Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

A new area Republican club has formed. The next meeting of the Republican Club of Northwest Fairfield County is at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 26, 2002 at the Township Trustees office in Summerfield. All Republicans are welcomed.

I joined last Thursday. Many of the charter members are PATA members. I believe the club was formed due to the problem with endorsement of candidates in ?‘darkened hallways?’ last October by another club that was mentioned here on the PATA pages and in the discussion area.

I think all Republican should join this club too. Purposes of the club are to train people as effective political workers, promote GOP ideals, and encourage ethics & integrity in public office.

If you attend in February, please don?’t be discouraged that you are unable to vote. If permitted to speak, I will be proposing changes to the Constitution of Republican Club of Northeast Fairfield County to permit voting as soon as you pay your $25 dues (as long as you are a registered Republican and living in Fairfield County). Under Article II 1 (D), new members must wait a third of a year before voting and then must attend 50% of the regular scheduled meetings in order to continue to vote. The requirements were included to prevent real Republicans from paying $25, and ?‘stuffing the ballot box?’ to elect officers and endorse candidates. In essence, if you come and join us in February, under current rules, you would not be able to vote until the May meeting, after the charter members have endorsed candidates for you.

A club officer has mentioned the club is only interested in serious members. Interesting enough, the requirements of the officers in Article III don?’t have the same ?‘serious?’ requirements ?– having voted in three primaries in Fairfield County and having voted in 50% of the GOP primaries since registering to vote here in Fairfield County.

It has been about 30 years since I have seen any effort by a political organization to restrict voting rights. I hope all charter members reading this website understand their fatal mistake in restricting voting rights of members of this new club.

Come join us in February and lets all help promote Republican ideals!

Republican Club welcomes all

As the President of the Republican Club of Northwest Fairfield County, I wish to reply to Mr. Uher's posting, clarify the Club's position on voting, and invite all readers to join us at our next meeting.

First let me state that Mr. Uher's posting is factually correct. The Constitution and By-Laws of our new club do restrict voting rights to those who have attended at least three meetings. This rule was put in place not to discourage anyone from joining; rather it was put in place to avoid an indiviudal or small group from ''bringing a bunch of friends'' to a single club meeting for the sole purpose of swaying the vote on a particular issue. This type of activity had been witnessed in other clubs in the past and the founding membership of this club wanted to make sure no individual or small group could ''hijack'' the club in any single meeting.

There are literally hundreds of reasons to join a club such as ours. Voting on endorsements and other issues is only one. By restricting the voting rights to those who are truly participating on an ongoing basis, we will ensure the long term health and well being of the club, and the strength of the Republican Party in Northwest Fairfield County.

I appreciate Mr. Uher's efforts to help grow the membership of the club. While I respectfully disagree with his position on this issue, he will have an opportunity to present his opinion at our next meeting.

Please come see him speak his piece at our next meeting in February.

Jeff Fix
President - Republican Club of Northwest Fairfield County.

Join Now/Wait to Vote in May!

Jeff,

I have tremendous respect for you and the manner in which you conducted your recent campaign. I believe you are an up and coming ?‘statesman?’ in our community. I am most impressed with the fact that 65% of the voters in your home precinct (Violet P) cast ballots for you, compared with 43% for an eight-year incumbent officeholder and 35% for a 45-year resident of Violet Township. In analyzing elections results, I find it is important to review carefully the vote from a candidate?’s home precinct, an area where voters know the candidate the best.

With all due respect, however, the club?’s constitution restricting voting privileges is wrong. It is contrary to the ideals of our great Republican Party. I?’m sure that the national, state, and local party officials would tell you the same thing. In addition, I am confident that political experts such as Herb Asher from The Ohio State University would advice against restricting voting privileges in a political organization. I?’m sure Professor Asher could share with you the results of other political organizations throughout our nation and the world that have attempted to restrict voting rights.

While voting rights is a very serious issue, I find the reasoning to restrict voting rights for our club rather amusing. I laugh at the prospect that anyone in community would have the ability to bring a bunch of friends to a meeting, pay $25 to join a club with the sole purpose to hijack the club in a single meeting and sway a vote on a particular issue. In a day and age when there is declining voter participation, I would love to know the individual or small group in our community with such skill as to get enough friends out to hijack our club. I can hear the laughter now if I tried to get some of my friends to pay $25 and attend one meeting to hijack a political club.

In all seriousness, it is a bit paranoid to ever expect such a development to occur.

Again, I hope all charter members reading this website understand their fatal mistake in restricting voting rights of members of our new club. Come join us on February 26th at 7:30 p.m. and lets all help promote Republican ideals!

Recent history


One needs only to look at the hijack and printing of ''endorsements'' by the Pickerington Club in the last election. I believe this rule is reasonable in a private club based the past history of less than ethical execution of the Pickerington Club's by-laws.