County Auditor Nick Nelson, who easily won his GOP primary race, observed, “we don’t have any Democrats here, so we have to fight each other.”
The real power struggle for control of the county GOP is coming in the next few weeks when the Central Committee and the Executive Committee reorganize for the next two-year term.
Tom Grossmann, the former Mason mayor and county GOP executive committee chairman who lost in his primary bid for county commission, is uncertain what his future will be when the Central and Executive committees meet to reorganize
Grossmann, who came close to winning the five-way race for commission, was the focus of 11th hour attacks from the campaigns of Republican opponents Tom Ariss and Chris Koch.
Grossmann said he felt the actions by the Koch campaign hurt his candidacy and felt the election was “stolen.” As for his future in the party, Grossmann said the fact that he lost and the way that he lost were “significant” to him.
“This impacted me and those involved should not be in the party leadership,” he said. “I’m not sure if I will continue as chairman.
“I will never as a candidate for office or leader in the Republican Party accept any candidate or office holder who lies or condones lying in a campaign or does not disavow lying when they see it. We cannot be silent about such conduct. Lying must be opposed always. We will cease to be a party of any moral authority if we do not stand firmly against lying in campaigns.”
County Commissioner David Young, a supporter of Grossmann, said he believes there will be changes in the county party’s leadership and fears there could be a “battle royale.”
“We’re not going down a different path,” he said. “This is not a good versus evil thing. This was more of a good versus more good.”
Young is concerned “when good Republicans, that are neighbors and believe the same things 99 percent of the time, go attacking each other.” He said this primary cycle brought out more of an attitude of “let’s win and deal with the consequences later.”
“The struggle for leadership is a natural thing and it’s a healthy thing,” Young said. “We just need to make sure we’re doing the right things and stick to our core principles.”
Koch, president of the Union Twp. trustees, said he ran the best campaign that he could and declined to comment about his strategy.
“I think the party is going through some changes and there’s been some fracturing that I’ve seen developing,” Koch said. “I think the rift has widened.”
He said after last month’s GOP forum, there needs to be time for healing.
“The current infighting and rhetoric within the party doesn’t help and isn’t healthy,” Koch said.
Prince said it’s no secret there are divisions in the party and said there are many people trying to hold things together. He’s also not sure how many divisions or factions there are in the party and said he’s “not necessarily” seeking the Central Committee’s chairmanship.
“I stood up for my candidate and I may have been damaged from that,” Prince said. “It will be an interesting (organizational) meeting.”
Les Spaeth, former county auditor and GOP Executive Committee chair, said people today are more open than they have been in the past about expressing themselves.
Spaeth said there are splits in the party similar to the 1990s when Right to Life supporters became involved in the party.
“There are certain people who love power and it’s not any one person,” he said.
Spaeth, who led or co-led the county GOP Executive Committee for 14 years, said the difference today than in the past is the party leadership has become more involved in primary elections, which he sees as “troublesome.”
“People on the central committee shouldn’t get involved in the primaries,” he said. “As the leadership, they need to stay neutral.”
Spaeth thinks the divisions are deeper because people are talking more about it than in the past. He believes there will could be more fighting as a new prosecutor will have to be appointed as Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel leaves for the 12th District Court of Appeals.
About the Author
