The Trump name still rules GOP money requests
A few days after Donald Trump loyalists stormed the U.S. Capitol, thenohio GOP Chair Jane Timken wrote, “It is critical to remember that whether it comes to our country or our party, our shared progress and prosperity is never about one person, one candidate, or one government official.”
But as the weeks since the Jan. 6 insurrection pass, top Republican campaign organizations are almost acting like the 2020 election never happened, spouting Trump rhetoric and causes in public and fundraising pleas.
“Have you forgotten about President Trump, Fellow Conservative?” asked one electronic entreaty Wednesday from the National Republican Congressional Committee, which seeks cash for GOP House candidates.
“President Trump and House conservatives need your help . ... Don't let President Trump down. Chip in TODAY before it's too late.”
The same group already is selling $20 white T-shirts emblazoned with “Don't Blame Me: I Voted for Trump.” Another one says, “Finish The Wall.”
The campaign team backing GOP U.S. Senate candidates – the National Republican Senatorial Committee – sought checks of up to $10,000 on March 25 with the message: “Pres. Trump gave an interview exposing Biden's border crisis for what it is, a disaster and a ploy to put America last. We need 1,000 patriots to take a stand before midnight, can we count on you to stand with Trump?”
The group also is selling T-shirts; these have Trump's picture with the message “Miss Me Yet?”
Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee – whose Trump-picked chairwoman has pledged will remain neutral if he runs again in 2024 – is trying to gin up interest for its annual spring retreat next week in Palm Beach, Florida, by offering a contest to attend at no cost.
That offer comes with a familiar incentive:
“The best part is if you WIN, not only will the cost of your flight AND hotel be covered, but you'll also get to meet and take a photo with President Trump himself.”
And part of the retreat is being held at Trump's Mar-a-lago resort, where he is scheduled to speak to donors.
Can Steve Stivers pass as an ardent Trump backer?
Jane Timken is aggressively competing with former state Treasurer Josh Mandel to be the top Trump clone in the 2022 GOP primary for Republican Sen. Rob Portman's seat, which he is leaving after next year.
But even the normally mild-mannered Steve Stivers, the Columbus Republican who's also considering a bid for Portman's job, ratcheted up his fundraising rhetoric as the end of the quarter deadline approached.
“I need your help to DEFEND President Trump's tax cuts,” he said in a March 25 ask.
“Now that Pelosi, Schumer, and Biden are in charge, those tax cuts are anything but safe and crushing tax hikes are on the horizon.”
In a separate missive, Stivers leaped into the “cancel culture” messaging of the GOP: “The best parts of our country – our history, our guaranteed Constitutional
freedoms, even the integrity of our borders – are at risk because of cancel culture hysteria.”
Stivers' concern now about “open borders” contrasts with a 2019 letter to then-secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he and others signed urging the Trump administration to “maintain the United States' longstanding commitment to assist refugees.”
In a separate letter that year to Trump and Pompeo, Stivers took issue with administration plans to cut funds for the refugee resettlement program.
In 2018, he issued a statement opposing the Trump policy of separating families at the border.
In 2017, Stivers came out against Trump's travel ban on immigrants from several predominantly Muslim countries.
The congressman also backed the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate Trump, slammed Trump's disparagement of the late Sen. John Mccain and spoke out against the president's reaction to white supremacist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Larose won’t say which parts of elections bill he favors
Ohio Secretary of State Frank Larose has been lambasting an elections measure approved by the Democratic majority in the U.S. House.
He testified against the federal proposal at the Ohio House State and Local Government Committee, told Fox News “it is a left-wing activist dream list,” opined to Fox radio the bill is “dangerous,” and wrote in the Washington Times that “instituting massive change will bring chaos, and that chaos would bring with it the worst-case scenario – a loss of confidence by the people in the results of those elections.”
While Larose remains adamantly opposed to the federal government mandating sweeping changes of state elections laws, in the past he has supported some of the individual concepts in the proposal, such as requiring the disclosure of “dark money,” or campaign cash typically funneled through nonprofit groups that never reveal the source or amount to the public.
Just last August, Larose teamed with a bipartisan pair of Ohio legislators on a proposal to shine the light on dark money.
Other provisions already are in effect in Ohio, such as mandating voter-verifiable paper voting records and offering at least 15 days of early voting.
So, granting Larose's strong distaste for the overall bill, which ideas does Ohio's chief elections official think are good? Online voter registration? Prepaid postage for mail voting material? Prohibiting state elections officials from taking part in federal campaigns? Publicly financed elections?
He won't say.
“As a state senator, Secretary Larose introduced bills to make some of these issues happen here in Ohio, is pushing for them to become law in Ohio, or is implementing them now as secretary of state,” said Larose spokesman Jon Keeling.
But Larose won't talk about anything in the bill now before the U.S. Senate.
“Those provisions are moot because of the much larger, principled point that the secretary has explicitly laid out – election administration belongs to the states, and Washington forcing significant changes will only bring chaos to each state's system and damage voter confidence.” drowland@dispatch.com @darreldrowland