Dear Geauga (part 3)
"All politics is local"
A recent “Dear Geauga” post was surprisingly popular, so I’ve kept going with a second, and now this third post. I hope you find this one helpful/informative.
If you’re not in Geauga County, Ohio, keep reading anyway, this pertains to all Americans. If you’re on Central Committee somewhere, consider creating and publishing a list like the one below (and maybe include vote tallies on important issues). If you’re not on Central Committee, I encourage you to get involved to build yours, wherever you live, into a stronger and better Representative Government… it’s the only way that We The People win.
Frustrated that your “representative government” is doing a horrible job of representing you?
Here’s a suggestion: tune out D.C. and Statehouse politics for a few months and check on local politics, you’ll be surprised at how much importance you find. All sorts of things happen in your local politics (or should be happening) that are probably off-radar for you. Plus, local is where you can have a big and almost immediate impact.
It’s said that Central Committee is the most powerful position in all of politics. In my studied opinion, this is true. Think of it like your local Board for the Republican Party.
The above list represents recent attendance and involvement of the Geauga County (Ohio) Republican Party Central Committee. Think of this group like the Board, it’s the people who make decisions about how the party and the county operate and function. We help decide how and who fills various county positions, among other responsibilities. We can block or encourage things, pressure government for investigations, and do virtually anything the public might want. We also have a very large impact on people seeking elected office, via endorsement of candidates. This power structure very likely holds true wherever you live - there are around 400,000 such seats available throughout the United States. Sadly, only about half of those seats are filled. In Geauga, we’re lucky to have roughly every seat filled, sort of…
In the past, Geauga’s meetings were somewhat rare, they were closed to the public (which some of us argued was not a good policy). In the meetings that did occur, opportunities to speak or act were virtually nonexistent. Members weren’t showing up out of sheer frustration (more on this below).
Recent changes, however, dating back to mid-2024 have changed things considerably. Meetings opened to the public, voting is much less likely to be done in secret, and the floor is routinely opened for discussion. Which leads me to the purpose of today’s post: no-shows hurt.
Votes on current, local issues sometimes come down to one or two votes. Knowing that there are bad actors within the Republican Party, whose self-interests or desire for status-quo might at any time override the interests of the people, the mission is always to get as many good, caring people into each and every meeting as possible. In today’s era of citizens’ push for leaner and more transparent government, every meeting becomes critical.
Very much like Washington D.C., you should be paying close attention to your local Central Committee. Advocate for the things you care about, watch attendance, read the published Minutes, and ask for vote tallies if they’re not included in the Minutes.
If you don’t advocate for yourself, who will? (And, if the people who are supposed to be your advocates aren’t doing so, who fills that power vacuum?)
I encourage all elected representatives everywhere to pause for a moment and think clearly, “What do my constituents want?” If you’re not asking that question, you’re not really a Representative, and you, unfortunately, become part of the reason people feel that Representative Government is lacking and that their voice isn’t heard. Yes, of course some of us are going to miss meetings, some of the time; however, roughly 50% vacant seats, nationally, and ongoing under-attended meetings frequently leave “regional government”, state government, or federal government to fill that void.
The conservative people of Geauga, I’ll argue, have been on the losing end of voting history for over a decade. In increments, for many years, their voices have faded to mere whispers, most often now ignored. We either fix this or it continues (or gets worse). This is true all over Ohio and the country.
For the above chart I went back only to October for a reason. Prior to October, our meetings were closed from public view and votes hidden. We had no subcommittees (that I was able to find), no way to get involved, and there was scarce little opportunity to speak at our infrequent meetings. This led to a great deal of frustration and hopelessness.
Thankfully, that disfunction is in the past. It took great effort, courage, and years of planning, but the change has been made. HINT: wherever you live, you too can accomplish the same thing. Get organized and united, locally, where you live, to re-institute Representative Government. There’s even a website for this, it’s called “Precinct Strategy”.
Ohio has a dedicated but separate site:
For my part, I know that each and every vote on any given issue can go one of two ways, toward the best interests of the people or toward status quo.
Conservative Geauga has lacked conservative, representative voices in local government, due to disfunction and confusion. The only way this gets fixed - the only way Geauga can tackle the waste, fraud, abuse, skyrocketing taxes, and champion the local mantra “don’t Cuyahoga our Geauga!” - is if we insist upon representative government.
- Jonathan Broadbent is an elected Precinct Committeeman of his county Republican Party and frequently speaks on Precinct Strategy