex Arshinkoff told everyone to prepare for a big loss.  This was the main message for man who had spent six figures defending his place in the party, then contributed $150 to support a local incumbent in the State House who was getting pounded on by a DNC planted challenger.  The same leader that did virtually nothing to support the Republican challenger for US House district that made up over 80% of his territory.  But I digress.

I learned of this meeting, while interviewing my incumbent City Council member, Mary Bandar.  She is running for her third term (the first election one by a landslide, the second was uncontested).  Thanks to trickery and collusion from the left in the BOE, she is running as a “write-in”.  Her opponent knew he couldn’t win a fair fight, and like everything from the left these days, the Alinski concept of “Clearing the Field” seems to be a way of life.  Even though City Council members do not disclose their party affiliation, partisan politics during elections is still there. 

Today’s breakfast gave attendees the opportunity to learn more about Issue #2, meet candidates for our local Clerk of Courts, Stow Board of Education, and the three At-Large City Council seats.  I came to listen, and simply be a “Fly on the Wall” if you will.  But, as my wife has so observantly reminded me, I have a hard time in such meetings keeping my big mouth shut.  I ended up sitting at a table in the back, that unbeknownst to me, included 2 or the 6 candidates for council.  I spent most of the breakfast explaining Issue #2 (New State Farm Regulation Board), something you would expect Council members to know s little about.  I had to point out that as conservatives; we firmly believe in State Sovereignty, that if this concept was practiced, the issue wouldn’t even need to be on the ballot.  Instead we are forced to go against the core principal of limited governance to vote “yes” as a protective measure against an ever increasing Federal Government.  I was then completely appalled when the same candidates came out in favor of Issue #3 (Legalizing Casinos), one was even naive enough to believe that it would actually help the economy.

I listened to a Kathleen Jeffers make her case for the Clerk of Courts, and had flashbacks to last years US Congressional race for District 13 (Sutton v Potter).  Here again a conservative challenger faces a liberal incumbent who refuses to even have a public debate.  With democratic and aristocratic arrogance, Lisa Zeno Carano treats her conservative challenger like a fly, not even worth swatting at, knowing full well that her party will make the distraction go away without her lifting a finger.  What will not be said in official Republican Party circles is the dirty little secrete; Republicans won’t put forth enough effort in public to force a debate, or offer a legitimate challenge, because there is almost no support network left.

I watch the parade of 6 candidates (2 of them incumbents) for the three open At-Large City Council seats, and tried my best to listen past the smoke screen. I begin the process of elimination, and did my best not to let my breakfast conversation influence my thought process too much.  Just as I felt I had narrowed the pack down to four of them, I was called to ask the last question to the group.  I brought up the most heated issued voted on by this council, who in the end did not take the correct stand against a “Black Mail” legislative agreement forced on us by the County.  I instructed each member to anwer only with a  simple “Yes” or “No” as to how they voted, or how they would have voted.  You could cut the air in the room with a knife, and all since of civility quickly evaporated.  The gavel had to be struck to call to order the finger pointing and accusations the erupted.  After quieting down, only 3 answered as requested, with a simple one word response.  This rare moment of clarity was what I had been waiting for all morning, and while I am not going to disclose my other 2 choices yet, my hat goes off to Janet D’Antonio. Her conviction of character, and leadership ability was on display by staying above the squabble and by her passionate “No” answer (nothing more and no finger pointing).  The courage needed simply to cast that vote while under threat from the County, is evidence to her strength of conviction, and adherence to the values the Republican Party was founded on.

As usual, I have managed to be the person in the back of the room that stirred things up, but the results of my question were a lesson leaned by all in the room.  Those two minutes of chaos allowed true leadership to emerge.  The underlying theme in this article is one that the Republican Party in Summit County and beyond should make note of.  Think of these points with me for a moment with an objective mind:

• We must engage the public with our message, and market it much better for it is not even being herd
• We must bring new leadership to the party as soon as we falter, rather then continue to let frailer be accepted
• We must test candidates for true leadership first and résumés, education, membership in cubs etc. second
• We cannot elect people that fail to adhere to basic conservative values

These observations of mine are based on interactions with Federal, State, and County organizations and members over the last year, and were indeed confirmed in the meeting today.  Do keep in mind that I too am a Republican, but I am a conservative first.  Conservatives are people of principal, and faith.  We have all attended our respective churches for years, been enriched by the teachings of the gospel, and its values are our bedrock.  Yet the teachings of organization and outreach so well implemented by all churches are not being followed within this organization with the same vigor.  Why not? Up until the late 1800’s every church in this country would hold a special Tuesday service to bring the parish together, provide a sermon that equated scripture to the decisions of the day, guided them to the most moral of voting options, and sent them off to the ballot box.  Do we only evoke God in a ceremonial payer now as part of parliamentary procedure?  While I am not suggesting holding a Voting Day service, this shows how far from true community outreach, and adherence to moral standards we as a party have come.

I’m looking forward to the next meeting.  The people there were those I would call friends.  It is always great to be surrounded by those who believe as you do.  I also pledge to not try to ruffle too many feathers the next time.