Dear Editor:
Recently Jerry Voss and I met with Linda Rantz, chairperson of the Osage County Republican Committee. A major takeaway from that meeting was this: While the Committee is formed and governed by statute and members of the committee are ELECTED by the Republican voters in Osage County:
1. Meetings are closed;
2. Minutes of meetings are not public;
3. By Laws are not public;
4. Facebook comments on the Committee Facebook page are turned off;
5. According to Ms. Rantz, the committee is not subject to the Sunshine Law (even though there is an area on their website referred to as “OCRC’s Sunshine Library” with a large banner that states “Let the Sun Shine”).
The Committee’s website makes it very clear that the only information that is public is the information they decide is public. Their website states that they are a private political organization, similar to a parent-teacher group or professional association. What they fail to state is that unlike the Republican Committee, those groups are not created by Missouri Statute as is the Republican Committee.
The Committee currently has four members (Linda Rantz, Craig Rantz, George Luebbering and Joyce Weber) instead of the requisite 12. These four people have made the decision that six of the Republican candidates running for election or re-election will NOT
be on the ballot because they did not comply with the committee’s “Vetting” process. Two candidates did vet for this election, one at the very beginning of filing and a second who actually failed the test. However, Ms. Rantz stated that they had talked to him and determined that he was a good Republican and could therefore be on the ballot. Why can’t they just talk to all of the candidates? Allow them to speak at Trump Day so their ideas and positions can be known to anyone who attends.
Speaking of Trump Day, according to the committee’s website, for the Trump Day Dinner (previously known as the Lincoln Day Dinner) in June, tickets must be purchased in advance and “OCRC reserves the right to deny ticket sales or entry to anyone for any reason.”
What are they hiding? What is it that they fear so much that they allow no discussion, no questions, no challenges? These people are elected - yet according to them, they are accountable to no one.
Fortunately, an almost full slate of candidates is running for the positions of committee man and committee woman in the six townships in the county. Hopefully, once the primary election is over, the Republicans will be able to take back the committee and it will once again function as it was created to do - representing and acting FOR Republican candidates.
Mary Perrey
Linn
