Lawyers make a living at making bluffs - it's time to call their bluffs.

Don't let lawyers prevent you from doing the right thing!

I have become amazed by working with a number of different County Central Committees of how afraid they are to do the right thing because of lawyers. Now, I am not asking anyone to break the law or not to use good sense - but I am asking everyone to get over the fear of 3rd rate lawyers using dubious (and downright ignorant) interpretations of the law to help the political establishment maintain power. While not all establishment parties are all bad (or lawyers) - most wield power out of arrogance and contempt for the law and not the respect for it. For an example of what I am talking about, you need to go no further than the State Central Committee as an example.

It is absolutely absurd to believe those sane and rational members of the SCC (State Central Committee) would agree on an interpretation of the law that would make their positions irrelevant. What I have been told by Republican State Central Committee members is that “We hire a chairman, pay them a considerable sum, because they are professionals” and “We seek guidance from the professionals we hire - you wouldn’t hire a rocket scientist to build a rocket and then not listen to them would you?”

I give pause to this irrationality and insane mental gymnastics that is required to approve of such arrogant and loathsome behavior on display at the ORP (Ohio Republican Party), because I learned why this was wrong in grade school.

A central committee member is a representative - they represent party members in their precinct, ward, or district. These party members depend on their representatives “to do the right thing,” and when they don’t, in their eyes - they can elect someone new. And that is what we are doing as we educate the public at Ohio Promise Keepers about their State Central Committee and County Central Committee. Thanks in part to our efforts, and much to the chagrin of the establishment, we now have more anti-establishment members than ever. Still not a majority - but we are working on it.

We don’t have Congress elect a King……

The State Central Committee members are slowly coming to realize - that it is a tradition of the party that the members are merely figureheads - and only a select few make all the decisions. We don’t have Congress elect a King and give them all the power of Congress…….why on earth, as a representative of a constituentcy, would you believe that would be okay in party politics.

Did you know?????

Did you know that your SCC members do not vote on which campaigns are a priority to win - that they entrust that strategy solely to the Chairman of the ORP?

Did you know that your SCC members do not decide when to pursue litigation or not - that they entrust that responsibility to the Chairman?

Did you know that even though the ORP has a budget committee, it does not set a budget for the chairman to live within - so the Chairman has the power of the purse?

Did you know the SCC Chairman can retaliate against the members of the SCC when members insist that the bylaws are followed?

Over $100,000 spent to ensure that SCC members do not have access to the Party’s books….

Probably the worst optics for a party that has been riddled with scandal - would be for a party to spend over $100,000 in legal fees to keep its members from reviewing the books. I mean - is it really worth over $100,000 of donors money to keep members from reviewing the books? Sorry, but if I had nothing to hide I would give members complete access to the party’s Quickbooks program to run as many reports as they like. That would have been far cheaper if the party has nothing to hide in the books.

Let’s look at the moron of the day - Columbiana County Chairman and the current ORP Treasurer and arrogant SOB - David Johnson. This blowhard believes that the people (registered Republicans) will perceive SCC members wanting to inspect the books of their organization as being disloyal or being poor Republicans.

The “lunatic wing” as he so arrogantly puts it - does not trust the man that has helped elect so many corrupt individuals and was and is Gov. John Kasich and Gov. Mike DeWine’s biggest cheerleader. This was also the man that spent $650,000 on FactGem and project Ruby and never had a product delivered. A man who just threw away $650,000 without demanding a refund for a company failing to deliver a product. A man that oversaw a $100,000 FEC fine for project Ruby and over $300,000 in legal fees for his gross incompentence on project Ruby. Oh, and three $50,000 payments to FactGem subcontractors.

The moron of the day - also must not realize of how many appointees and lobbyists are on the SCC that supports his point of view. By all means let’s get rid of appointees and lobbyists and their family members from the committee.

Infighting and Unity

When we resort to chilish name calling we inflame tensions and create disunity. Disunity does not breed passion for the party or donors. Party members need to control their tempers and act more responsibility - even when frustrated. We also need to remember that should not seek unity at the expense of our integrity.

To build passion for the Republican party we have to have civil and difficult discussions - not hot heads that are augustly offended that members want to inspect the books in detail.

The next Chairman we should all demand will have a transparency policy - even with the books. They should also put in place an ethics policy about conflicts of interests and they should gaurantee a level playing field for all candidates. We need to seek to earn each others respect and we must open ourselves up to having respect for other perspectives.

Action in Without a Meeting

Both sides - the establishment and anti-establishment members are acting like two-year olds. The establishment have so buried their headsin the sand they cannot comprehend the slightest insinuation that they are doing anything wronh. The anti-establishment works by having private and secret meetings and tries to scheme to pull one over on the establishment. The “Written Resolution” I have written about previously (AKA Action without a Meeting or Action in Lieu of a Meeting) and how a party can overcome tyrannical leadership. However, the written resolution also helps to create unity.

When there is alot of wariness and hard feelings one of the best ways to break the ice is to start working on the little and small things that people can agree on. One of the best ways to do this is through the written resolution where members can connect more on a personal level without the stress of a meeting. The “Written Resolution” is not a secret - it needs to be sent to everyone. The written resolution is very transparent and helps to engage others in civil discussion. There is nothing clandestined about a written resolution and it let’s everyone know where members stand on an issue.

The anti-establishment members of the party in my opinion need to learn that every journey starts with the first step. While replacing the Chairman may seem to be where your energy should be focused at - that is akin to a teenager believing they can start playing basketball and three months later they will be in the NBA.

Replacing a Chairman is normally very hard and very controversial and is certain to cause angst. It is easier to start to make small changes in how the party operates. Pick the low hanging fruit first - what you can agree upon - rather than focusing on the things we cannot agree on. Once relationsships are built and respect is garnered it is easier to have more difficult discussions.

Lawyers and the Special Interests do not want to see Unity

The special interests have their lobbyist lawyers that enjoy the public being in the dark and love that party leadership is not unified . Why? Because when the party is unified - they are not concerned necessarily with the special interests - they are concerned with doing what is right.

We’ll always see lawyer trying to bluff, bully and intimidate leaders of the Central Committee to keep them at odds with each other. And, when you call them out and confront them with facts - they don’t know how to react other than to act like a prima donna that is highly offended at being called to the mat.

We must follow the law - not necessarily a lawyer’s personal interpretation of the law, and we must be consistent, transparent, and ethical. Until we all start using our heads and stop acquiescing our intelligence for that of a lawyers - we will all be much better off.