Kevin DeWine is going to go down in history as the most corrupt chairman of the Ohio Republican Party 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.

As a brief recap, remember that just a couple of weeks ago, in an attempt to save his chairmanship and disqualify people running to defeat him, he and his allies proposed an amendment to change the rules of who can be seated on the State Central Committee, even though candidates had already filed for the election weeks ago. On Friday, the committee met and voted on several issues, including the rule change.

The committee consists of 66 members, and a majority of them, 34 or more, is required to make such a rule change. However, DeWine declared a victory for the rule change with a 29-28 vote, claiming a majority of members present. This is clearly a violation of the party bylaws, and is bound to be challenged in court.

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 on Sunday, 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 to Ohio conservatives 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. Then, tell every Republican primary voter you know to do the same. 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 do 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” and pretending to support Governor Kasich.  Let’s not let them get away with it.  Help us vote out the traitors, keep the good people who belong on the committee and take back our state party.

Cross-posted on Third Base Politics, an Ohio-based political blog.

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