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Party wants to control all decisions
By TED HACKWORTH
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L E T T E R S
To The Editor:
As I read Brian Fox's defense of his tenure as the Fairfield County Republican Party chairman I was taken back by what he calls his accomplishments. As a county Republican, I certainly appreciate the new copier, the new Web site, the newsletter, the new equipment for the Republican headquarters and the three new members in the Bloom Township Republican Club.
I want to link two comments in his letter about the county party and its fund-raising efforts. First, Mr. Fox bemoans the fact that most of the countywide elected office holders stood up with the CURE leaders to announce a new direction toward ethics for the party. To quote Mr. Fox, ''Apparently, none of the candidates who got their picture taken at the CURE press conference felt unethical about getting big donations from the party last November.'' It is clear that Mr. Fox expected obedience from the county office holders in exchange for the financial contributions from the party. This expectation is contrary to the principals of democracy. The county party should never use funds as a method of blackmailing its candidates. The very funds that Mr. Fox is so proud of are clearly a tool for corruption.
As he has done in Pickerington for so many years he must restate his opposition's position to make his argument. He says we are now calling the unendorsed Central Committee candidates unethical. I can't speak for every Central Committee candidate in the county; however, I can speak for Mr. Fox's most recent campaign practices here in Pickerington. With the help of the Pickerington city manager he forced Pickerington city employees to run for Central Committee, and they were to vote for Mr. Fox's ''leadership team.''
It is my belief that countywide candidates must raise their own campaign funds.
This forces them to get out and meet the voters and it breaks the ties from a central party chairman such as Mr. Fox who wants to control every thought and decision of the Fairfield County officeholders. If the Republicans of Fairfield County return Mr. Fox as party chairman then you should also get a sign printed up to hang on the party headquarters ''Candidates for Sale.''
Ted Hackworth
Pickerington City Councilman
Republican Central
Committeeman Pickerington Precinct ''I''
Originally published Thursday, February 12, 2004
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The original Fox letter
New leadership has helped party
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L E T T E R
To the Editor:
I write in response to the orchestrated letter campaign being put on by the so-called CURE group. Every few days, another disgruntled, unethical person sends a letter to the paper claiming how bad and unethical the leadership of the Republican Party is. Most of what they write is pure nonsense.
It is important to note that all of the writers are allies of the previous leadership team of Tim Schaffer and Gerald Stebelton, who were removed from leadership two years ago after almost bankrupting the party.
The claims of unethical behavior are untrue. The only example that these writers typically give of such behavior is the fact that the party endorsed Judge Don McAuliffe in the Republican primary last year. It is important to understand that when McAuliffe was endorsed on March 6, 2003, the federal investigation into McAuliffe's fire was not public knowledge. He had not been indicted for anything at that time (as some of these writers now imply -- itself an unethical act). It is also important to note that the vote to endorse McAuliffe was unanimous. No one -- including some of the disgruntled letter writers -- voted against the endorsement. If it was such an obvious moral imperative to not endorse McAuliffe, why didn't they vote no when they had the chance? Not only is their charge unethical, it is hypocritical.
Beyond the McAuliffe situation, the letter writers fall short of producing any other ''examples'' of unethical behavior. They sometimes claim that the party is now only about ''money, money, money.'' This, of course, is not true. However, money is important to politics. President Bush has raised $200 million for his re-election -- more than anyone in history. Is that bad? Is it unethical? Of course not.
When I took over from Schaffer and Stebelton, the party had so little money that I was afraid that we wouldn't be able to pay the monthly rent for our headquarters. In the six months before my election as chairman, this party raised the paltry sum of $2,000. That, frankly, is pathetic. Our new leadership team turned that around quickly and in the six months after my election, we raised $25,000. Did we raise money unethically or illegally? No. We simply worked hard. The previous leadership was totally negligent in this regard. I won't apologize for being successful at raising money for the Republican Party.
Apparently, none of the candidates who got their pictures taken at the CURE press conference felt unethical about getting big donations from the party last November. I would venture to guess that the party was the biggest single donor to most of the candidates who had opposition last year. The same could not be said when the previous leadership was in charge.
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Fox letter 2
Since my election, the party has had many successes that we can point to with pride. For instance, with the help of many volunteers, we have been able to:
Create a new Sporting Clays Shoot fund-raiser which has grown party participation by attracting hunters and gun-rights activists to this unique event.
Re-energize our annual fall fund-raiser by moving it to the airport and by bringing in former OSU football coach Earle Bruce as our guest. The 2003 Fall Fund-raiser had at least 275 attendees and raised more than $12,000 -- the biggest in years!
Create a new party Web site.
Vastly increase our funding of Republican candidates. In 2003, we gave our candidates for local and judicial offices $9,500 in direct donations -- something the previous leadership couldn't even dream of doing.
Publish a newsletter twice per year to keep our volunteers, candidates, donors, Central Executive Committee members and voters informed about the GOP.
Help create the Bloom Township Republican Club.
Purchase badly needed office equipment for our headquarters (believe it or not, when I became chairman, our party didn't even have a working fax or copier).
Conduct Central Committee training last August.
Work closely with the Ohio Republican Party to institute a comprehensive Get Out The Vote campaign to ensure a big turnout for President Bush in November.
I am proud of these and other accomplishments that our leadership team has been able to achieve. Unfortunately, we have had to achieve these accomplishments without the help of -- and, indeed, with the active opposition of -- the previous leadership and their allies. These people, who let the party wither under their leadership, have done whatever they can to attack me, my team and the party. Apparently, they believe that the only way they can win control of the party is to tear down other people . Unfortunately, they are using half-truths and total falsehoods to do it.
CURE is nothing more than a facade for the Good Old Boys establishment that was rejected two years ago. The members of CURE are accusing anyone who won't vote in lockstep with them of being ''unethical,'' including many longtime Republican Central Committee members who have worked hard for the party over the years. One of CURE's ringleaders has stated that they will endorse ''ethical candidates'' for Central Committee, once again implying that those they don't endorse are unethical. The problem with this is that CURE's members don't know most of our Central Committee people. Is it ethical for them to call people they don't know unethical?
CURE is bad for this county and for the Republican Party. It is only good for rich lawyers such as Gerald Stebelton and selfish politicians such as Tim Schaffer.
If you want a return of incompetent leadership for the Republican Party, vote for CURE's lockstep toadies. But if you want good leadership that is trying to focus on the important things such as getting a huge turnout for President Bush in November, then you should reject CURE's candidates.
Brian W. Fox
Republican Party Chairman
Originally published Sunday, February 8, 2004
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Strings attached
If those of you in this end of the county think that Mr. Fox doesn't expect obedience in exchange for the County Party Money think again.
It was widely published that Mr. Fox asked Pat Harris to drop out of the Judge's race prior to Don McAuliffe being charged with arson. Both Judy Shupe and Jon Myers were told by Mr. Fox to fire Pat Harris who was the county administrator at the time (the reason was that he wouldn't drop out of the Judge's race). They were also told to hire Wayne Roller as the new County Administrator recently and they refused again. Now in a retaliatory effort from Mr. Fox he has found and put up challengers to the current incumbent county Commissioners in the primary race on March 2nd.
Please note that Wayne Roller was endorsed by the County Republican Executive Committee by a motion and then a vote. This action violated the bylaws of the executive committee. But hey, who cares, next month they will redact the minutes and no one will ever know. This is the same guy that backed Craig Maxey for the Pickerington City Council in 2002 because he was ''seasoned''. Mr. Fox had 22 votes from his hand picked ''Leadership team'' and they endorsed Mr. Roller without ever going through any screening process or giving the incumbents any chance to defend themselves.
What every citizen in Fairfield county must now wonder is what did Wayne Roller offer to do for this endorsement from the Fox leadership team? Clearly from the letters above he always exchanges money or support for something.
Now just think for a minute and ask yourself what do County Commissioners do? Don't they approve annexations? So if Mr. Fox and his supporters do unseat Judy Shupe they will bend the rules on annexations and all of the lands along the Lancaster bypass route will be owned by Mr. Fox's handlers.
By Onlooker
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