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Infighting widens Trumbull GOP
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Infighting within the Trumbull County Republican Party that became public two weeks ago when chairman Randy Law filed a lawsuit against fellow Republican Martha Yoder widened when two groups of party central-committee members had meetings at the same time in different places.
Both groups say the actions taken by the other were improper and invalid.
The highlight of the meeting Monday at the Girard Multigenerational Center was a report by a committee appointed May 24 to examine Law’s actions and determine whether they were improper. Law did not attend that session.
If the committee had found Law’s actions to be improper, it could have ordered a “trial” at a central-committee meeting to determine whether Law should be removed as chairman.
The five-member committee reported it did not find enough evidence of wrongdoing to have a trial, but the 54 executive-committee members in attendance refused to accept the report, said central committee member Kevin Wyndham.
The central committee did approve resolutions: One said Law should not have filed suit against Yoder “without the express consent and approval” of the central committee, and the second one clarified the central committee is the only entity that can remove a party officer or central-committee member.
The lawsuit asks a judge to order Yoder, a Farmington Township trustee running for state representative for the 64th District, to refrain from continuing to represent herself as party secretary, trying to call party meetings, or continuing her “stranglehold” on the party’s Facebook page.
As of Tuesday, Yoder still has control of the Facebook page and blocks Law from controlling its content, Law said.
A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for 10 a.m. July 21 before Magistrate Jami Bishop.
The other meeting Monday, called by Law, was at the Johnson Community Center in Leavittsburg and featured approval of changes to the party’s bylaws. About 30 to 35 central-committee members attended, including all of the party’s “statutory officers,” Law said.
Among the bylaw changes was one that clarified the chairman has the right to file lawsuits, Law said. There were other parts of the bylaws that had to be changed because they were “vague and contradictory,” Law said.
The Girard meeting was invalid because not enough people signed for it, the group didn’t have a valid reason to have the meeting, and it was called by Yoder, who had been removed from her party position, Law said.
Law’s meeting in Leavittsburg was invalid, said central committee member Kevin Wyndham said, because notices did not go out 10 days before the meeting.
Wyndham says Law is hurting the reputation of the local party at an especially bad time – just before the national GOP convention next month in Cleveland.
“It’s a wreck,” Wyndham said of the infighting since Law became chairman. “None of this needed to happen. I wish people would put their differences aside. I’ve been a Republican my whole life, and I hate to see it all unravel.”