Last week the four members left of the decimated Osage County Republican Committee held a dinner that they called a Trump Day Dinner.
From what I’ve been told the dinner was attended by between 40 and 50 people, and an award was given to TV personality and owner of My Pillow, Mike Lindell.
The Mark Lieneke award was named after former OCRC Chairman Mark Lieneke. The program for the evening said the award embodies integrity, resilience, humility and wisdom. Both men, the program continued, have demonstrated a lifelong commitment to service and putting their communities and country first.
Not to say that Lindell isn’t such a person, but, do we not have anyone who could qualify for such an award in this county?
The four members of the committee. Linda and Craig Rantz, George Luebbering and Joyce Weber must not think so, because they do not feel that anyone can decide whether or not they are a Republican. Potential candidates must take their 9-page vetting test to convince those four people that the candidate is, indeed, a Republican.
Another section of the program says that current committee members “shall hold office until their successors are elected AND QUALIFIED.” It says the Osage County Republican Committee bylaws require that successfully completing the vetting process is a requirement for a candidate being QUALIFIED to serve on the committee.
Wait a minute - Are those the secret bylaws that no-one but committee members can see?
Also, it is rumored that not everyone who took the vetting test successfully completed it. They, supposedly, were allowed to run anyway. Hmmm? In talking with John Glavin, candidate for presiding commissioner, last Wednesday, Glavin confirmed that he had not passed the test, but was told by a committee member that he was “enough of a Republican to run.” So is this test subjective? You bet!
This is my assessment of what is happening. It’s only my thought, for what that’s worth.
I think the three people who filed, Craig Rantz, Linda Rantz and Joyce Weber were worried they might get beat at the polls by their respective opponents and pulled their names from the ballot. They are thinking they will stay on as committee members and the rest of us who filed, even though we might beat them in the election, will be deemed NOT QUALIFED to serve and not allowed to be on the committee.
This is exactly what Linda Rantz said to me in the meeting Mary Perrey and I had with her a few months ago. She said that even if I beat her in the election, the committee would “evaluate what I might have to offer to the committee” and they can declare me as unqualified, thereby keeping their hold on the committee. They would do that with all the candidates, not just me.
That’s it in a nutshell, folks. We are Americans and shouldn’t have to put up with this crap. If we want to keep this country free, we need to fight to protect our rights. The twelve of us on the ballot are doing that. Please join us.
Jerry Voss
