Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted visited Geauga County

Mayhem ensued...

Cross-posted from “My2cents” by guest writer Jonathan Broadbent

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On Friday, June 14, Ohio Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted answered the call to join the Geauga County Republican Party for a Flag Day picnic celebration.

Hidden behind the news of his stop in sleepy, rural Geauga is the fact that a large crowd of elected Republican Central Committeemen gathered OUTSIDE the picnic, unable to meet or speak, yet hopeful. They are a sign of what’s broken in America, and an indication how we might fix it.

Why were more elected Geauga County Central Committeemen standing OUTSIDE the picnic than attending? The answer to this is both complex and surprisingly simple.

First, why care about a picnic and failed Central Committee meeting in rural, “red” Geauga County?… (hold on a second, while I switch hats from elected County Central Committeeman to national co-host of Precinct Strategy - an initiative designed to re-invigorate the Republican Party by filling it with vibrant America-First types - where we talk often about issues within the party)…

The reason everyone should care is because what is happening in Geauga County has been brewing for years and is a sign of what’s gone horribly wrong, and why the United States currently finds itself incapable of fighting back against an anti-American, Globalist, “woke” far-Left agenda.

If we live in a “two-party system”, shouldn’t we have at least two parties?

People all over the state of Ohio yearn for more… something… anything, from the Republican Party. I don’t say this as a party-wonk, but instead from the simple perspective that any country that boasts only two viable political parties should be able to point to actual, identifiable differences between those two parties… right?

Listen to everyday Americans, approximately anywhere, and you’ll hear the same story - they’ve given up on politics, believe all politicians are or will become corrupt, or hope that some third party, like Libertarians, will somehow become a viable option. Most I speak with have given up on “the party apparatus” and will only give money very selectively, to only certain candidates, convinced that general GOP contributions are sucked up by a bloated infrastructure that views collecting money as more important than defending American values.

Terms like “Uniparty” are now common elements of everyday American conversation; from coast to coast, everywhere in between, and even overseas (yes, even people in Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and Asia are discussing America’s fall into single-party rule).

As the United States Lurches-to-the-Left, enduring “the long slow march” in everything from Education to Medical Freedom and our Rights & personal liberties, people wonder, “why doesn’t the GOP take action to protect our interests?”

The simple answer: RINOs.

People long ago adopted, and then became numb to, the term “RINO”, which stands for Republican in Name Only. (I run “Ohio RINO Hunters”, which you’ll find on X and other social media platforms. I landed on that because the term is universally understood, and because Ohio has more than the normal share of RINOs, due in large part to our open primary elections, which allow Democrats to select “republicans”. Relatedly, and frustratingly, our County GOP Chair is not the only person in such a position of trust to actively court Democrats’ votes in order to get recent-Democrats into office. In a sure indication of objective, she was recently found to have lied to the County Central Committee, proposing a life-long Democrat for a vacant position as “life-long Republican” and then shouting down objections. She quickly disallowed discussion of verified copies of voting record, calling instead for the local Sheriff to escort out anyone who might question the appointment. Going to this length is an indication of the importance of the objective of getting as many non-Republicans into the Republican Party as possible).

I cannot possibly over-state the deleterious impact of single-party rule. Yet, clearly, that is the objective, nationally.

The term “trans-Democrat” is currently trending, presumably because it simultaneously makes fun of the people who believe that by changing their clothes they become the other gender, while also pointing out people in the Republican Party who are clearly Democrats. (For instance, every election cycle in my county the front lawn of one of our elected Republican Central Committeemen is full of far-Left Democrat candidates’ campaign signs. We’re supposed to pretend as if he is a Republican, but I refuse.) A man in a dress is no more woman than a life-long Democrat with far-Left ideals becomes a Republican by arranging for a “R” next to their name.

Back to last Friday…

While at the picnic, Mr. Husted spoke glowingly of County GOP Chair Nancy McArthur. His reasoning is illusive and seems aggravatingly tone-deaf.

Geauga County is far from alone in having; no office, no newsletter, years without discussion of any topic or issue, virtually no community engagement, low morale, hidden/secret voting, closed meetings, no speakers, no sub-committees, no Young Republicans element, next to no social media, rarely meeting, doesn’t appear to raise any money, no Resolutions or Motions have been passed or presented, no discussions of today’s important topics, and we even failed to put out Republican signs at polling locations on election day. Quite literally, nothing is accomplished and nothing is planned. Add to this frequent self-inflicted lawsuits that result from not following rules and laws and we have a Republican Party that cannot seem to move the needle even slightly, on any issue.

We’re far from unique. My conversations with people all over the state and country on a weekly basis lead me to the conclusion that all of this is by design and intention. The motivation appears to be money and power, in my county, as in many others, this is evidenced by the tremendous overlap between County Executive Committee and high-paying County Government jobs. I’m told that one office in particular has increased their annual budget around 200% in the last three years and has an array of employees paid $110,000 to $150,000 per year - that office recently requested a 20% raise for these employees. Relatedly, in a recent County Central Committee meeting we were asked to appoint eight (8) new people to Executive Committee, seven of them, I’m told, work for that same office. I stood to object to their appointment as a clear conflict of interest and was blocked from speaking… by someone else who works for that same office.

Such behavior is more common than you might think. “Career politicians” often start local and realize that with power and virtually unlimited government money, vast riches become easy.

Wondering why your taxes keep going up? (I’ll leave monies going to foreign wars aside for the moment.) Take a look at local government. Namely, salaries, budgets, and who is friends with whom, along with budget expenses, projects, and fees that benefit only certain people. If the right combination of people fill vital roles, while also controlling their own endorsements for re-election, along with audit functions and local Judiciary, then accountability and transparency become a distant dream. There is a term for regions that fill all offices with like-minded people willing to take control of every aspect of citizens’ lives, while pursuing paid positions. It’s referred to as a “Tammany Hall”, named after a notoriously corrupt region of New York around America’s forming. A “Tammany Hall” is the opposite of Representative Government, led by Citizen Legislature.

Back to the picnic and the meeting that wasn’t…

A Geauga County Republican Party Central Committee meeting was scheduled to coincide with the picnic. Word spread in the weeks leading up to Flag Day, and excitement ensued. A rare opportunity, perhaps, for those of us elected to Central Committee to conduct the business of the party on behalf of our constituents. People like me changed our schedules, hopeful that now, with a critical election looming and country/county-altering threats imminent, we might accomplish something useful. And then, inextricably, notice went out the day before that the meeting was cancelled. The reason given was that a quorum, (the minimum number of Central Committeemen needed in order to conduct a lawful meeting) would not be there; yet, well above that number showed up, most of whom waited patiently outside, for a meeting that never happened. I believe that would have marked our second meeting for 2024.

This stockpile of nothing hardly seems praise-worthy, unless that nothingness is somehow desirable.

Let’s unpack this. It’s complicated, but bear with me, it’s important…

All over the country roughly half of Republican Party Representative seats remain vacant/unfilled. This means that around half of the United States has no local Republican Representation. This fact is almost never discussed by the GOP and you’ll not find it mentioned anywhere among the constant noise of self-promotion coming from the Republican Party.

There’s a very good argument to be made that around half of the people who are in the Republican Party don’t belong there because they’re some combination of feckless, RINO, or absent. In my case, I can attest to feckless, RINO, and absent in my county. Many are elected and do not show up for our rare meetings, quite a few, including our Chair, engage heavily with the Democrat Party, and as for feckless… anyone wishing to speak, discuss, or act is actively scorned, as if some sort of villain for wishing to represent their constituents in any way. This is shameful but must be acknowledged. My county is far from unique in this. I receive similar stories from all over the state and nation.

… some quick math: if the party apparatus is half full, and half of the people filling seats don’t actually do anything… this means that the Republican Party is at around one quarter (1/4) strength.

If a strong Republican Party were the objective, the issue could be solved very quickly, at very little cost. Have a few well known people promote the idea of local, civic involvement, and maybe launch a brief ad campaign… the result would be a party at full strength! While they’re at it, the Republican Party could make some comments about all the recent-Democrats-turned-Republican filling many of the seats who push far-Left agendas. We’d return to that promised “two-party system” in no time. But they don’t, and such a call to action is very unlikely in the future. Why?

Having scant few solid Republicans in the party means that corrupt people meet very little resistance. Bad actors within the party clear the path to make a lot of money and assume great power, with little or no accountability. What’s the fastest way to do this? Collaborate with the far-Left. This is far more profitable than fighting the Globalist/Leftist agenda, which is what the Republican Party should be doing.

A big push is on to find good, America-first Patriots to step into the vacant roles. The man behind Precinct Strategy (the book, website, and media/social-media presence), Dan Schultz, and I train people country-wide on this strategy twice weekly, every Tuesday afternoon at 2pm ET & Fridays at 9pm on the social media platform X, using “Spaces”, which is like a giant coast-to-coast conference call. In my home state of Ohio, we also have a dedicated site and team focused on the topic, found here: Ohio Precinct Strategy - I’m not connected to this one (other than knowing the founder and current heads), but do what I can to encourage Ohioans. Our mission is to teach the Civics that is sorely lacking and motivate people to get involved locally.

“All politics is local” is the expression that fits best here. This is perhaps especially true in my county of Geauga, where we face the grave danger of living close to the U.S. city that is considered by many to be first in line to become a “15-minute city”. Our sleepy, rural, but wealthy county is in the cross-hairs of this sinister plan, which flies under the banner of “Climate Action Plan”. It’s Agenda 2021, renamed Agenda 2030, rebranded “Climate Action Plan.” Some Geauga “republicans” seem eager to let it happen, (possibly in line for all the big-government money that’s sure to flood into such things as high-density housing projects, yet willfully oblivious to the associated problems that ensue).

Local politics is overwhelmingly partisan, all over the country… but not in the way that you think. Partisan politics at the local level is only superficially between Democrat and Republican. Mostly the fight is between the roughly 50% of people in the Republican Party who have no interest in being Republican - the RINOs and the feckless - and the people who’d like to see a return to Representative Government, desiring meetings open to the public, transparent voting, encouraging community discussions of issues and topics, and formulating answers together.

It’s important to pause here to interject that the Democrat Party launched a plan many years ago to infiltrate the Republican Party and disrupt it from within. This plan is a direct result of the Republican Party’s historic knack for blocking extremist far-Left plans of the Democrat Party. It’s what led directly to the current “Uniparty” situation. Bad actors work to make meetings infrequent, closed, hidden, tightly controlled, diminish morale and funding, and for voting to be done via secret ballot.

In Geauga, this strategy has led the Republican Party to ruinous irrelevance. We have nothing to show for our years of service. Some “republicans” find this to be a success, openly attacking anyone advocating Free Speech and regular, open meetings.

Ironically, at the meeting in which I was shouted down, I was attempting to return nominating authority (the ability to nominate candidates for various roles) to all of the elected representatives, often referred to as “ the body”, as opposed to the current environment, which gives sole nominating authority to the Chair.

Scenarios like those listed above are playing out all over the country. This will continue until enough of us get involved in politics and return Voice and Vote to We The People. This can only be done through the checks-and-balances that result from having more than one political party.

And as it relates to likely Gubernatorial hopeful Jon Husted (I don’t believe Mr. Husted has officially announced anything, but it’s widely rumored that he intends to run for Governor), I find his comments highly suspect. Why endorse or encourage such lack-luster performance from a County?

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