We have a chairman whose only success is getting enough of his supporters elected to the Central Committee and then getting them to show up to vote for him as chairman. In all other aspects of the job, he has failed miserably.
The top three priorities of a party chairman are:
1) raise money for the party and its candidates
2) recruit and elect good candidates
3) be the voice of the principles of the party
Stainbrook has done none of these.
When, if ever, have you heard him quoted in the news expressing support for the core principles of the Republican Party - or opposing any action promoted by the left?
When he is in the news it's usually because he's suing fellow Republicans or bashing fellow Republicans. Or he's doing something ridiculous like ignoring the Secretary of State's recommendation to fire the Board of Elections director and assistant director and, instead, making a motion to keep them and fire everyone else in the office.
Or he's voting AGAINST a motion to prohibit secretly recording conversations in the BOE. Seriously? What kind of party chairman votes against something like that?!?
(obviously, one known for secretly recording conversations...)
When there was a vacant Toledo City Council position, he threw in the towel - before the fight for the seat even began:
"...there isn’t anything the Republican Party can do to derail the appointment."
Actually, there was. Stainbrook could have been all over the news demanding that a placeholder - someone who wasn't going to run for the seat - be appointed until the election this year. I laid out a comprehensive strategy that would have set the stage on an important issue for our candidates this November.
Sadly, Stainbrook missed a wonderful opportunity for Republicans and demonstrated, again, his utter lack of understanding of the role of the 'loyal opposition' in a Democrat-dominated Toledo.
As for recruiting and electing Republicans, well, the lack of success is pretty telling.
Yes, they have had candidates, but many of them complain that the party did nothing to help them.
It used to be that you could rely upon the party for some initial funds - perhaps enough to get a small postcard or flyer to hand out. The party would compile and events calendar so candidates wouldn't miss an important opportunity to meet-and-greet. They would hold weekly candidate meetings to plan the upcoming week and ensure that two candidates didn't hold press conferences on the same day. They provided advice strategic planning on everything from press releases to message development.
None of that happens under this chairman. Not all candidates complain about the lack of party support, but the new ones don't know what they don't know. They've not seen a fully-functioning GOP and don't know what they're missing in terms of potential support.
And where are our candidates for this year??? This is a local election year. City council, mayoral and school board seats are on the ballot for November. There is absolutely nothing on the party's web page about being a candidate, screening potential candidates or...well...anything whatsoever related to the upcoming election.
As for the county website...He can even keep the LCRP website current! Here's a link to a screen shot of www.lucascountygop.org. As you can see, it's been at least three months since it was update as the only item on the page is the advertisement for the Lincoln Day Dinner - which was on Feb. 21st.
I wonder how long the web page will remain like this? In 2011, the Lincoln Day Dinner was April 7th and on August 29th, they still had that notice up. That's five months without updating their web page!
He hasn't raised any money and what money he does raise from events like the annual Lincoln Day Dinner go toward paying for his own personal campaign for state central committee. Just how much party money did he spend on his own PERSONAL campaign for State Central Committee? His personal mini-billboards were also paid for by the LCRP. And why would you need mini-billboards for a state central committee position in the first place? Certainly other candidates on the ballot have not received such support for their races that Stainbrook provided for his own.
He's paid for a parliamentarian (usually a check for $1,000), security, lawyers, numerous reimbursements to himself, Meghan Gallaher and other known FoS (Friends of Stainbrook) - often without detailed accounting of what they are for. The amount of money spent on candidates is negligible compared to the amount spent on himself.
The Oct. 25, 2012 campaign finance report showed the party had just over $2,000 and, despite showing three different purchases of yard signs, showed only one of those purchases as an in-kind contribution to a commissioner candidate. But you should know, $614.46 doesn't go very far when you're purchasing yard signs for a county-wide race.
The Dec. 14, 2012 Post General Report showed about $7,000 on hand. Interestingly, the party raised just under $9,000 between the pre-general and post-general report, with over half the amount ($5,395) coming in on Nov. 7th, the day after the election.
How did the party spend that money? Most of it went to the costs of the headquarters, but they did purchase $744 worth of signs, though it doesn't say who the signs were for. Oh, and Stainbrook was reimbursed $1,208.04 - again, without online documentation for what was being paid.
The finance report also shows the party owes $6,000 for a loan from Jim Brennan, Jr. It was a $10,000 loan taken on Jan. 20, 2011 and they've owed $6,000 for quite a while now. So it's essentially broke.
There was the previously mentioned Lincoln Day Dinner with Gov. John Kasich and we won't know how much was raised or spent until after the semi-annual reports are filed in July. But my guess is that any money raised will not go primarily to candidates - or be saved for candidates for this year's election.
So on the the primary duties of a chairman, Stainbrook's performance is dismal at best.
But that's not all.
He's a hypocrite.
Without consulting with the party, he took it upon himself to demand the resignation of the state party chairman and signed a letter stating he was speaking for all Republicans in Lucas County.
He's had numerous issues with signatures that don't match on various legal filings, including campaign finance reports for the party and in one of the races for state central committee.
Then there is his dereliction of duty to the voters of Lucas County.
There is a vacant judge seat on Common Pleas Court. The other judges are handling increased case loads and the citizens of the county are being deprived of a judge all because Stainbrook has not scheduled a screening for the known applicants for the position. The local party needs to screen the applicants and then recommend at least one of them to the governor for him to appoint. These applicants were told in early February by Stainbrook that the screening would take place after the Lincoln Day Dinner, but so far - nothing.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. So how long are Lucas County Republicans going to tolerate such incompetence?
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