In battle for control of Ohio GOP, COAST endorses slate supporting reform; Insurgents seek to oust Chairman Kevin DeWine

In 2010, Tea Party activists throughout Ohio entered races for State Central Committee seats, hoping to influence the direction of the Ohio Republcian Party that for years had been in the grips of Bob Taft-Style Republicans.  These posers squandered more than 16 years of Republican control of the Ohio House, Senate and Governor's Mansion with nary a single conservative initiative to show for it.

 

True to form of protecting the left-leaning tradition of the Ohio GOP, Chairman Kevin DeWine squandered millions of Republican Party dollars to defeat conservative and Tea Party Republicans in the State Central Committee races instead of saving those critical funds to defeat Democrats in November.  This is because the State Central Committee elects the Chairman.  DeWine would rather spend GOP money electing his lackeys so he can keep his job instead of electing good Republicans like Mike Wilson, who could have used that money in his narrow loss to liberal Democrat Connie Pillich. 

They even went so far as to lie in their campaign literature that the State GOP had "endorsed" the DeWine slate of candidates for these contested Central Committee spots, when no such vote had taken place.  COASTer Thea Shoemake challenged this lie at the Ohio Elections Commission.

Fortunately, this year, Governor Kasich has joined the battle to wrest control of the State GOP from Kevin DeWine.  He has recruited and helped fund a slate of candidates committed to removing Kevin DeWine as Ohio GOP Chair.

We wholeheartedly support this new direction for the Ohio GOP.  One of those reformers in Clermont County is a member of COAST's legal team, Curt Hartman, a solid vote to remove DeWine as Party Chair.