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WARREN -- The Trumbull County Republican Party will meet Saturday to consider significant changes to its bylaws, including endorsing candidates during the primary and suspending the voting rights of central committee members who don't pay $25 annual dues.
The proposed changes also wouldn't permit members of the central committee to "make any public statement or take any action to support a local, county, state or national candidate who is not a Republican.
Central committee members shall refrain from making any public written or oral statement about any other member of the Republican Party or candidate of the party."
The changes include sanctioning those who back non-Republicans in partisan races -- up to expulsion by a two-thirds vote of the central committee -- and the elimination of the auxiliary chair position, which is held by Trumbull County Commissioner Niki Frenchko, who was censured in October by party officers and banned from party headquarters.
The party's central committee will vote on each of the changes at a 10 a.m. meeting Saturday at the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library, 444 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren.
Chairman Mike Bollas, who served on the bylaws committee making the recommendations, said the changes will "be discussed and the committee will make the decisions whether to approve them. I'm not going to tell the committee how to vote."
The proposed changes already face opposition from a group of Republicans, including county Commissioner Denny Malloy; county Auditor Martha Yoder; Randy Law, the party's state central committeeman, a former county party chairman and a clerk of courts candidate; David Engler, a candidate for domestic / juvenile court judge; Kevin Wyndham, a former county party chairman; Regina McManus, a Republican consultant; and three former party officers.
In a joint statement, the group wrote: "We believe these changes are not necessary, antiquated, restrictive and push people away from joining the Republican Party."
It adds: "These changes are meant to take power from the duly elected central committee members who are representatives of the precinct voters and put it in the hands of an appointed executive board, which is made up of more than a dozen non-elected members. We want to move forward in Trumbull County as a party, not backwards."
Frenchko -- the only other Republican elected to a countywide office -- also voiced her objections to the changes.
ENDORSEMENTS
The endorsement of candidates is being considered, Bollas said, because several people have suggested it.
The proposal would have the central committee meet no more than 30 days after the filing deadline to decide on an endorsement or denouncement of any candidate or issue.
The 30 days is "encouraged," according to the proposed language "for such endorsements to be of maximum value." At least two-thirds of the members present at a meeting would have to vote on issuing an endorsement or denouncement.
If the central committee doesn't meet 30 days after the filing deadline, the executive committee could meet for endorsements and / or denouncements under the proposal.
With Dec. 20 being the filing deadline for the March 19 election, the 30 days for the central committee to endorse has passed.
That could permit the executive committee to endorse in the upcoming primary, but Bollas said that isn't going to happen.
The executive committee consists of the party's officers, members at large and one member from 36 different districts in the county.
The party could endorse next year, even in nonpartisan elections such as township trustee, Bollas said.
The Malloy group opposes endorsements, writing in a rebuttal: "Why after decades of letting Republican voters decide elections would the local GOP decide it wanted to hand pick candidates? We should encourage candidates to run and not discourage, and certainly not issue denouncements, of candidates."
ANNUAL DUES
Regarding the $25 annual dues, it would have to be paid by Feb. 1 of each year, according to the proposal, with the failure "at minimum" resulting "in a suspension of the delinquent member's voting rights. The duration of that suspension, and any other consequences of that delinquency, if any, shall be determined by a majority vote of the executive committee."
Asked how the party could suspend a central committee person properly elected by voters in his or her ward, Bollas said: "We're not going to suspend them from being a central committee person. They wouldn't be able to vote if the executive committee decided that."
Bollas said in the past few years, "Democrats are trying to infiltrate the party."
He declined further comment.
Marleah Campbell, party secretary, said there are registered Democrats who are running this year as Republicans, including David DeChristofaro for engineer and Agostino Ragozzino for treasurer. DeChristofaro, she said, met with party officers to answer questions about his switch and candidacy -- and party officials were satisfied with his responses -- while Ragozzino didn't. Ragozzino voted in the 2022 Republican primary and then Democratic in last year's primary, which makes him a Democrat.
There also are Republican central committee members, she said, who only show up to vote against leadership's recommendations.
"They do nothing to help the party," Campbell said. "There are opportunists in the party who don't contribute even the $25 we ask so this should help. I'm getting tired of this. I've never seen it as mean and ugly as it is now and I've been doing this for 40 years. I don't like all this hostility and fighting and meanness. I hate to quit on them. The only reason I took the position is because no one wanted it. Who wants to live with negativity every day?"
The Malloy group wrote: "You cannot require an elected official to pay money to have the right to vote and fulfill his or her duties as an elected official. Suspending an elected member's right to vote is disenfranchising the Republicans in his or her precinct. The penalties are arbitrary and not specific to be enforced fairly."
Frenchko said she objects to several of the proposed changes to party bylaws, saying they will be used to get back at those, such as her, who oppose leadership.
"Sometimes things need to completely crumble in order to be rebuilt with a better foundation," she said. "Anyone associated with the old guard is the reason we don't have a reputable party. By forcing people to pay $25, they're taking away the will of the people who voted for those committee people. Leadership is trying to be kingmakers. If they put as much effort into local races as they did into this, we'd have a Republican as a Howland trustee."
Julie Altawill lost by seven votes in the November election to Frank Dillon for Howland trustee.
"It's not a real party," Frenchko said. "It's an embarrassment."
The party's officers censured Frenchko on Oct. 25 "as a result of her ongoing behavior and actions which have been destructive in nature and have adversely affected the Republican Party, its members, officers and candidates."
Frenchko said of the party's leadership and the proposed changes to the bylaws: "They're making rules as they go along to benefit their friends. The party is more interested in protecting their RINO (Republicans in name only) candidates."
Frenchko was censured, in part, because of criticisms of party leadership and some Republican candidates, according to a letter the party officers sent her.
'FREE SPEECH'
"A party shouldn't prohibit free speech," she said in opposition to the bylaws proposal to not permit criticism of fellow Republicans. "They're a local swamp. They violate current bylaws and make up rules as they go along. Censuring speech goes against Republican principles."
Asked about Frenchko's contention that it violates free speech, Bollas said, "Free speech doesn't have anything to do with it."
Frenchko said she objects to the party embracing DeChristofaro, the former county engineer who resigned from the job in 2011 as part of a plea deal that found him guilty of felony theft and misdemeanor conflict of interest for using materials from his county office to send cards to Democratic precinct committee members.
His record was sealed in 2016.
Frenchko said she works well with county Engineer Randy Smith, a Democrat, and having DeChristofaro on the Republican ballot will hurt other GOP candidates in the Nov. 5 general election.
Campbell said Frenchko is a "troublemaker" and "nothing but a disruption. As far as we're concerned, she's not welcome at the headquarters. She's a nonissue."
Frenchko wasn't given a copy of the proposed bylaws and despite talk since shortly after she was elected in June 2022 as auxiliary chairwoman that she would be removed, that hasn't happened. Frenchko hasn't been invited to the past few party officer meetings.
Even if the position is eliminated, Campbell said Frenchko would be permitted to serve out the rest of her term.
The position's duties are to organize and work with the various Republican clubs and groups and be an ex-officio member of any fundraising subcommittee.
Campbell and Bollas said the position isn't being eliminated to target Frenchko.
"The job duties aren't being fulfilled so there's no need to have the position," Bollas said. "It's not targeting her. The job isn't being done by anyone."
The proposed bylaw restricting criticism of fellow Republicans is because of people doing so on social media or in this newspaper, Bollas said.
"It's been an issue," he said.
The Malloy group wrote: "It is absurd to have a primary election and have everyone refrain from making statements about another candidate either written or orally. Everyone thinks the other side is being unfair. Are we going to penalize people on alleged oral statements? The enforcement of this is uncontrollable and totally arbitrary. Why are we trying to eliminate and stifle all debate and dissent within the party?"