Trumbull County Republican Chairwoman Julia Shutt canceled a Tuesday meeting to remove Niki Frenchko as the party’s auxiliary chairwoman because the needed support to oust her was very much in doubt.

Shutt said: “When I want to have a meeting, I want it to be successful and have a goal. I didn’t think it was looking good for our goal.”

Frenchko said: “People are tired of the games. They want leadership grounded in truth, not ego — principled leadership that unites, not divides. That’s what I stand for and that’s why the failed attempt to remove me as auxiliary chair never had the support to succeed.”

The party has tried unsuccessfully numerous times to remove Frenchko from the post since she was elected to it June 10, 2022 — and all have failed. She ran unopposed for the position at the time.

Party officers sent Frenchko, a former county commissioner, a June 18 letter requesting her resignation from the office and from the executive committee citing a list of supposed party bylaws infractions. Frenchko refused and the meeting, which was scheduled for Tuesday, was called to vote on her removal.

At least two-thirds of those who would have attended the central committee meeting — with a quorum of at least 28 members — would have had to vote to remove Frenchko under party bylaws.

Shutt said she didn’t know if the party would again seek to remove Frenchko as auxiliary chairwoman.

“I’m not operating in a vacuum,” she said. “I want to see what the board wants to do and what the committees want. You want to accomplish a productive meeting and I didn’t think it would be productive. My feeling is let’s see what all the people want to do.”

Shutt said she does not “have a fight or animosity towards Niki. She voiced her opinions, which I don’t take personally.”

Shutt said she is working to unify the party and Frenchko is welcome to attend party officer meetings.

“I want to work with people if they want to work with me,” Shutt said. “Let’s calm down and work together.”

Frenchko said: “It’s disheartening to watch ‘leaders’ like Chairwoman Shutt preach unity while operating with dishonesty and manipulation. That divisiveness, and absence of accountability, is further splintering our party.”

James Dunlap, the party’s first vice chairman, said he couldn’t attend Tuesday’s meeting.

Dunlap said he didn’t know if the votes were there to remove Frenchko.

Dunlap said: “I have mixed emotions about removing Niki. If there were legitimate reasons to remove her, they should have done it one or two years ago. We have our (reorganizational) meeting in June ’26 and we can vote then. I have mixed emotions about going through (Frenchko’s removal) at all.”

While Trumbull Republicans experienced historic success in the 2022 and 2024 elections — winning every contested race on both ballots in the once-Democratic stronghold — the party itself has experienced considerable dysfunction during that time with two factions wrestling for control and multiple officers, including two chairmen, resigning in recent years. Also, there’s been concerns voiced by longtime Republicans about Democrats switching political parties solely to get elected.

Among the accusations in the June 18 letter against Frenchko asking for her to resign or face a vote to be removed is “assaulting a fellow officer at an officers meeting with four eyewitnesses present.”

At a Feb. 4 meeting of party officers, largely to discuss a procedural error in the appointment of Robert Carr to the county board of elections, the officers in attendance accused Frenchko of throwing two lemons at Marleah Campbell, the party’s secretary, with one hitting her in the chest.

Frenchko strongly denied throwing the lemons.

Howland police were called and no charges were filed.

RETRACTION DEMAND

David Betras, Frenchko’s attorney, sent the Trumbull Republican Party a June 25 letter saying that by accusing his client of a crime in the June 18 letter, the party committed “libel” and “slander.” Betras threatened to sue the party on behalf of Frenchko if a retraction wasn’t made.

In a July 2 letter to Frenchko, the party officers didn’t retract the statement, writing that “the original letter was sent only to you (and) was not sent or communicated in any way to the central committee.”

But the letter was obtained by The Vindicator and Tribune Chronicle and quoted in June 27 articles.

Frenchko said: “I’m still waiting for a formal retraction. When you falsely accuse and defame someone, the ethical response is to retract it. Even their own attorney acknowledged that. Shutt made defamatory statements to party officials behind closed doors at executive and central committee meetings, then tried to pretend it didn’t happen. Her refusal to address it demonstrates she’s a liability to (the party). Integrity demands better and so do the people we serve.”

Frenchko added of Shutt: “Her ego is preventing her from acting in the best interests of the party.”

There were those in the party who immediately objected to Frenchko serving as a party officer back in 2022 because of a bylaw, passed a few months earlier, that states elected officers “must be registered Republicans for four consecutive years.” Frenchko drew a nonparty ballot in 2018 and was elected county commissioner as a Republican in 2020.

Shutt had said Frenchko’s lack of four years as a registered Republican before her selection as auxiliary chairwoman was one of the main reasons for seeking her ouster, but it was not listed on the letter asking for her resignation.

The central committee met May 17 to remove Frenchko from the position over the registered Republican issue. At that meeting, Shutt ruled Frenchko didn’t meet the requirements and unilaterally removed her.

But at a June 5 executive committee meeting, Dunlap said Shutt’s decision to remove Frenchko wasn’t proper and the party agreed to rescind the May 17 vote.

Shutt said she didn’t necessarily support Dunlap’s statements, but agreed to hold a follow-up meeting, which has since been canceled.

Frenchko said the party officers called the May 17 meeting to remove her when she was out of the country.

Body-camera footage of Shutt at the Feb. 4 party officers’ meeting in which a Howland police officer was called has her saying she doesn’t have the authority to remove Frenchko as auxiliary chairwoman. In the footage, Shutt and Campbell pointed to their written statements to the officer about the incident saying it would be helpful toward removing Frenchko.

The June 18 letter to Frenchko asking for her resignation also states she was being removed because she’s been absent from central, executive and officers’ meetings for the past three months after being notified with no correspondence regarding her absence.

Frenchko said she was removed from a group text of party officers after the Feb. 4 meeting and the party is supposed to notify its members by mail about meetings, which it hasn’t done.

Until December, Frenchko was also excluded from officers’ meetings for about a year prior.

Shutt also removed Frenchko on Feb. 7 from the party’s candidate recruitment committee.

In what was then a sign of unity, Shutt welcomed Frenchko back to party officers’ meetings.

The auxiliary chairwoman’s duties, according to the party’s bylaws, are to “organize and work with the various clubs and groups in the county and shall have such other duties as assigned by the chairman.”

The party’s officers on Oct. 26, 2023, formally censured Frenchko and banned her and her campaign literature from Republican headquarters. Frenchko had a photo with a then-elected official at headquarters taken days earlier at a party event. Frenchko pointed out that others were using their cellphones and she was singled out. This was before Shutt was elected chairwoman.

At a Feb. 10, 2024, central committee meeting, members voted in favor of rescinding Frenchko’s censure and other actions taken against her by party officers.