My Three Cents on the Summit County GOP Race

• Author: Ben Keeler
• Filed under: Arshinkoff / Coughlin
• Date: Jan 23,2008

I tend to give people more than the usual two cents.

So let me get this out of the way in the interest of full disclosure: I support State Senator Kevin Coughlin’s effort to shake up the Summit County GOP leadership and am I running for Central Committee on his behalf. I have nothing personal against current party chairman Alex Arshinkoff (link to the dreadfully designed website that takes his side in this). Actually, I have never met the guy (nor Coughlin for that matter). So this is not about playing favorites or going with the guy who I like better. I have only seen Mr. Arshinkoff once in person – at the 2007 Summit County Republican Dinner. I think I gave him a head nod as we crossed paths and he gave me a look like “who are you and why are you acknowledging me?” No reason he would have known me. In his eyes I was just some loner who showed up to get a good meal (it wasn't very good).

I went by myself to the dinner – mainly to take pictures for my website. I sat at a table of 10; had never met any of the people sitting with me, don't remember any of their names. I do, however, remember quite a bit of eye rolling as Alex butchered name after name of “prominent people” in attendance. Obviously no one would speak up outside of a quiet, soft spoken, snide comment at the table of which there were numerous about various subjects. They didn't need to speak up; their opinion was more than clear. There was this tension in the air that made it feel like you would have been escorted outside by security if you were overhead saying anything detrimental towards or about Alex. (On a side note, Mike DeWine was there working for the room for John McCain for the straw poll they conducted that evening. People responded pretty much how you would suspect they would to a defeated United States Senator who was trying to persuade attendees to support a candidate they did not want to.) Anyways…….

Everyone loses elections – even Republicans. Hard to believe, I know. The conventional wisdom seems to be that Republicans always face an uphill battle in Summit County. It is just accepted by people. Though when you look at the numbers, it does not have to be that way. As of 11/30/07, the voter registration in Summit County was: D 65,042, R 31,340 and I 254,211 (an astonishing number - I had no idea there were so many unaffiliated voters). That means the voters are there to win if you go after them. Just like the big buzzword for those running for the White House is “change,” that seems to be the sentiment of a lot of people in the local party these days. After a while, enough is enough. People don't like to constantly be on the losing end of anything in life. I know I don't. It is like in baseball; if the manager of the team has multiple losing seasons in a row, he will probably be replaced by the GM of team. Same applies here. Like I said, it isn't personal. I am the kind of guy that would probably be on board with Alex Arshinkoff if our side was winning at the polls. But that is not the case for our party and has not been for some time.

Does new leadership at the top guarantee success? Absolutely not. However, when you look at the recent results, it would be difficult if not impossible to do any worse. That is why I am on board to try something new and take the party in a new direction. A winning direction.

*Thanks to the Summit County BOE for providing those voter figures.

(This is assumed, and should be assumed for all posts here in the future - the Beacon Journal / Ohio.com does not necessarily endorse my positions. In this case, with this particular story being such a hot topic around the area, I felt I needed to make that clear. I stand with Kevin. It does not mean the ABJ / Ohio.com does.)