Saturday, July 26, 2008

Washington County GOP Booth Controversy

There was a little dust up at the Washington County GOP booth at the county fair.

The Republican challenger for the 59th Assembly District said his party shut him out of their county fair booth.

   Karl McCarty, who challenges incumbent Daniel LeMahieu for the 59th Assembly District seat this fall, said Washington County GOP booth workers hid the pamphlets he brought to the booth in the Ziegler Family Expo Center Tuesday.

   “I don’t know why,” McCarty said. “I’m a Republican running in a Republican primary. I don’t know what they’re afraid of.”

   McCarty returned to the booth Thursday with a handful of supporters with signs and pamphlets, standing beside the GOP booth and shaking hands with passers-by. Signs and pamphlets for LeMahieu, who has held the Assembly since 2003, could be seen at the GOP booth.

   Jim Geldreich, chairman of the Washington County GOP, said the party has already endorsed the Republican incumbents this year.

   “We can’t allow the challengers in our booth,” Geldreich said.

I received this from Jim Geldreich.

“The Washington County Republican Party has endorsed all of our Republican incumbents.  We do not allow challengers to our incumbents into our fair booth to campaign or distribute their literature.  Our policy regarding candidates in our fair booth was explained to Mr. McCarty on Tuesday, July 22 by Washington County GOP Vice-Chairman Kathy Kiernan.  For the record, Mr. McCarty never contacted us before the start of the County Fair requesting permission to appear in our booth.  It is quite presumptuous of him to expect carte blanche entry to our booth as he chooses.  We pay several hundred dollars to rent the space for our booth, and our organization reserves the right to formulate policy with regard to who may or may not appear there.  If Mr. McCarty wants to distribute his campaign literature at the Washington County Fair, then he should’ve rented his own booth as Senator Glenn Grothman did in 2004 when he challenged an incumbent.”

Jim Geldreich, Chairman
Washington County Republican Party

(7) Comments
Posted by Owen at 0919 hrs
Politics + Politics - Wisconsin

  1. So, basically, the Washington County GOP has stripped McCarty and his supporters of their status before the primary. Sounds pretty unfair.

    Posted by Michael Mathias on July 26, 2008 at 1124 hrs


  2. Stripped them of their “status?”  Not sure where you get that.

    I agree with the party’s decision to not include material that is just dropped off without any pre-fair communication.  I disagree with the party for their blanket endorsement of incumbents.  I don’t think the party should take sides in a primary unless a contender is not really a Republican.  For example, if a known liberal is running as a Republican because that’s what you have to do to get elected in West Bend, I would support the party taking sides.  If you have multiple Republicans running in the primary, I think the party should remain neutral.

    Posted by Owen on July 26, 2008 at 1128 hrs


  3. Really?  How so?  McCarty’s a challenger, and remains so.  Perhaps you can explain what you mean by ‘status’.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 26, 2008 at 1128 hrs


  4. Mike,

    There’s precedent for this, so I don’t see how one can fault the Washington Co. GOP for making this guy do the exact same thing they made then-Rep., now-State Senator Grothman when he took on Panzer.

    And frankly, from what my sources in Sheboygan Co. tell me, this guy’s about as Republican as those folks Reynolds recruited are Democrats.  Dan’s gonna eat this guy for lunch in September.

    GO OOSTBURG!

    Posted by Kevin Binversie on July 26, 2008 at 1148 hrs


  5. And, for the record, I personally know that Mr. McCarty is not a member, and did not even bother to become a member, of the Washington County Republican Party prior to pulling this little media stunt.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 26, 2008 at 1326 hrs


  6. Unless there was a doubt about someone’s Republican credentials, the county party did not have a tradition of endorsing before the primary. Even during the terribly contentious primaries for county sheriff in which incumbencies were at stake, the party did not endorse. This was the policy under chairpersons Ken Miller, Don Roskopf, Roger Kist, and I believe Jan Baldock.

    If Glenn Grothman rented a booth, it was likely that he wanted to invest money for a better and exclusive venue. Knowing the past policy and the support he had, I doubt that he was excluded.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 26, 2008 at 1831 hrs


  7. Again a political party shows why it’s nothing more than a glorified high school clique.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on July 26, 2008 at 2126 hrs


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