LOW LIGHTS, highlights of Jane Timken Cleveland City Club Speech of 07/21/2017

UPDATE:  COMMON CAUSE WEIGH-IN ON JANE TIMKEN'S REDISTRICTING COMMENTS

On Friday just past, Jane Timken, in her capacity as chairperson of the Ohio Republican Party since January 6, 2017, spoke to the Cleveland City Club on the State of the Ohio Republican Party.

Having listened to a podcast (also viewing a videocast) of the event, my assessment of her presentation is that it is marked by both the 'low lights' and 'HIGHLIGHTS.'

Timken is of particular interest to many Stark Countians first and foremost because she is a Stark Countian but also she is the wife of our county's most prominent citizens W. J. (Tim) Timken, Jr; chief executive officer and president of Timken Steel.

Timken industrial enterprises have provided a good living for thousands if not tens of thousands of Stark County families.  The "Timken" name is a hallowed name with many, many, many Stark Countians.

Jane Timken herself is a native of Cincinnati.

Recently (January 6, 2017), she was catapulted to the top spot of the Ohio Republican Party as its chairperson.  Hence, her appearance at the Cleveland City Club on Friday.

The pre-eminent highlight recited at the outset by her is that she is the very first female chair in Ohio Republican Party (ORP) history.

A point of emphasis on ORP website these days, is a recitation of other firsts.  It appears that the party is trying to project itself as a sponsor of minorities.  But of course we all know that the proof of such is not in the saying and in singular events but what the track record is for hoi polloi.

There was very little said on Friday to highlight that she was born on third base and accordingly is in no way a model for the masses of American women who who do not have the advantages of Jane Timken.

The "glass ceiling" is largely in place for everyday American women, Republican, Democrat, or independent.

As the father of three professionally accomplished women, I absolutely love it as women achieve one milestone after another milestone after another.  Scores more women having an opportunity to staff American leadership is long overdue.

It damages the nation that we as Americans have been way to slow to embrace more than half our national population thereby making it an untapped resource to build on and "maintain" America's greatness.

Nearly all of Trump's current cabinet posts are occupied by white men.  As is well known from FAKE news reports (sarcasm), the presidential has a highly suspect history with women and whether or not they are to be valued as a prime American resource in our quest to maintain America's greatness.

There is no doubt that we as a nation have many problems to work through.  An essential asset in doing so is to incorporate our women as full-fledged partners in the effort.

Jane Timken's unstated Friday lowlight would be that it took what some people think is a sexist president-elect to put her over-the-top in her stalemate with former chairman and Governor John Kasich confidant Matt Borges as they vied with one another for the chairpersonship in early January of this year.

Kasich before the election, in the runup to the inauguration and continuing to this very day has been a staunch anti-Trump Ohio elected Republican official.

Most of his opposition has been on the issue of medicaid expansion which the president and a sizable block of Congressional Republicans oppose.

Timken on the other hand would not be the first woman chairperson of the Ohio GOP BUT FOR Trump.

So it is evident that she owes Trump.

And his intervention is certainly a high mark for him in his relationship with women leaders.

From time-to-time, he will do cosmetic things to make it appear that he is this or that.  But in the case of his personal history with women over much of his 71 years, the president leaves a lot to be desired.

He has an overwhelming history strongly suggesting that he views women as objects with marginal worth beyond their physical attributes (see this LINK).

Timken spoke for about 15 minutes before Cleveland's civic forum on Friday.  And took audience questions and answers for about 30 minutes.

Some of the impressive parts of her presentation:

• taught by her parents "to work hard and never back down,"
• admiration for her tough-minded and purposed mother,
• high regard for her father (a lawyer) who taught her how "to make [her] case" in the context of disagreeing with him (and, by implication, those she crossed paths with in life),
• her competitiveness and willingness for what she believes in,

Some of the unimpressive parts of Jane Timken's Cleveland City Club presentation:

• a downplaying of her privileged status of being a Timken and the doors that opened for her that are not available to most Americans,
• knocking former President Barrack Obama as a "divisive," leftist political ideologue,
• blaming former Democrat governor Ted Strickland (elected in 2006) for the lost of some 350,000 jobs most of which occurred as a consequence of "The Great Recession" of 2008" which began during the administration of Republican president George W. Bush,
• suggesting that as vice president of the Stark County Republican Party in charge of candidate recruitment that she was responsible for Republicans regaining a foothold in Stark County elective office 
• [note:  the primary reason for the county treasury, the county auditor's office and control of the county commissioners' office flipping Republican was the onset in April, 2009 of a scandal in which many Stark Countians blamed Democrats for having put in office by political appointment in 1999 one Gary D. Zeigler who was cited by the Ohio State of Auditor's Office as having not placed safeguards in place so as to have prevented the theft of upwards of $3 million from the county treasury by Zeigler-appointed chief deputy treasurer Vince Frustaci],
• [note:  she fails to mention that she as candidate recruitment GOP official, the city of Canton has NO Republican elected officials and only one Republican candidate for county council in this fall's election with no candidates dating back to the the 2013 and 2011 Canton Municipal elections],
• leaving out that a primary reason Stark County likely ended up with two Republican congresspersons is that the Ohio General Assembly egregiously gerrymandered the county (in violation of the "one person, one vote" of the Constitution) in 2011 by virtue U.S. Constitution mandated reapportionment with every 10 year U.S. Census,
• (formerly, Stark County as a whole, was the key county in the pre-2011 reapportionment in the 16th Congressional District held for many years by deceased this past week Ralph Regula, a Republican)
• disturbingly suggesting that Republican right wing/Democratic left wing ideological-based political warfare is the manner in which she intends to lead the Ohio Republican Party,
• generally attributing everything positive about America/Ohio being Republican/Trump programs, policies and practices whereas everything negative comes from "organized" Democrats,
• claiming to be "neutral" ["we {Republicans} do not rig our primaries"] in the upcoming May, 2018 Republican Primary for governor,
• [note:  as noted heretofore, Timken would not be Ohio GOP chair BUT FOR Trump and moreover Timken, the Timken Company have made huge contributions to candidate Jim Renacci; what political realist really believes that Jane Timken as party chair will be neutral?],
• Does anybody doubt that if President Trump calls Timken with directives on the governor's race that she will step to his tune?
• blasting Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren as a leftist Democratic political ideologue (which I agree she is) but excusing herself as a Republican right wing ideologue and Trump loyalist to the nth degree,
• [note:  Warren, I think, is the Democrat's foremost Trump basher],
• saying that as an attorney that she is for "the rule of law," but suggesting that the special prosecutor investigation should not be happening because it hampers the agenda of "our great president" and characterizing the investigation "impliedly" as mere distraction,
• making by virtue of the highly partisan nature of her talk and her unfettered endorsement of Trump (which, of course, takes in his FAKE news attribution to major American news outlets), to show the graphic again, this statement credible, to wit:

In the Q&A session, there are two highly significant "exchanges" which tell a lot about Jane Timken as chairperson of the Ohio Republican Party:

First, this on Trump and women:

In essence, Timken gave a non-answer.

The core of her response: 

"I've had the pleasure of having met the president on an individual basis.  He's  a wonderful human being who cares a lot about his family.  I have great respect for the him.  And that's all I have to say about that."

Sounds somewhat like the newly appointed White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, during the Trump campaign, called him a political hack.  Now he loves the Donald and finds him to be a good man.

Second, this on redistricting:

Question.

"Do you and the Republican Party favor setting up a commission to redraw [congressional] district to provide more equitable division between parties in congressional districts?

Answer.

"I tend to think elections have consequence and we have a history of being able to draw congressional districts based on our [Ohio's] apportionment board.  I tend to want to keep that system unapologetically.

For anybody who wants the well-being of the nation, Ohio and our local communities the best they can be, highly partisan, kool-aid drinking politicos such as the Jane Timkens of our world are an anathema.

Common Cause of Ohio is currently involved with an effort to get Ohio voter approval of establishing a commission to redraw (2021) congressional districts under the name Fair Congressional District Redistricting."

The organization and its many civic-minded Ohio partners, successfully got overwhelming passage of a state legislative redistricting commission in 2015.  That, too, will get implemented in 2021 with the coming and going of the 2020 U.S. Census.

The SCPR asked Common Cause of Ohio to weigh-in on the Timken redistricting comments:

The response:

Catherine Turcer <CTurcer@commoncause.org>  Today at 9:37 AM
To:  Martin Olson 

Mr. Olson, 

Good morning!  I am surprised by Jane Timken's statement.  The state legislature is responsible for drawing the congressional districts, rather than the Apportionment Board.  In 2015, more than 71% of voters supported creating the bipartisan Ohio Redistricting Commission to draw state legislative district lines.  Issue 1 of 2015 was supported by both the Ohio Republican Party and the Ohio Democratic Party.   

I do agree that elections have consequences but I also believe that districts should not be artificially manipulated to favor one political party over the other.   Fair elections are the cornerstone of a robust democracy.  Computers have made gerrymandering or mapmaking for partisan advantage much easier and have created truly uncompetitive elections. 

We deserve more compact districts that keep communities together and more robust elections. Because -- as Ms. Timken's said-- elections have consequences.  These consequences should not be determined by mapmakers but by the voters. 

Thanks,
Catherine 

Jane Timken is, in fact, the Ohio GOP's first woman chairperson.

But she is not a game changer for those who believe in:

• the best interests of our country, state and local communities "trumping" the political/personal interests of a single politician and political parties; Republican or Democrat,

She is like any other true believer highly partisan politico who by her own words comes down at the end of the day of being for selfish interests over and above community interests.

No doubt about it.  Timken's Cleveland City Club appearance was more about low-lights and not so much about highlights.

For those readers have an hour to spare, here is a LINK to the entire Timken Cleveland City Club presentation including the Q&A session.

STARK COUNTIANS ANDREANI, CREIGHTON, HELD & ZUMBAR "EARLY ADOPTERS" ON DeWINE FOR GOV. CAMPAIGN

UPDATED:  10:05 AM

It appears that Stark County is "well-wired" should Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine be elected governor of our Buckeye State come November, 2018.

DeWine is the second of a group of  four prominent Ohio Republicans to announce his candidacy which he did on June 25th at an annual DeWine family ice cream social.

Stark County-connected Jim Renacci (representing the 16th congressional district including north-northeast Stark County and a spur through the middle of the county down to the Timken Company complex into the heart of Canton) announced on March 20th.

Expected to join the race soon are Lieutenant Governor Mary Taylor (who resides in the City of Green located in abutting Summit County) and former Ohio secretary of state Jon Husted.

In Renacci and DeWine you have (currently) the lowest polling candidate (Renacci) and the highest polling candidate (DeWine).

On Monday of this week (June 26th), DeWine was in Youngstown campaigning at GLI Pool Products.

And who from Stark County showed up in support of the DeWine candidacy but Stark County commissioner Janet Creighton (the regional chairperson of the campaign), Stark County treasurer Alex Zumbar (chairman of the Stark County branch of the Creighton "responsible for" region, North Canton mayor David Held and Alliance manor Alan Andreani.

The region includes: Columbiana, Carroll, Harrison, Holmes, Jefferson, Mahoning, Stark, Tuscarawas and Wayne counties.  Each county has a county specific chairperson.

Also present in Youngstown on Monday was former North Canton mayor and state representative Dave Johnson who was telling Creighton, Zumbar, Held and Andreani that he is now 80 perhaps suggesting that his days as a firebrand Republican campaigner are over.

But his colleagues at the DeWine event were not buying that line.

Creighton says that her connection to DeWine goes back to 1990 Republican gubernatorial race between George Voinovich and his running mate as lieutenant governor Mike DeWine.

As Creighton tells it, Bob Taft was the darling of the Ohio Republican Party establishment in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Voinovich was clearly the underdog in that race.

Creighton, then as Stark County recorder, herself having to fight the local Republican Party establishment in her quest to get elected recorder, was asked by the Voinovich/DeWine team to join their uphill—turned successful—fight to defeat Taft and his party insider allies.

That campaign, Creighton says, cemented her relationship with DeWine which, of course, continues to this very day.  "Loyalty" is the key for Creighton for agreeing to be a key figure in the DeWine campaign.

Creighton, who I think is the most powerful vote-getting-Republican in all of Stark County, says, she has been coveted (my word, not hers) by the Renacci, Husted and Taylor campaigns.

Consequently,  The Stark County Political Report believes that Stark County could be a Republican Party civil/political war-esque battleground as the ensuing campaigns march toward the May 8, 2018 primary election.

However, it likely will be an "underground" war inasmuch as the primary players, for public consumption, say glowing things about each other.  In the background, a political sophisticate has to believe that if it looks like Renacci has emerged as the main competitor to DeWine by early January, February, 2018, then things will get dicey in a hurry.

But the players will try to play the "let's be nice to each other" in public.

Creighton told me yesterday that she has confidence that Stark GOP chairman Jeff Matthews and Ohio GOP Jane Timken will not use their powerful party positions to advantage Renacci, whom the duo have strong, strong, strong ties to.

The Report expects Renacci's campaign to pick up momentum and be positioned come early next year to be the major challenger to the current DeWine lead.

Why would I have that expectation?

Despite Creighton's (and Zumbar's, too) confidence that the state and local party apparatus/structure will not be tilted to Renacci's advantage, I do not agree.

Again, Matthews and Timken will play a rhetorical game of fairness and impartiality.

And I do think the support will be clandestine and responsive to pressure from "on high."

Renacci undoubtedly will be the favorite of Republican president Donald J. Trump given:

• that Renacci is positioning himself as Trump II,
• that Renacci was provided a spot in the Trump presidential box at the Cleveland sited National Republican Convention last July,

Consequently, "Donald being Donald" it would be naive to think he will not "pull out all the stops" in support of the Renacci candidacy including:

• bringing the resources of the National Republican Committee (NRC) and his own personal intervention to the aid of candidate Renacci,
•  including putting enormous pressure on Ohio GOP chair Jane Timken to tilt Renacci's way even if doing so would violate a pledge Creighton says she has made to remain neutral,
• Always remember this:  Jane Timken would not be the chairperson of the Ohio Republican party BUT FOR the intervention in the party election in January, 2016

Think the president would like to have an all out loyal to Trump governor sitting in Columbus in 2020?

Trump is already thinking about 2020?

It was unprecedented  being less than six months into his first term that, last night (press camera excluded at the last hour) he held a fundraiser specifically to raise funds for his 2020 run.

The Renacci "aces in the hole" is the financial support of the Timken family (and, presumably, Ohio Republican Party chairperson Jane Timken, formerly vice president of the Stark Co. GOP) and likely Stark County GOP chair Jeff Matthews (also director of the Stark County Board of Elections) whose wife Heidi has worked in the congressional office of Renacci for a number of years.

A basic principle of political analysis in terms of whom "really" supports whom for office is "Follow the Money."

Here are the Federal Election Commission (FEC) political contribution listings for:

• Jane Timken going back to 2009/2010 when Renacci first came on the scene as a congressional candidate to challenge incumbent Democrat John Boccieri, and
• for the Timken Company (2016 only)

Other FEC records show "in toto" that numerous immediate to Jane Timken family members have contributed:

• tens of thousands of dollars,  perhaps,
• totaling up to hundreds of thousands of dollars when coupled with Timken corporate contributions going back to 2009/2010, 

to Renacci's congressional campaigns.

Renacci and the Timkens have a very tight relationship, indeed!

Readers will recall how Renacci threw a snit with those Republicans in charge of redistricting based on the 2010 U.S. census to get the Timken Company complex in the heart of Canton included in the reconstituted 16th congressional district.

To say again, Jane Timken became chairperson of the Ohio GOP because of the intervention President-elect Donald J. Trump as Ohio Republican Party central committee members convened in early January to choose a chairperson going forward.

Readers will recall that current governor John Kasich was during the campaign and ever since has been one of the few Republicans of political/office holding stature not to fall in with Trump.

The breach between Kasich and Trump provided the opening to Jane Timken(a former vice president of the Stark County Republican Party) to challenge Kasich ally and incumbent Ohio GOP chairperson Matt Borges.

Though he is way behind right now, nobody should count Renacci out.

He is one of the richest members of Congress and undoubtedly will have the financial resources to match DeWine's campaign finance warchest said to be in vicinity of $2.5 million as he opens his campaign.

Insofar as I can determine, all the Stark County players in a likely Renacci/DeWine square off as the leaders going into the May, 2018 Republican primary are supporters of the president.

Given the rocky, rocky, rocky start that Trump has had not yet six months a president, some of the players might be distancing themselves from the president as the next ten months unfold.

While DeWine is likely to be supportive of Trump, if the president runs into deeper political trouble if his polling slips significantly (let's say to about 30% of likely voters), The Report can see DeWine as the better position to separate from Trump.

For Renacci, he better hope that Trump heads in a positive polling direction and gets up in the 50% or better range nationally; for if he does not, it is hard to see how a Trump connection helps him overtake Mike DeWine.  If Trump's number continue on a southward trek, the connection could doom Renacci's run for governor.

The SCPR does not see that over the long haul that Jon Husted and Mary Taylor will be viable candidates for the Republican nomination given that she seems to be preoccupied with pressing family problems, to wit:

Husted has taken on the Hillary Clinton designation of being a Trump deplorable.  But it hard to see how he can out-Trump Jim Renacci.

Even 10 months out from the nominating election, it is easy to see that there is likely to be a battle royale between the Stark County Republican Party officialdom supporters of Mike DeWine and Jim Renacci.

One of the things that DeWine supporters will have to be wary of is "complacency" in light of one year out polls which show DeWine with a big lead.

Stark County DeWine for Governor chair Alex Zumbar (also Stark County treasurer) said that North Canton mayor David Held and former North Canton mayor Dave Johnson will be important to bring Stark in on the DeWine column in May, 2018.  However, he would not "at this time" name other DeWine supporters who will be involved in the grassroots aspect of the campaign.

I did check DeWine's Ohio secretary of state 2016 campaign finance reports to get a sense of his Stark County level of support.

Results?

Not very impressive.

One contributor from Canal Fulton, two from North Canton and a half-a-dozen, more or less, from Canton.

Which means that Creighton, Zumbar, Held and Johnson really have their work cut out for them if DeWine is to win in Stark and Creighton's area of responsibility.

If the victor (assuming it will either be DeWine or Renacci) can go on to defeat the Democratic Party nominee, Stark County wins either way the Republican Primary election turns out.

Creighton says "win or lose" she will be supporting whomever the Republican nominee for governor is coming out of the May 8, 2018 Republican Party primary election.

TRUMP II & BIKER? JIM RENACCI FOR GOVERNOR

STARK CO GOP CHAIR JEFF MATTHEWS TO BE OUT FRONT FOR RENACCI?

Right now Republican congressman Jim Renacci (Ohio's 16th congressional district which includes northeast Stark County, a spur into Canton to catch the Timken Co and part of Lake Township) thinks that it is an advantage to run as Donald J. Trump, II in his quest to succeed Trump adversary and current Republican Ohio governor.

Renacci is reportedly one the richest congresspersons in all of the United States Congress.

But like his political idol, he likes to bill himself as the common person's advocate in government.

And to plant that notion more firmly in the public mind, he has taken to donning a biker's motif as a part of his campaign presentation.

Looking to Ohio's, the 16th congressional district and Stark's recent electoral history, the Trump II theme seems to be supported by 2016 exercised voters' preference, to wit:

But with the president's proclivity to shoot himself in the "political" foot, the Trump II Renacci strategy could be absolutely the worst theme come the 2018 Republican primary election,

Even as of May, 2017 Renacci has an uphill fight to "trump" declared fellow Republican candidates as shown in the following graph:

But Renacci can be sure of one thing.

Stark County Republican chairman Jeff Matthews will be squarely in his corner in this fight as he was when Renacci had primary opponents in the 2010 election to determine which Republican was going to take on then-incumbent Democratic congressman John Boccieri.

So why is The Stark County Political Report willing to predict this early on that Stark GOP chairman Jeff Matthews will be out of the gate with Renacci for governor.

For the same reason he weighed-in his attempt to persuade Ashland, Medina and Wayne GOP chairpersons to support Renacci over Miller, Schiffer and Smith.

Matthews wife Heidi had had a cushy political job with former and long time 16th District congressman Ralph Regula and undoubted it was in his self interest and the family finances interest that he work very hard to help Renacci unseat Boccieri.

And the apparent investment by Jeff Matthews in the 2010 campaign of Jim Renacci paid off in spades for the Matthews' family financial fortunes, to wit:

Which political investment seems to have a continuing payoff.

Matthews and wife have to be totally comfortable with Renacci's decision to try to be Trump II as further indicated by his logo "Ohio First" as clearly a take off of Trump's "American First."

When many people were counting Trump out as a potential victor in the 2016 general election, the Matthews were front and center at Trumps 2016 Canton campaign rally.

The "many people" were wrong and now the nation as to deal with "Tweeter Trump."

Another Trump-phile; namely, Jane Timken, a former vice-president of the Stark County GOP and now the Trump backed to take over the top Ohio Republican Party job in a highly competitive race for the chairmanship of the Ohio Republican party, one would think, has to be squarely in Renacci's corner in the race to be the GOP nominee for governor.

Witness this June 2, 2017 tweet by Renacci (is he picking up on Trump's tweet habit?).

In any event, the SCPR for one would not count Jim Renacci out in his quest to be the Republican nominee for governor come next spring's primary election in Ohio.

Maybe, just maybe he will come roaring into Canton/Stark County on his bike for a campaign rally between now and May 8, 2018?

Let's hope.

It would be quite a show, no?