New Legal Opinion Says Ohio GOP Must Proceed with Leadership Elections

A new legal opinion from the national law firm Thompson Hine says Ohio Republican Party (ORP) chairman candidate Bryan Williams and his supporters are correct to insist that new leadership elections must take place at their organization’s meeting on Friday near Columbus.

Members of the ORP’s State Central Committee (SCC) will meet at the Nationwide Hotel and Conference Center in Lewis Center Friday morning for a party reorganization pursuant to the election of new members last month. A notice of the meeting, which members of the general public may attend, indicated, “Business will include swearing in all qualified members.” 

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Commentary: Question Remains If Ohio Republican Chairman Paduchik Plans to ‘Unlawfully’ Deny a Vote That Could Replace Him at September Meeting

Ohio Republican Party Vice-Chairman Bryan Williams sent a letter to State Central Committee (SCC) members Monday congratulating them on their recent election and most notably to warn them of what he believes will be an attempt by current Chairman Bob Paduchik to deny the elected officials the “right and duty to elect five new officers including the chairman, in violation of Ohio [law].”

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Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee Member Calls on Chair and Treasurer to Resign over Party Finances

An Ohio Republican Party (ORP) Central Committeeman sent an email to party associates on Monday calling on ORP Chairman Bob Paduchik and Treasurer David Johnson to resign.

Mark Bainbridge, an accountant who represents ORP’s State Central Committee District 16 and who has led the committee’s reform caucus, wrote that the state party has suffered a decline in net worth that is “shrouded in secrecy.” Specifically, he stated, ORP reported a net gain of $147,259 through 2021 when it allegedly should have reported a loss of $162,088. He concluded that $309,347 in net expenses are absent from the organization’s profit and loss statement and that ORP had equity totaling $2,568,530 at the end of 2021 compared with $2,730,618 at the end of 2020.

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RPV Unassembled Convention Goes Smoothly with About 29,000 Ballots Cast

The Republican Party of Virginia held its unassembled convention to pick party nominees for governor, attorney general, and lieutenant governor on Saturday. Official results will be slow to come in, thanks in part to a decision to hand-count the tens of thousands of ranked-choice ballots. As a result, campaigns and elections watchers are looking at turnout estimates for clues about who the nominees might be. Estimates from Republican Governor’s Association officials claim about 52 percent of the over 53,000 registered delegates turned out.

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Virginia GOP State Central Committee Bypasses Chairman Anderson, Calls for Saturday Meeting to Vote on a Nomination Canvass

On Saturday more shots were fired in the ongoing battle between the pro-primary minority and pro-convention majority factions of the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) State Central Committee (SCC). Over one-third of the 72 SCC members called for a meeting to vote on a party canvass this Saturday, February 20. By banding together to issue the call, the minority bypasses Chairman Rich Anderson, who had called for a meeting February 27, four days after a deadline to call for a state-run primary to nominate the party’s candidates for 2021.

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Republican Party of Virginia Fails to Clarify Nomination Process

The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) State Central Committee (SCC) failed to clarify the nominating method for its 2021 candidates in a meeting Saturday.

SCC members voted again to approve a convention, making it contingent on passing an amendment allowing an unassembled convention based on Governor Ralph Northam’s COVID-19 restrictions. The convention nomination method was first passed by the SCC on December 6 by a 42-30 majority. On Saturday, the amendment got a 41-30 majority but less than the three-fourths approval required by party rules. The SCC tabled the issue until a future meeting, tentatively planned for next Saturday.

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