Tea Party Protests ‘Lawless’ McArthur
On the morning of Feb. 6, an urgent dispatch went out to members of the Geauga County Tea Party informing them their meeting that day was canceled.
On the morning of Feb. 6, an urgent dispatch went out to members of the Geauga County Tea Party informing them their meeting that day was canceled.
Instead, the group had a new plan — to gather outside the Heritage House on Chardon Square to protest the Geauga County Republican Party, which had plans to endorse multiple candidates in the March 19 Republican primary, according to the GCTP.
“The chairman of the party (Nancy McArthur) wants to create endorsements of candidates in the primary. She is the chair of the party and a candidate and wants the party endorsement to campaign on,” GCTP’s all-caps announcement read, adding primary endorsements had never been done before.
However, McArthur, who is running for Geauga County commissioner against incumbent Ralph Spidalieri in the primary election, said in a follow-up interview the tea party staged the protest because they don’t understand how the Geauga GOP works.
The party’s bylaws are available on the party’s website, and Article 10 was adopted in 2015 and explicitly states candidates shall not be endorsed unless their endorsement is supported by a majority vote of members “present and voting at any meeting at which a quorum is present,” McArthur said.
The bylaws also give the party chair the right to appoint a committee to consider issues and candidates for endorsement.
McArthur said the Geauga GOP is facing six primary contests this year — an unusually high number — and multiple candidates had specifically asked her to raise the subject of endorsements.
Nevertheless, a voice vote during the meeting called specifically to discuss the topic failed to support the idea, and McArthur said the party is not yet ready to issue endorsements.
The GCTP, however, alleged McArthur “stacked” the GOP Central Committee with her allies to have them endorse her in her race against Spidalieri.
“Sounds like the democrate (sic) party,” the GCTP said. “Do you think this is ethical or honorable? This provides a clear unfair advantage.”
McArthur said the group gathered to protest outside made it “all about her” even though she did not lead the meeting.
Outside the building — gathered around a picnic table with a view into a large bank of windows on the north wall of the Heritage House — the tea party gathered with handwritten signs splashed with slogans like, “Nancy your reign of terror/error is over” and “Nancy resign now.“
Ashtabula County state central committee candidate Charles Johnston said McArthur’s choice to call the meeting to consider endorsements is “illegal.”
“With her being a president of the party, she should know better,” he said, adding the Ashtabula County GOP produced some endorsements he feels are also illegal.
“If you want a one-word description for this woman — lawless,” GCTP Vice President Jim MacNeal said.
“Those have people Nancy McArthur derangement syndrome. I’m not kidding, they really do,” McArthur said, adding neither she nor Spidalieri requested endorsements in their primary face-off.
McArthur, however, said the meeting was orderly, calling the protest a lot of noise about nothing.
“You tell me who’s being lawless here,” she said. “It’s not me.”
