Fellow Ohio Patriots,
Last Friday, September 10 there was a meeting of the State Central Committee for the Ohio Republican Party. There were several contentious issues swirling about this meeting, and there was a protest outside the meeting as well. You can find assorted footage on social media, etc. Some of the issues were potential corruption with money questions, attempt to get an audit accomplished, funneling of money to DeWine and Yost without Committed approval, whether or not the Party should endorse in Statewide primary elections, whether or not it will endorse DeWine, and filling vacancies on the Committee.
The Vacancy issue in intricately connected to the DeWine endorsement issue. To put it simply, the Establishment and DeWine are trying to pack the Committee to give DeWine the endorsement and all the money for his Campaign. The Committee is closely divided, meaning it is by no means a lock that the Establishment will have their way, and a few votes may determine the direction the Party takes.
Anyway, I'm not going to go too deep into party politics. However, my wife Alicia Healy was seeking to be elected by the Committee to fill one of the vacant seats. The Establishment had their hand picked person already slated to fill the spot. They weren't expecting any competition. The seat is for the 15th District, which is the same as Ohio Senate District 15, which is entirely in Urban Franklin County (Columbus). When we heard of the vacancy through the grapevine, Alicia immediately began calling members of our County Central Committee for a recommendation. We did not hear a peep out of our County Party leadership. They did not even inform any of us of the vacancy. They wanted to quietly send a recommendation for their favored person to the State Party without any input from the rank and file of the County Party.
Alicia was able to gain an endorsement from about 40 members of our County Central Committee, and was calling all the State Central Committee Members to ask for their vote. Then her opponent saw that she better get busy. She gained the endorsement of all the Party officers and a handful of current or former Republican Officeholders that are in good standing with the Old Guard of the Party Establishment, many of them Never-Trumpers, though they would hesitate to admit it in the current environment, where at least 90 percent of the Republican base are MAGA!
Here is some footage from the meeting:
Healy vs. Martin - ORP State Central Committee (9/10/21) - YouTube
(20+) Facebook
When the vote was announced, the crowd was noticeably shocked, even though there was a modest perfunctory applause from some of the Committee.
Penny Martin was elected. But it was a pretty close vote: 34-26, 5 were emailed votes (4-1 for Martin), 6 members were not present and did not vote. DeWine was personally calling Committee Members lobbying for Martin (you might say arm-twisting).
They will not stay in power for long. The Revolution is on!