ORPINO Update: ‘Tea Party Values’ Reappears, And That’s Not the Worst of It

I’ll frame what is known first by listing recent links and then by excerpting a recent Third Base Politics post.

First, the previous links:

• Jan. 27 (“Ohio and Pennsylvania RINOs in Full Freak-Out Mode”) — Introduced the proposal from ORPINO (Ohio Republican Party In Name Only) Chairman Kevin DeWine that no State Central Committee member can be seated unless he or she has voted in the previous three statewide primaries.
• Feb. 1 (“Ohio’s Insurgent State Central Committee Slate”) — lists those who, for better or worse (some clearly less than perfect, but as Howard Cosell once said, “You work with what’s available”) are considered the preferable candidates for the state Central Committee.
• Feb. 3 (“ORP Chair Kevin DeWine’s Proposal Passes by a One Vote Simple Majority”) — The rule in question passed by a vote of 29-28, of 57 members present.
• Feb. 6 (“Ohio GOP Chairman – Out of Control”) — notes that the crucial vote on changing the requirements to be seated on State Central Committee was passed by a majority of those present, when the Party’s bylaws require a majority of all 66 members.

Now, from Bytor at Third Base Politics on Monday (HT to an emailer; yes, I’m keeping up with this story as well as I wish):

Kevin DeWine and his cowards hide behind secret ballot

Kevin DeWine is going to go down in history as the most corrupt chairman of the ORP ever. And he doesn’t seem to care. The more people that turn against him and call for him to resign, the more desperate and brazen he seems to become.

… We now have some new information about Friday’s events. Most votes of the committee, and even most of the votes on Friday, are conducted in the open. However, for the proposed rule change, they used a secret ballot. So, it appears that to protect their seats from a fair election, DeWine and his allies are willing to:

1. Change the rules after candidates have already filed, and early voting has already begun,
2. Violate the party bylaws in order to enact their rule change, and now…
3. Hide behind a secret ballot so voters can’t hold them responsible.

Unbelievable, despicable and very, very cowardly. I spoke with a SCC member yesterday, who informed me that in his 8 years on the committee, it was only the 2nd time he could recall a secret ballot being used.

We, and some tea party affiliated groups are doing what we can to identify the members and who voted how. Right now, our advice is to call your committee members and ask them how they voted, and also to ask them if they stand by Kevin DeWine or not. If they voted for the rule change or indicate they support keeping DeWine as chairman, then obviously you need to vote for their opponent on March 6. Every State Senate district is represented by one man and one woman on the committee. Find out what Senate district you live in, and then go here to identify who represents you.

If you get an answer from your committee people, please email me with your report at bytor3bp @ gmail.com. (remove the spaces)

Finally, don’t be fooled by any mailers you receive from the Ohio Republican Party. Once again, Kevin DeWine is spending party resources to protect his and his allies’ own seats, and using tea party type logos on them to trick people. These two were received last week. Just like 4 years ago, they are attempting to thwart the tea party while pretending to have “tea party values”.

One of the images follows the jump if you’re on home page. Brace yourself, because if there were the political equivalent of “X” rating for false portrayals in promotion, this one would get a “XXX” (click on the image to see it in full in a separate tab or window):

I didn’t think it was possible, but Kevin’s invocations (yeah, two of ‘em) of “Tea Party Values” is NOT the most offensive aspect of the flyer for his own Central Committee location. Instead it’s his pretense “To work with Governor Kasich,” when he has been working against Kasich for years.

Seriously, someone needs to carry out an intervention. Hopefully it will be the GOP’s voters over the next 3-1/2 weeks. If not, it has become painfully obvious that the intervention will still be needed.