By DAVID M. DRUCKER
Republican donors from Northeast Ohio backing Trump have drafted a letter to the 66 members of the Ohio Republican Central Committee pledging to rain cash on the state party if it selects a new leader loyal to the president-elect.
Trump aims to take an important step to solidify his takeover of the national Republican Party by electing a loyalist as the next chairman of the Ohio GOP.
The chairman’s election is set for Jan. 5 and is playing out as a proxy war for control of the party between Trump and Republicans who were opposed to the president-elect throughout the 2016 campaign, and who remain suspicious of him.
In the letter, dated Dec. 20 and obtained by the Washington Examiner, these seven donors are pledging financial support for the state party if the central committee elects Jane Timken, the candidate aligned with the president-elect.
Their implication is that funds could dry up if sitting chairman Matt Borges, who is aligned with Gov. John Kasich, wins re-election. Kasich refused to back Trump in the general election, and Borges offered support only reluctantly.
“While 2016 was a challenging one for many Ohioans, once the nomination was settled, Chairman Borges had the duty to fully support the Republican Party nominee and his campaign. He did not fulfill that duty. His actions split the state party leadership and could have cost us one of the most important elections of our lifetime!” the letter reads.
It was signed by Edward Crawford, Tom Coyne, Tony George, Mike Gibbons, Mark Small, Bill Summers and Jim Wert, donors perennially active in raising money for state and federal GOP candidates and committees.
“We believe that a viable state political party must be able to raise money and mobilize resources in support of our candidates at the federal, state and local level,” they say in the letter. “The undersigned, and many others of like mind, have helped raise millions of dollars each year for our Party’s candidates. In 2016, we organized major fundraisers in Cincinnati, Columbus, Canton and Cleveland for the Trump Victory Ohio campaign…”
Bob Paduchik, the Trump campaign’s state director in Ohio, was just tapped by the president-elect to serve as the next vice chairman of the Republican National Committee. With that expanded influence, he has been active in the Ohio GOP chairman race on behalf of Timken, currently the Stark County GOP chairman.
The 66 state GOP central committee members. though, are Kasich loyalists. They were elevated some years back when the governor moved to take over the state party and install individuals loyal to him.
Kasich leaves office in early 2019, and is lame duck status might have been accelerated by Trump’s victory. But he still has the power to make appointments to state boards and commissions and that could weigh on central committee members.
“Kasich’s influence is the big unknown,” said an Ohio GOP operative, who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly.
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