The King of Dark Money complaining of Dark Money
The Irony of the ORP Chair Statements is that he is the leader of the largest Dark Money organization in Ohio.
Well, Chairman Paduchik is at it again. Only “he” is truly an expert of knowing so much that isn’t so. The gravest incredulity is that a certain portion of the populace will willingly believe anything he says because they have invested their faith so completely in him and that they would lose total credibility to not support him.
The institution that is the “ORP” is crumbling because it no longer represents Ohio Republicans. As Ohio yearns for Reagan and Trump-like candidates - the establishment is determined to give them Romney and McCain like candidates.
So let’s set the record straight on who is destroying the Republican Party and who is unable to move substantive conservative issues down the football field to make Ohio a robust and vibrantly growing state.
Who cannot get conservative candidates to run?
Who is bent on maintaining the status quo?
What is the plan to turn Ohio around?
The answer is certainly is not Jon Morrow, Tom Zawistowski, or the Committee for a Better Ohio. In fact, when the Party said it was impossible to remove the Chairman of the Democrat Party (Chris Redfern) - Jon Morrow and Steven Kraus proved the party wrong.
THE SCC IS A DARK MONEY ORGANIZATION
The bald-faced assertions originating in this tribulation of lament from Chairman Paduchik help to illustrate why he is not a leader and not a manager.
Let’s address the 600lb Gorilla in the room. The Ohio Republican State Central Committee is the board of directors for the company that is the Ohio Republican Party. They are not one and the same. They are two distinct entities with two different purposes, even though they are used interchangeably. Chairman Paduchik, according to ORP bylaws, is both the chairman of the board of directors and the CEO of the ORP. Typically, these are separate positions for a reason. The board of directors represents the investors and the CEO runs the party. These positions are normally kept separate so there is no bilking of the investors. When you have a person that occupies both the chairman of the board and CEO’s position there is much more potential for unethical conduct and bilking investors because of a conflict of interest. A chairman of the board and the board of directors are supposed to unbiasedly judge the performance of their CEO. How can that be accomplished when the CEO and Chairman are one and the same? Additionally, to ensure there is no monkey business going on - an independent third-party auditor comes into audit the books. They make their report known to the investors and board of directors. Chairman Bob Paduchik and Justin Bis have absolutely no business hiring an auditing firm - they have a direct and flagrant conflict of interest in manufacturing and influencing the appearance of everything being just peachy.
Only the Central Committee has the right to approve an auditing firm. The chairman and ORP management should cooperate - but should keep their nose out of the mechanics of the audit.
DARK MONEY….THAT FUNKY MONKEY!
Chairman Paduchik, lionizes the term “DARK MONEY” and vilifies a non-profit that has only ever wanted to restore integrity to the party after its many scandals, set the tone for ethical conduct, and introduce conservative policies that will restore prosperity to a multitude of Ohioans. It is quite obvious that “known unknown” has been flipped on its head and is now the “unknown known” (SORRY RUMSFELD - I STOLED IT.) The “unknown known” is what everyone inherently knows but that everyone is completely and utterly oblivious to.
State Central Committee members are not required to disclose where the funding from their campaigns originates from. They do not have to create a committee nor comply with disclaimers. They do not have to, by law, adhere to any ethics laws. No one has any idea of where the money from their campaigns comes from. In fact, China and Russia could easily finance every State Central Committee member’s campaign - and we would never be the wiser. The State Central Committee is financed by probably the Darkest of all money that is out there. So, it is quite ironic that Paduchik vilifies dark money in the face of a dark money organization he leads.
The ORP (Ohio Republican Party) has accepted donations from Medicaid and medicare fraudsters ($20 million in fines) and felons that bribe congressmen (Cafaro). They have put a former Speaker of the House that was convicted in Ohio’s largest scandal ever, in charge of endorsing state legislators in the Ohio House.
The Committee for a Better Ohio has never once intimated about eliminating the SCC (State Central Committee). We have argued for a State Convention that would draft the bylaws for the SCC and approve a state platform. Many States - LIKE TEXAS- use the State Convention to promote the party, engage Republicans within the state, and police the SCC. This check and balance is a tried and true tradition in many States - Ohio stopped this practice in the 1980s. Ethical conservatives have not been able to compete with the backdoor deals and the freefall of Ohio’s population and economy has suffered ever since.
No one has done opposition research on SCC members - we have completed integrity research. If the party was transparent and honest it would disclose the multitude of conflicts of interest of SCC members. But, letting the public know that special interests, lobbyists, and appointees to state positions are running the party - just sorta destroys the narrative of transparency and integrity.
What is the larger concern - an IRS recognized 501(c)4 organization trumpeting conservatives policies (Committee for a Better Ohio) -or- the ORP’s decisions being made by lobbyists and being possibly influenced by foreign governments?
We all know the end goal of Chairman Paduchik is to get Mike DeWine and Jane Timken through the primary. That is what he was purchased for. Many on the State Central Committee are now waking up to the incredulous actions of the chairman in his forthright and righteous removal of “malcontents” that were blowing the whistle on highly dubious financial irregularities.
THE SCC HAS NOT AUDITED THE BOOKS OF THE ORP FOR MORE THAN 16 YEARS - IT HASN’T BEEN ABLE TO BECAUSE THE BOOKS ARE UNAUDITABLE.
I don’t know about you but it seems less likely that the big difference in elections has less to do with the Party and more to do with candidate messaging. We have CEOs that can’t get an audit completed and cannot balance the books.
Yes, the party wins elections at the State-Level while ceding control of Ohio major cities and schools to Democrats. Is Ohio winning?
WINNING IS NOT OUT OF CONTROL OPIOID DEATHS, HUMAN TRAFFICKING, AND TEACHING CRITICAL RACE THEORY IN SCHOOL. WINNING IS NOT FOLLOWING THE CUOMO PLAN AND IGNORING THE DESANTIS PLAN DURING THE PANDEMIC. WINNING IS NOT HIGH TAXES AND BIGGER GOVERNMENT.
It’s not like the ORP has not had very serious, dubious, and unethical scandals over the last decade. There have been no reforms implemented to stop these unethical occurrences - because the current regime and past regimes DO NOT THINK ETHICALLY - THEY THINK WITH THE MINDSET WITH WHAT IS THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT THAT I CAN GET AWAY WITH THAT IS LEGAL.
The party was fined $100,000 and paid Mark Kvamme (JobsOhio) $489,875 for a database that it never used. So the party just threw away $600,000 on unethical behavior.
The ORP nearly lost its headquarters in October because it forgot to pay its property taxes.
The Party has largely ignored its last two scandals that removed both of its Speakers of the House.
Lastly, the Chairman has never answered these questions and I don’t expect he ever will.
In response to the hundreds of thousands of dollars of direct and in-kind contributions to unendorsed candidates the chairman stated this was at his discretion and was tradition. ARE THERE ANY LIMITS TO THE CHAIRMAN’S DISCRETIONARY SPENDING? CAN THE CHAIRMAN SPEND THE PARTY INTO OBLIVION?
A SCC is renewed every two years by registered Republicans voting in the primary. The SCC is the legal body that makes the decisions and directs the spending of the party. CHAIRMAN PADUCHIK, WHAT CONSTITUTES A TRADITION FOR AN ORGANIZATION THAT IS ONLY IN EXISTENCE FOR TWO YEARS?
Chairman Paduchik - do you see nothing unethical about lobbyists being on the SCC and voting to endorse candidates that will vote the way they want them to? Do you see nothing wrong with SCC members that are simultaneously appointees working for the State voting to endorse their boss/benefactor? Are these not bribes? CHAIRMAN PADUCHICK, IS THERE ANY INSTANCE THAT YOU WOULD DEMAND SCC MEMBERS RECUSE THEMSELVES FOR A CONFLICT OF INTEREST?
Chairman Paduchick has been bereft in his duties in making appointments to standing committees so they can do their jobs and be the check and balance to ORP management. If the committees are not meeting - the bylaws cannot be updated and PROPER audits cannot be performed. CHAIRMAN PADUCHIK, WHY ARE YOU NOT FULFILLING YOUR LEGAL OBLIGATIONS ON THE SCC?
PRESSURE
Right now, there are many candidates that are running for office for Senate and Governor that should be taking more of a proactive interest in this. The bought and paid-for Chairman is going to “defend” the party’s ability to be bought off. He will vigorously defend the SWAMP putting their thumb on the scale for the FAVORED ACCESS candidates. We had this problem when the Republican Party did not want to help Ken Blackwell when he won the gubernatorial primary, and they (the ORP) only made a half-hearted attempt for appearance’s sake to win the election. Paduchik needs to elaborate “We are busy winning campaigns for moderate Republicans.” They really, really, really, really do not want conservatives in positions of power. The chairman of the party likes it that way.
Promise Keepers
If you have had enough - come join the “Ohio Promise Keepers” that have pledged to reform the ORP. We are recruiting more conservatives every day to fight against the lobbyists, the special interest, and the political appointees sitting on the State Central Committee that are dedicated to preserving the swamp.
