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Thank you area Republicans for finally uniting and attempting to oust those who have taken much of the community for such a long time.
Statement to the Press
From Citizens United for Republican Ethics (C.U.R.E.)
For Immediate Release
Lancaster, OH
January 19, 2004
Contacts: Steve Elsea, 614.833.0623
Gerald Stebelton, 740.654.4569
Good Morning. My name is Steve Elsea and I would like to introduce the elected officials who have joined us today to show their support for C.U.R.E. I will read a list of those elected officials who also support us but couldn?’t attend today. I will the read my prepared statement followed by a statement from Jerry Stebelton. We will then take any questions.
C.U.R.E. members believe political parties and their candidates thrive and succeed when they fearlessly promote the principles of the party and the leadership team fosters an atmosphere of openness, acceptance, accountability and integrity.
Since the early 1980s, the Fairfield County Republican party, under the leadership of Jay Dupler followed by Tim Schaffer, labored to build that kind of organization. Their efforts were very successful and for the last 10 years Republicans have been elected to every single countywide office. It was no coincidence or happenstance. During that period, the party leadership inspired and encouraged promising candidates to engage in public service by seeking political office. They recruited, trained and organized rank- and-file Republicans, young and old, from all parts of the county and from all vocational and religious groups to work toward the election of worthy candidates.
The party encouraged the development of Republican clubs and allowed them to operate with relative autonomy and to support the party and their candidates as they deemed appropriate. It conducted fundraisers for the purpose of providing financial support to those candidates. It vigorously supported its incumbents who were faithful to their oaths of office while boldly calling for the resignation of an officeholder who was the subject of a major criminal investigation. The party earned the trust and confidence of the people of Fairfield County.
In June 2002, a new group of leaders seized control of the party through the Central Committee elections and by controlling a chaotic and poorly run reorganizational meeting. Things began to change immediately, indeed on the very night of their election.
They disenfranchised the county?’s most active and fastest-growing Republican Club, having approximately 50 members, by failing to recognize it and denying that club any representation on the Executive Committee. At the same time, they recognized two clubs with 10 or fewer members which raised virtually no funds for the party or its candidates and contributed nothing toward the financial operation of the party.
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Press Release page two
They have attempted to extort monies that clubs raise by demanding that all, or the vast majority of the funds raised by the clubs, be turned over to the Executive Committee for use as it sees fit. If a club refuses, it is stripped of its seat on the Executive Committee. When the Lincoln Club, the largest club and the largest contributor to the campaign funds in the county refused, it was disenfranchised.
The new leadership attempted to intimidate Patrick Harris from becoming a candidate for the Municipal Judgeship held by Don S. McAuliffe by threatening to fire him from his position as County Administrator. Despite Judge McAuliffe?’s outrageous, unprofessional and costly misconduct while in office, an investigation by the Ohio Supreme Court, an adulterous relationship with a court employee resulting in a costly settlement by the county from the sexual harassment charges filed against him and the county by that former employee, a federal grand jury arson indictment against him, and his arrest and jailing without bond, they supported McAuliffe for re-election and stated that the only reason they would not support him was if he had been convicted of a crime. It was only after they were left with no alternative did they endorse Patrick Harris; and that endorsement carried virtually no support with it.
They refused to even consider Richard Berens for an open judgeship, despite the fact that he achieved a 95 percent approval rating and recommendation by the Fairfield County Bar Association and told Berens that he must withdraw from the race for that open seat on the Municipal Court or he would never be appointed or elected to a judicial position. They even refused to make Berens one of the three possible appointees whose names were submitted to the Governor?’s office. Due to their incompetence, the candidate for whom they successfully secured the Governor?’s appointment to that seat was defeated in the general election.
They have actively recruited a candidate to run as an independent against Sheriff David Phalen even though that candidate, while a Captain in the Sheriff?’s office during the DeMastry years, was found by the State Auditor to have improperly received more than $16,000 of public funds and has never repaid those funds. In another race, they have recruited one of their own on the executive committee to run against another incumbent, State Representative Tim Schaffer. Mr. Schaffer?’s opponent lost in his bid for a seat on the Liberty-Union Board of Education in the 2003 elections.
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page three
They have recently demanded that County Commissioners Jon Myers and Judy Shupe hire a specific person as the County Administrator or the Commissioners would have primary opposition. When the Commissioners refused to bow to this demand, two Republican candidates immediately filed for those seats in the March primary, including the person they sought to have hired.
This leadership group has been soundly rejected and defeated in their quest for political offices in Pickerington. In fact, the candidates they supported in the 2003 Pickerington City Council and Mayor?’s races were all defeated by margins exceeding 20 percent. Now that they have been removed from power in Pickerington, they seek to bring those same destructive policies to the entire county.
They have failed to organize grassroots support for endorsed Republican candidates and office holders, resulting in embarrassing election defeats for those candidates.
They have planted and nurtured the seeds of dissension, divisiveness and distrust wherever they have been. They have falsely attempted to blame the conflict within the party on competition and disagreements between the good people in the Violet Township/Pickerington area and those in Lancaster. They assert that the dissension results from sour grapes from the ?“old guard?” leadership they replaced in 2002. They claim that a certain church group is attempting to seize power from them and to control the county. The diversity of the group standing before you today is ample evidence that this divisive tactic is the worst kind of political dishonesty.
The current party leadership team has lost whatever moral integrity it ever had, if any, and is concerned only for the promotion of its own agenda and the generation of larger and larger sums of money to be sent to the Ohio Republican party so as to ingratiate them with the state party organization. They seek to completely control all county officials so as to promote their own misguided agenda, whatever that may be.
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page four
Jerry Stebelton will conclude our remarks and then we?’ll take questions. Jerry?…
With great sadness and disgust, a broad-based coalition of people from Lancaster, Pickerington, Baltimore, Amanda, Pleasantville and throughout the length and breadth of this county, private citizens from many different occupations and religious faiths and backgrounds, and elected officials who are committed to restoration of ethics to the leadership of the Fairfield County Republican party began meeting more than eight months ago. The group, Citizens United for Republican Ethics (C.U.R.E.), seeks to find a way to restore integrity to the leadership in this party organization and to regain the trust of the people of Fairfield County.
This effort is not an attempt to restore any former leader to the position of Party Chairman. Despite the current leadership?’s howls to the contrary, this movement is not about sour grapes or past political contests. It is clearly evident that this is not about a single small faction attempting to dictate to the party. This effort is about ethics in government, and C.U.R.E. seeks to bring ethical citizens into the party leadership.
We stand for and deeply believe in the American political process. We believe that honest, committed people of high ethical values are essential to the proper functioning of a major political party and democratic institutions.
C.U.R.E. stands for and represents the following principles:
?• Any political party that holds every elected office in county government must be led by people who are and who conduct themselves in ways that are beyond reproach, who demonstrate impeccable integrity and who continue to earn the respect of the voters of this county;
?• It is the very special duty of that party to present to the residents the very highest caliber of candidates for elected office so as to continue to deserve the respect and support of those residents;
?• If an elected official is suspected of corrupt or illegal activities, it is the duty of the party to not only insist upon a complete and thorough investigation of that elected official, but if the evidence is strong against that office holder, to demand that he or she resign that position of trust held; and
?• While party members and political clubs may have differences of opinion, a consensus can and should be reached in an atmosphere of fostered openness so as to embrace a broad base of Republicans who can fully participate in the political process.
C.U.R.E believes that these fundamental principles are the ones upon which this party was founded almost 150 years ago. They were the principles of Abraham Lincoln and they should be the principles of the Fairfield County Republican Party today. The people you see here today, private citizens and public officials alike, are committed to pursuing these principles. We have recruited people to run for precinct committee positions throughout this county who share these values.
We intend to support these candidates in this primary election. We will work tirelessly to ensure their election to their positions on the central committee. Similarly, we will work tirelessly to ensure that our incumbent office-holders are reelected. We intend to elect these people so that the tarnish that has fallen upon the image of this party during the last two years will be removed and it will once again be restored to its former luster. Each and every resident of this county, all of them, wherever they live, will know that this party stands for honest, efficient government served by elected officials who possess the highest degree of ethics and who serve the public good, not their own selfish interests.
Today we commit ourselves and our financial resources to these ideals and ask that all Fairfield County Republicans who share them join us in voting for the candidates whom we are supporting.
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