Hamilton County GOP finally gets it right

For the past year the Hamilton County Republican Party was the gang that couldn't shoot straight. They were a certifiable 3-ring circus, but the joke was on us and nobody but Democrats were laughing.

They joined the Democrats to soak Hamilton County residents with higher taxes, then joined them again to support Todd Portune's re-election. They were helpless to stop a disgraceful sheriff who betrayed the public trust and caused great harm to his party, even though a few anti-tax activists managed to have no problem demonstrating how he should be handled. The party has contributed to once again putting a safe Republican congressional seat in jeopardy by endorsing the trainwreck known as Jean Schmidt, apparently not worried that she's twice nearly lost a heavily Republican district that few Republicans would ever come close to losing. And finally, the party has forgotten the average Republican volunteer and voter, as the only people who seem to have any input are the ones who write 5-figure checks.

Earlier today the news became official that George Vincent has stepped down from the party Chairmanship following a big promotion at his law firm and former judge Alex Triantafilou (pronounced "Alex") has been elected Chairman. All of my encounters with Alex lead me to believe he's a sincere, intelligent person, and everything I've ever heard about him is positive.

I was excited to see Alex state that his vision for the party is to "return us to our core vision of lower taxes, smaller government and public servants who are serving the public good." This would go a long way towards restoring the party's reputation with the many Republicans it has alienated because of its support of higher taxes, lousy candidates, and elected officials such as Leslie Ghiz and Simon Leis who support Democrats.

Since Alex has worked hard on numerous campaigns, I believe he understands the importance of being a party chairman that not only appeals to the big donors, but to the complete array of Republicans at the grass roots level. The rich lawyers, lobbyists, and big business types who usually control our party easily forget that without Republican voters, Republicans can't win, and without volunteers, Republicans can't campaign directly to the people. They too often forget that 99% of the voters can't write $25,000 checks for politics.

But we can't win without them. My initial thought is to believe Alex is a great choice to be party chairman because I trust he'll remember to include that 99% of people who the Hamilton County GOP typically manages to forget. I look forward to working with our new Chairman to help grow our party and win our races this fall.