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Officials say the internal debate over who is chairman is hurting the party
LEAVITTSBURG
Complaints of being jostled by both factions that claim leadership of the Trumbull County Republican Party led Warren Township Police Chief Don Bishop to order everybody out of the Johnson Community Center before a meeting scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday could get underway.
The meeting was called by Randy Law, who says he is party chairman despite being ousted by a group of the Trumbull County GOP’s central committee a couple of weeks ago. Law said Saturday’s meeting was closed, but he allowed members of the media to enter.
The jostling occurred when some of the central committee members who ousted Law and party treasurer Debra Roth on Feb. 1 tried to enter the meeting.
Law, of Warren, said he was pushed against a wall and plans on filing assault charges.
Marleah Campbell of Cortland, a member of the central committee, said Law and Roth tried to physically prevent her, and others, from entering.
“The meetings have never been closed. We came peacefully and were greeted with hostility. If they have nothing to hide, why make it a closed meeting?” Campbell said.
Bishop said he ended the meeting primarily because a birthday party for children was occurring at the same time in the same room of the building separated only by flexible divider.
The ruckus is a continuation of a dispute over who is the Trumbull County Republican Party chairman.
On Feb. 1, while a group of central committee members voted 49-0 to oust Law and Roth, Law had his own meeting, and the members attending passed new bylaws that make it possible for Law to remain chairman.
The opposition central committee members also voted unanimously to appoint Kathi Creed to the Trumbull County Board of Elections, a position they say Law wants.
Law said Saturday’s episode occurred because “we had people pushing, trying to get in instead of lining up to sign in.”
Law accused the opposing central committee members of “orchestrating the mayhem.”
He said the meeting in June at which the bylaws were changed was “perfectly legal. If they want to make changes, we have a process,” he said.
Mary Williams of Cortland, who said Law kicked her off the Trumbull GOP’s executive committee, believes Saturday’s aborted meeting was an attempt by Law to get himself appointed to the Trumbull County Board of Elections.
Williams, an unsuccessful candidate for Trumbull County commissioner in the November 2016, election, says that the feud is “dividing the party and blunting what we might be able to do ... to get Republicans voted in when people are in the mood to listen to some new ideas.”
The actions of the opposition central committee of nominating candidates for a new chairman and treasurer were to “pull the party back together and do the work that needs to be done,” Williams said.