McArthur Retains Control of Geauga GOP in Narrow Vote
Nancy McArthur will retain her position as chair of the Geauga County Republican Party, after securing a slim majority over two challengers at the party’s June 8 organizational meeting.
Nancy McArthur will retain her position as chair of the Geauga County Republican Party, after securing a slim majority over two challengers at the party’s June 8 organizational meeting.
McArthur was first elected to the role in 2014 and has held it since, despite challenges from others in the party.
With 61 central committee members present, Joan Windnagel, previously the secretary, received 22 votes for the role, and Chester Township Trustee Ken Radtke, seven. McArthur received 31, topping her challengers by two votes.
In a speech before the vote, McArthur said she wanted to give the party a message of hope and unity.
“Our job as duly elected members of our county Republican party is to make sure that we work together to defeat liberal Democrats this year in November’s general election and bring back prosperity and common sense in this country,” McArthur said. “I will admit, this is a thankless job at times. I am not perfect, and I sometimes rub people the wrong way. I know I have irritated some people. … I have always done what I thought best and right for our party and I will continue to do that as your party chair.”
A campaign to unseat McArthur became more visible on social — and traditional — media after the May 3 Republican primary election, with some GOP candidates and conservative activists accusing her of encouraging Democrats to cross party lines in support of their primary opponents. McArthur’s statements, they argued, violated party bylaws.
Walter “Skip” Claypool, who lost his primary campaign for Geauga County commissioner against incumbent Jim Dvorak, published an ad in the May 26 edition of the Geauga County Maple Leaf, in which he said there is a “corrupt element” in the county GOP.
Claypool made reference to an ad run before the election by McArthur, which published the criminal record of Mario Innocenzi — president of the Geauga County Conservative Club and an opponent of McArthur’s presidency — as well as attempted to fact-check campaign ads run by state Rep. Diane Grendell, who lost her primary bid for county auditor to Chuck Walder.
“Nancy McArthur, the chair of the Republican party, who is supposed to remain neutral officially and promote republican values, took out a full page ad attacking a Geauga Republican citizen and created a number of social media posts encouraging Democrats and Independents to pull a Republican ballots,” Claypool said in his ad. “Moreover, she told people who to vote for. In essence implying a party endorsement, which did not exist.”
Seated in a row of public seating behind a taped-off area for central committee members, Innocenzi left the meeting after McArthur’s election.
Former Treasurer Kevin O’Reilly was elected vice chair, beating Barbara Walter of Russell Township by 32 votes to 29. The new treasurer, Mary Zettelmeyer, beat Joseph DeBoth. Windnagel bowed out of a nomination for secretary, turning the role over to former IT support staff Erin Brady.
The meeting concluded after executive committee members, both elected officials and appointed party members, were sworn in to their roles.
