If I were running for Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party

It won't happen - but here is a short speech for my dream chairman.

The Ohio Republican Party has been the agent that has pushed back against radical Democrat socialism. There are many good and honest people in the Ohio Republican Party. Hard workers and many volunteers have for years had a loyalty to the mission of the party. However, that mission has changed, morphed, and is no longer clear. The party has clearly changed from the way it operated in the 1980s.

In the 1980s, Ohio was a leader or in the top ten of nearly every economic indicator in the country. At that time, the party had a purpose and a focus. It was the party that was concerned with ethics, rule of law, and making certain candidates pass conservative legislation. The party was concerned with low taxes and repealing laws, not creating them. The party was an organizing force to make certain that legislators made good on holding up the party platform.

Then things changed. They didn’t change overnight, to be sure. 

Campaign finance changed - that empowered special interests to disproportionately influence the party. Party convention rules changed, and the elite were able to pass legislation that made the State Convention optional and thereby removing any hope on keeping the special interests in check.

With a low max contribution for individuals to campaigns - special interests are able to effectively run the party through its donations to the State Candidates Fund with a wink and nod. The party then pays its expenses as it passes the money on to candidates and makes in-kind contributions by running the campaign of the candidates of choice for special interests.

The Ohio Republican Party is no longer reflective of the will and interests of registered Republicans as it once was….it is a reflection of the will of the special interests solely because of campaign finance laws and due to not having a State Convention.

This happened with the Democrat Party as well. This misguided legislation moved the parties to either side of the spectrum. While the big-monied special interests do battle - us peons suffer.

What’s worse is that no one remembers what the purpose of a major party is in Ohio because of campaign successes. The purpose is to represent the will of registered Republicans. This is the reason why it takes 40 years of Republican dominance to pass a photo identification law and why the party has ignored the liberal intrusion into Ohio’s education system. These have never been a priority for special interests.

We need passionate leadership that is dedicated to not supplanting the will of the people and is actively engaged with the people to truly do astounding things. The party pushes personalities instead of popular platform goals because they make their money from greater than max contributions from special interests to the State Candidate Fund. So everything is built around the candidates that can get the most special interest dollars.

With my election this stops on day one.

We will restore the party to being representative of the people.

• With the agreement of the State Central Committee, we will work on restoring the State Republican Convention and restoring the law that makes such meetings mandatory upon a call by the County Central Committees.

• With the agreement of the State Central Committee, the party will work towards reforming Ohio’s campaign finance laws to strengthen County Central Committees. It's time we worked for the people rather than enrich ourselves through a money laundering scheme.

• With the agreement of the State Central Committee, the party will focus on developing a meaningful and popular platform of policy positions capable of raising small-dollar donations from Republicans and Independents.

• The special interests have so focused on themselves and protecting their businesses that Ohio leads the nation in its inability to attract entrepreneurs and create new businesses. A goal of the party will be to realign the dynamics of the party to focus on small business growth and development.

• With my election, we will task every legislator with reducing the budget and reducing taxes year over year.

• With my election - we will not continue to give Ohio’s education system over to the liberal indoctrination of our children. We will fight Democrats on all fronts by engaging with them on all fronts!

• We can no longer afford to allow a peaceful existence with Democrats where the Republicans run the state, and all the money goes to our large Democratically controlled cities and counties. 

• We can’t afford to go backward, and competition benefits us all and keeps us all honest. It's, for this reason, I will endeavor to support, with agreement by the State Central Committee, the participation of the unaffiliated in the primary election.

• As chairman, I will be fair, honest, and transparent. With the agreement of the State Central Committee, every vote on all business brought before the committee will be recorded so constituents can see how their representative voted.

• As chairman, I intend for no endorsements to be made during a primary without the consent of two-thirds of the county central committees or a two-thirds vote at a state convention.

Other things need to be addressed, such as developing bylaws with a common understanding. Having a fair and impartial process for addressing the grievances of committee members. Instituting whistleblower protections and resolving blatant conflicts of interest and impermissible influences. And above all, we need to set an example for the organization and adopt a code of ethics and encourage county parties to do the same.

As chairman, I will move to reduce my power and influence by splitting the job between a newly created CEOs position which is the position I would take and a chairman that would be elected from the members of the State Central Committee. I will never have the ability to write checks for millions of dollars to unendorsed candidates. I will never have unlimited discretionary spending and intend to live within a budget provided by the State Central Committee.

I will restore tactical strategy decisions to the State Central Committee to decide the priority of where they want funds spent. The State Central Committee will get to decide whether we vastly overfund a Governor’s race and spend no money on State Board of Education races.

Lastly, I intend to win by making promises and keeping them rather than just spewing rhetoric. The Ohio Republican Party can do far more with far less with engagement and good word of mouth. We will aid underperforming county parties and give them the tools they need to win. We will pressure unpopular county parties and underperforming parties to reform themselves before we get involved. I want a professionally run and transparent party that everyone can be proud of and one capable of unifying under conservatism. We can beat back crime, human trafficking, child abuse, domestic violence and drug overdose deaths when we all work together towards a better Ohio.

If you like what is said here please share it by email with the members of the Ohio Republican Party’s State Central Committee. A list of emails and phone number can be found by clicking on the button below