New Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party

Plunderbund has the report on today's election of Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party (ORP):

Today the Kasich-controlled Central Committee elected Matt Borges to the job with a vote of 48 to 7 [emphasis added] over his Tea Party opponent Tom Zawistowski. 

Kasich’s hand-picked candidate may have won the vote, but this is far from a win for Kasich.  There will be continued backlash against Kasich and the Ohio GOP from the Tea Party and other “true believers” primarily because every reason they gave for ousting DeWine can now be applied to Borges and the Governor. 

Start with Zawistowski.  The fact that Borges had a Tea Party opponent is already pretty telling.  Kasich counted on their support to win control of the Central Committee.  And now he’s getting challenged by them for his pick to lead the party.  And it comes down to Kasich’s agenda, and Borges’ assumed support for it. 

Weeks before announcing his plan to challenge Borges, Zawistowski sent a letter to Kasich calling his agenda, which includes expanding medicaid, increasing state spending and taxing oil and gas exploration, “a betrayal of the party platform and our conservative values.”
The letter, signed by “over 80 social and fiscal conservative leaders”, also ripped Borges for being wishy-washy on social issues, mentioning his time as a “lobbyist for the liberal homosexual activist group, Equality Ohio.” 

And corruption? 

While 3BP gave no actual evidence DeWine had done anything illegal, Borges pleaded guilty to actual corruption charges back in 2004 for helping to funnel state business to campaign donors.   And just recently it was revealed that Borges had racked up somewhere between $100K and $500K in unpaid taxes. 

This guy is now in charge of all Republican Party finances.  What could possibly go wrong?

And the vote was 48 to 7 in favor of Borges. Not good.

Action Alert: Contact Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee Now!

As the election for Ohio Republican Party (ORP) Chairman will also effect GOP races at all levels -- county, state and federal elections in our state, including the 2016 Presidential election -- it is important that all levels of the Republican Party are also contacted in a final push before this Friday's vote for State Chairman

Your conservative views and voices will NOT be represented with the selection of their hand picked candidate Matt Borges as Ohio Republican Party Chairman and it is up to you - rank and file Republicans, Tea Party supporters and conservative Independents - to stop the GOP establishment elite and their hand picked candidate with a checkered past.

Yesterday we asked that you contact the GOP Statewide elected officials who have endorsed Matt Borges.  Today, we are asking you to please call the ORP State Central Committee (SCC) who will be voting this Friday to select the next ORP State Chairman.  The future of conservatism in Ohio -- hinges on this race.

To date the so-called Tea Party members elected to the ORP SCC last year have failed miserably. They sat silent and REFUSED to come out against Medicaid expansion in Ohio and now they sit silent regarding Matt Borges as ORP State Chairman.  

Below are members of the ORP State Central Committee (SCC) for Senate Districts covering Cuyahoga County and surrounding counties.  The ones denoted with *** claimed to be Tea Party or sent out literature with Tea Party logos during their campaign for ORP SCC.

Now is the time to draw the line in the sand
either they represent core conservative value or they don’t!

Take Action

Please contact as many of the ORP SCC members listed below as you can, and ask that they immediately come out publicly against Matt Borges as ORP State Chairman. Ask that they attend this Friday's ORP election for State Chairman, and they support a motion to suspend the rules for an open ballot vote for ORP State Party Chairman.

Senate District 21 / (Cuyahoga County)

Joe Miller ***  (Joe did come out against Medicaid Expansion)

PH #: (216)659-1900
Email: miller9977@roadrunner.com

Sue Rodman 

PH #: (216)381-5861

Email: rodmanreal@aol.com

Senate District 23 / (Cuyahoga County)

Bob Bennett ***

PH #: (216)961-8400

Email: bennett@ohiogop.com

Diane Stover ***

PH #: (440)888-8170

Email: dianestover@aol.com

Senate District 24 / (Cuyahoga County)

Jeff Dean ***

PH #: (440)247-2888

Email: dean@en.com

Nancy Suhadolnik ***

PH #: (440)846-6666

Email: nancegop@roadrunner.com

Senate District 25 (Cuyahoga / Lake County)

Dan Carter ***

PH #: (216)392-4509

Email: carter@buckleyking.com

Brittany Williams

PH #: (440)781-9038

Email: bwilliams@cuyahogacountygop.com 

Surrounding Counties

Senate District 22 / (Medina)

Jim Woods ***

PH #: (330)241-5228

Email: jimwoods@mcfan.org

Sharon Ray ***

PH #: (330)461-3599

Email: sharonray2002@yahoo.com

Senate District 18 (Portage / Geauga & Lake)

Andy Manning ***

PH #: (330)678-1403

Email: ohioandy@aol.com

Amy Sabath

PH #: (440)796-8802

Email: aesabath@aol.com

For a list of contact information on all the current Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee members please click here.

As noted above, the election of Matt Borges as ORP Chairman race will have a negative effect on all races in Ohio, including local, state, U.S. Senate, Congress and the 2016 Presidential race; please also contact the below GOP leaders....

Local County Republican Party's

Cuyahoga County GOP

Chairman Rob Frost

PH#: (216)621-0077

Email: rfrost@cuyahogacountygop.com

To contact your county GOP please click here.

National GOP 

Republican National Committee

Chairman Reince Priebus

PH#: (202)863-8500

Contact: Click Here

House Republican Caucus

Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers

PH#: (202)225-5107

Twitter: @gopconference

Senate Republican Caucus

Chairman Senator John Thune

PH#: (202)224-2764

Contact: Click Here

Twitter: @Senate_GOPs

If you cannot call, at least send off e-mails; you can email all the names above in less than 2 minutes.

Call to Action: Stop the Ohio Republican Party's Backroom Deals

With the retirement of current Ohio Republican Party (ORP) Chairman Bob Bennett, this coming Friday the ORP will be electing a new chairman. The importance of this race is immeasurable as the new ORP Chairman will be the face and will set the course for the future of the Republican Party and the conservative cause in Ohio.

In the announcing of his retirement, Bennett, a known lover of backroom deals, has declared his support for current OPR Executive Director Matt Borges to be his successor as ORP Chairman. 

In a previous post regarding the mindless decision to elect Mr. Borges as the new ORP Chairman, we noted his troubled and checkered past as a former lobbyist for Equality Ohio - a gay rights group was noted. Also noted was his guilty plea to charges of "illegal use of public office" related to pay-to-play schemes (which have been expunged), while working in the State Treasurer's Office .  It has also been reported that Mr. Borges has some outstanding issues  with the I.R.S.

Although, as previously noted, Borges was a lobbyist for a gay rights group, this does not mean he supports gay rights (though he has refused to state his position on same-sex marriage).  However, it does show his willingness to push the agenda of anybody with the money to pay him or in this case make donations to the ORP.

The fact that Borges has plead guilty to pay-to-play type schemes shows, as ORP Chairman, he will be more beholden to donors with the largest checkbook and his lobbyist/consultant class friends, and NOT to the rank & file conservatives and grassroots groups across the state.

In a show of support for backroom deals over integrity, transparency and good government, all the GOP Statewide office holders, with blind party loyalty, have endorsed Bennett's hand picked successor, Matt Borges, for ORP Chairman.

Please contact the below GOP Statewide elected officials and request that they IMMEDIATELY rescind their endorsement of Mr. Borges as ORP Chairman, as their support of a person with such a checkered past is a direct reflection on them as a GOP office holder and as a future GOP candidate for reelection.

Statewide GOP Officials

(Twitter users - #orpbackroomdeals)

Governor John Kasich

PH#: (614)466-3555
Contact: Click Here
Twitter: @JohnKasich
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JohnRKasich

Lt. Governor Mary Taylor

PH#: (614)466-3555
Contact: Click Here 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaryTaylorOH

Secretary of State Jon Husted

PH#: (614)466-0562
Contact: Click Here 
Twitter: @OhioSOSHusted
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ohiososhusted

Attorney General Mike DeWine

PH#: (614)466-4986
Contact: Click Here
Twitter: @OhioAG
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MikeDeWine 

State Auditor Dave Yost

PH #: (614)466-3402
Contact: Click Here
Twitter: @OhioAuditor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dave.yost

State Treasurer Josh Mandel

PH#: (614)466-2160
Contact: Click Here
Twitter: @JoshMandelOhio
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoshMandel

Pot meet Kettle; China Criticizes U.S. on Human Rights

China - the land where Buddhist Monks are free to self-immolate themselves, where families are free to participate in gendercide, religious freedom is embraced, and where free speech and the right to protest are encouraged - has just criticized the United States over Human Rights abuses.

While the big brother/nanny state policies have increased since President Obama has taken office and our God-given and Constitutionally protected rights are constantly under attack from the Obama Administration, China criticizing the U.S. on human rights - is like President Obama's recent "pot meet kettle" moment when he called 2nd Amendment supporters liars after his gun bill was spanked in the U.S. Senate.

From Yahoo News --

China slammed the human rights record of the United States in response to Washington's report on rights around the world, saying that U.S. military operations have infringed on rights abroad and that political donations at home have thwarted the country's democracy.

The report released Sunday in China — which defines human rights primarily in terms of improving living conditions for its 1.3 billion people— also cited gun violence in the U.S. among its examples of human rights violations, saying it was a serious threat to the lives and safety of America's citizens.

The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2012 said the U.S. government continues to strengthen the monitoring of its people and that political donations to election campaigns have undue influence on U.S. policy.

"American citizens do not enjoy a genuinely equal right to vote," the report said, citing a decreased turnout in the 2012 presidential election and a voting rate of 57.5 percent.

The report from the information office of the State Council, or China's Cabinet, which mostly cited media reports, said there was serious sex, racial and religious discrimination in the U.S. and that the country had seriously infringed on the human rights of other nations through its military operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.

The U.S.'s annual global human rights report issued Friday by the State Department said China had imposed new registration requirements to prevent groups from emerging that might challenge government authority. It said Chinese government efforts to silence and intimidate political activists and public interest lawyers continued to increase, and that authorities use extralegal measures such as enforced disappearance to prevent the public voicing of independent opinions.

It also said there was discrimination against women, minorities and people with disabilities, and people trafficking, the use of forced labor, forced sterilization and widespread corruption.

China's authoritarian government maintains strict controls over free speech, religion and political activity — restrictions that the U.S. considers human rights violations.

Human Rights Watch report on China for 2012 and 2013.

Socialism Roaring Back in Europe

From Tea Party Patriots --

The next time someone tells you America should be more like Europe, tell them to check out this socialist disaster:

Senior figures in Germany are now arguing that some richer home owners in countries like Spain, Portugal and Greece have so far avoided paying their fair share to rescue the euro, leaving Germany paying too much.

Taxes on property or other assets would mark a significant change in Europe’s approach to funding bail-outs for eurozone members. Until now, the cost of rescue packages for countries like Ireland, Greece and Portugal has fallen largely on people who invest money in either those countries’ bonds or – in the case of Cyprus – bank accounts.

Prof Peter Bofinger, an adviser to Mrs Merkel, said that levies on bank accounts are the wrong way of funding bail-outs, because rich people are able to shift their money out of the country.

“The resourceful rich just move their money to banks in northern Europe and avoid paying,” Prof Bofinger told Der Spiegel, a German magazine.

Instead of taxing cash, European Union governments should in future target property and other, less mobile assets, he said.

“For example, over the next 10 years, the rich should give up a portion of their assets,” Prof Bofinger said. Spain was last year forced to seek international help to prop up its banks. Despite recent signs of progress, some analysts believe the Spanish government itself could also have to seek a bail-out in order to pay its debts.

The discussion basically boils down to this: Germany is the wealthiest and most economically powerful nation in the European Union and has been ponying up for bailouts of other nations. Nations in trouble say this is only fair. German economists disagree:

The ECB study found that the “median” wealth in Cyprus is €267,000 (£227,600), compared to just €51,000 in Germany.

The median or midpoint level – which strips out the distorting effect of the super-rich – was €183,000 for Spain, €172,000 for Italy, and €102,000 for Greece, and even €75,000 for Portugal.

Average wealth in Cyprus is €671,000, far higher than in the four AAA creditor states: Austria (€265,000), Germany (€195,000), Holland (€170,000), Finland (€161,000).

Prof Feld said the report showed that people in the crisis countries are richer than the Germans. “This shows that Germany has been right to take a tough line of euro rescue loans,” he said.

It’s easy to be torn on this. Do we blame Germany’s leaders for calling for higher taxes in other countries? Socialist policies on taxes don’t work, but it’s also not right for Germany to shoulder so much weight for bailouts. This is the crux of the problem – on either side of the coin, Europe continues its disastrous fall into socialism. Bailouts and higher taxes are not free market solutions to Europe’s fiscal straits, and will simply make a government-created problem worse.

Keynesian economists in America argue that we don’t have to worry about Europe’s fate – investors are still putting money into America at high rates, we have our own currency, and interest rates are low. Once again, they completely misunderstand the problem. Just because we have more breathing room is no reason to finance bad decisions.

Medicaid Expansion in Ohio; Down but not Out

The budget bill was passed out of the Ohio House yesterday with a 61-35 vote - and it did not include Governor Kasich's proposal to expand Medicaid under Obamacare in Ohio. 

Sadly, this is only a minimal victory. While it is unlikely the Ohio Senate will put Medicaid expansion back in the budget, the fight to expand Medicaid is far from over.

Keeping Medicaid expansion in Ohio on life support, Representative Barbara Sears offered an amendment that passed which will keep the fight against Medicaid expansion going for at least the rest of the year.....

From The Plain Dealer -- (Emphasis Added)

Ohio's Medicaid expansion is down, but not out.

House Republicans kept alive the possibility that Ohio may expand its Medicaid program to cover the working poor, approving an amendment to its budget that could open the door to changes later this year.

The change was one of several the GOP-controlled House considered as members poised late Thursday night to vote on their iteration of Gov. John Kasich's "Jobs Budget 2.0" The chamber approved a budget proposal for the next two years by a vote of 61-35.

The GOP amendment on Medicaid expansion, introduced by Republican Rep. Barbara Sears of suburban Toledo, requires that legislation to reform the Medicaid program in Ohio be introduced in the House, but does not specify what shape that reform will take.

It directs the governor's Office of Health Transformation and his Medicaid director to provide assistance in developing the legislation. And if the legislation is not enacted before the year ends, efforts to change Medicaid must cease. More...

This is truly sad as Rep. Sears was at one time strongly against any form of Obamacare and even introduced legislation in 2010 trying to stop the implementation of Obamacare in Ohio.

So at the end of the day - some GOP members in the OH House are pretending to be conservative for taking Medicaid expansion out of the budget.

And when the truth be told -- these same GOP members that voted to remove Medicaid expansion from the budget -- also voted to support of an amendment giving an extended shelf life for a proposed Medicaid expansion in Ohio under Obamacare.

Time to Defund Common Core; Contact Your U.S. Senator Now!

The left's feel good program to further indoctrinate our children through the education system, Common Core, is thankfully facing a growing opposition.

In Ohio, the Ohio State Board of Education has adopted Common Core and is now cajoling local school districts to accept these new standards.  Common Core turns traditional teaching on its' head and will cause enormous financial burdens on districts as they will need to purchase new text books specifically tailored to teach the new Common Core Standards.

To combat this effort in Ohio, Ohioans Against Common Core (OACC) has been doing great work and has recently held forums across the state in attempts to educate the public on this very dangerous indoctrination program.

To watch a short informative video on what Common Core Standards are, please click here.

As local activist groups across the U.S. try to battle Common Core Standards at the local level, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is taking the fight against Common Core to D.C. and is asking fellow Senators to co-sign a letter asking them to join his efforts to defund Common Core....

From Caffeinated Thoughts --

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is asking his colleagues to co-sign a letter asking the Senate Appropriations Committee that funds education to cut off all future funds that would allow the Obama administration to “cajole state’s” into participating in the Common Core State Standards and it’s assessments.

His office in an email sent late this afternoon document the steps the Obama administration has taken to push states to adopt the Common Core.

• Making adoption of Common Core a pre-requisite for a state even being able to compete for Race to the Top funds.

• Directly funding the two assessment consortia developing tests aligned to Common Core using Race to the Top funds.

• Assembling a panel to review the work of the two assessment consortia.

• Making implementation of Common Core or coordination with Common Core a funding priority for other, unrelated competitive grants administered by the Department of Education.

• Making participation in Common Core essentially a prerequisite for being awarded a waiver from the Department of requirements in the No Child Left Behind Act.

The email said, “This means no more Race to the Top funds in support of Common Core or the assessments aligned with Common Core and stopping further federal review of the assessments produced by the two consortiums. It also means that the Department could not penalize a state that chooses to leave Common Core by revoking its NCLB waiver. The deadline for senators to sign on this letter is April 25 so it can reach the subcommittee in time to be considered. “

Please contact your U.S. Senator immediately and ask them to sign on to Senator Grassley's letter to defund Common Core Standards. (Click to Read Letter)

In Ohio, please contact Senator Rob Portman and Senator Sherrod Brown....

Senator Rob Portman
PH #: (202)224-3353
Email: http://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact?p=contact-form

Senator Sherrod Brown
PH #: (202)224-2315
Email: http://www.brown.senate.gov/contact/

To find contact information on your U.S. Senator please click here.