Tea Party endorsed State Central Committee

It was the recognition of an unusually large number of people running for State Central Committee that motivated ORP Chairman DeWine to issue “slate cards” endorsing the people he wanted on his governing board, in what appears to be violation of party rules and state election law.  The Ohio Election Commission has determined that there is “probable cause” and has scheduled a hearing for the full OEC of the case filed by State Central Committee candidate Thea Shoemake.

Recent unethical actions of some Republican primary candidates utilizing a pseudo TEA Party symbol to mislead voters on mailers and flyers, has caused numerous TEA Party groups throughout the state to compile its own list of authentic candidates. This list of candidates are men and women who are actually associated with various TEA Party organizations. This list includes TEA Party organizers, TEA Party participants, or incumbents who appear to have a conservative voting record which reflects the true TEA Party values, including fiscal responsibility. TEA Party members have been forced to compile this list to prevent the disingenuous candidates from misleading the voters into thinking there were actually associated with the movement.  
 
According to Jim Woods, a founder of Medina County Friends And Neighbors (MCFAN) group, “This slate resulted from many of the conservative grassroots organizations around the state, encouraging their members to increase their effectiveness in influencing public policy by becoming committeemen and committeewomen at the county and state levels in the major political parties.” 

 The role of the State Central Committee in political parties is a crucial one, since the central committee oversees state-level candidate recruitment, fundraising, and endorsements.  The need for a TEA-Party-compiled list became apparent when the Ohio Republican Party initiated the mailing of slate cards which failed to disclose the names of all candidates running for state central committee positions, and instead listed the names of the candidates preferred by a select few people within the party’s top leadership circle.

“We feel that our list presents to Ohio voters a more accurate list of available State Central Committee candidates since it identifies the candidates who would generally be preferred by conservative Republicans.  By failing to disclose the names of all candidates running in the May 4 Republican State Central Committee elections, the Ohio Republican Party has done a great disservice to both its electorate and to itself,” said TEA Party proponent, Steve Christopher.  Christopher and Woods agree that the 2010 election is simply too important to permit existing party leadership to continue to be “missing in action”, and deliver a repeat of the 2006 and 2008 elections by promoting only its own self-endorsed candidates.

 The Ohio State Central Committee TEA Party candidate list shown below can also be downloaded from the Portage County TEA Party website, www.PortageCountyTEAParty.com, along with complete details on the duties and obligations of state central committee members and other information about the current state of the Ohio Republican Party’s state central committee.