You might have heard the fantastic Liberty Township Trustee Todd Minniear on 55 KRC with Brian Thomas talking about the overwhelming vote from the Butler County Central Committee to censor 22 Republican representatives for working with Democrats to elect a much more moderate Speaker of the House, which in many ways was political sabotage. As it turned out, the BCCC voted to censor those Republicans by a tremendous margin, which joins many other central committees across the state and will help start the path of removing those representatives from office. The next time they want to run, this censorship will make it more difficult for them to seek office. And this is how it has to be in these RINO hunting days where Democrats simply put an “R” next to their name and misrepresent themselves to the public who thinks they are voting for Republicans. I’ll put that radio interview here for everyone to listen to again because it’s an important political step and shows outstanding leadership on behalf of Todd.
Additionally, I am including the letter I read in my own video podcast on the matter, which Todd Minniear sent to the Butler County Central Committee ahead of their meeting to vote on behalf of censor, laying out the arguments. It was a windy day and a tough thing to read, so I also include it here as an example of how good government looks and taking a bold stand in favor of a position and sticking with it. It is wonderful to see area Republicans standing on integrity, but even better, it’s great to see a Butler County politician, especially in Liberty Township, Ohio, showing such leadership when it would be easier just to keep his head down and hope to get an invite to the latest wine tasting ceremony and be a popular guy with the locals. It’s much better to express courage, judgment, and integrity, which benefits our community more than just another baby-kisser in ways that are measured best when leadership is sought and appreciated.
To: Butler County Central Committee Representatives
From: Todd Minniear – Liberty Township Trustee and Liberty 21 Central Committeeman
I am writing to encourage you to vote yes this Thursday to censure 22 Republican representatives who voted in favor of Speaker Jason Stephens, and to commend Representatives Creech, Gross, and Hall for voting to support the Republican caucus nominee Derek Merrin.
I am a novice in politics. Embarrassingly, I didn’t get serious about protecting our conservative values until Governor DeWine violated my constitutional property rights by shutting down my business during Covid. In response, I sued the Governor and the Ohio Department of Health/Amy Acton. My suit was successful in enabling my business to open fully and saved many businesses across OH.
The Covid attack strategy also highlighted the fact that the number 1 job of ALL levels of government is to protect our freedom. This greater awareness inspired me to run for Liberty Township Trustee in November of 2021. Thanks to hard-working conservative campaign supporters (several of them on BC Central Committee) I was elected.
I share that background as context for why I am motivated to send you this note today. As you know, we need our Republican representatives to protect our lives and life by moving conservative values forward and fighting against Democrats who continue to move further Left.
The 22 out of 67 House Republicans who partnered with all 32 House Democrats to elect the speaker preferred by Democrats betrayed the conservative Republicans of Ohio, severed the Republican supermajority, and most certainly made deals with the Democrats that will greatly limit the fantastic opportunity we had to move conservative legislation forward.
Thanks to the Butler County Republican Women’s Club, I had a chance to sit in on their last meeting where House Representatives Carruthers, Creech, Gross, and Hall answered questions on this topic.
Here are the headlines driving my support to censure.
· The Republicans went into caucus and agreed to vote to select a new speaker. There were several House Representatives in the mix and Derek Merrin won. Merrin should have received all Republican votes and been the new speaker. However, in a shocking move, 22 Republicans partnered with all Democrats to elect Stephens. When two of our Butler County representatives were asked at the Women’s Club meeting if this was “dishonest on the part of the 22” they said “yes” – the agreement was to unite to elect Merrin, but they reneged. You can see how this has divided our party.
· It is clear, and our Butler County representatives confirmed, Merrin is significantly more conservative than Stephens who was elected by the Democrats and the 22. Having a less conservative speaker, one the Democrats supported, means certain conservative agendas will not move forward.
· Stephens understands he will need these Democrat votes again to be reelected two years from now. He must stifle the conservative agenda to earn the Democrat votes.
· Why do you think all 32 Democrats voted for Stephens? The specific deals made with the Democrats will become known. Three of our four Butler County Representatives said, “deals are always made.”
· The State Central Committee properly censured the 22 and the last list I saw showed ~20 other counties in Ohio censured, I believe Warren County’s Central Committee had a unanimous 100% vote to censure. Butler County should be known as one of these leading conservative counties.
· The vote for speaker is not a piece of legislation where reasonable minds can vote differently. It was mission-critical for our party to be united and put a conservative speaker in place. The 22 wanted a more moderate speaker and they sacrificed the strength of our supermajority, literally handing power to the Democrats to get their moderate speaker.
· Most importantly we must send a formal message to 1) the 22, that they made a tremendous error, 2) the 45 Republicans who stood for the party, including Rodney Creech, Jennifer Gross, and Thomas Hall that we commend them, and 3) any future representative, that they must stay true to the conservative principles of the party and don’t ever make this same mistake.
I have great respect for the Butler County Central Committee. We are one of the few political bodies that consistently stand and vote based on conservative principles – principles over all else.
Todd Minniear – Liberty Township Trustee
Many people don’t know that Todd was one of the most courageous people when it counted most who sued the State of Ohio and the DeWine administration for the Covid lockdowns. He was successful and was able to reopen his business in the heat of Amy Acton, the Health Director at the time, trying to shut down all businesses on the latest CDC policy of mass social distancing as a means of treating Covid 19 which was being spread from China to mass populations to harm them, likely purposefully, during an election year to implement the World Economic Forum Great Reset. I’ve read enough about the situation to see that the evidence for such statements is more than abundant. But at the time, it wasn’t so clear, and it took a lot of guts for Minniear to climb out on a limb like that, challenge the DeWine administration in court, and win. But that should be a lesson to all others. If you stand by the Constitution, you will find that our entire court system is built around it, and you will win most of your court challenges. That is the case with Lakota schools. That is the case with Covid restrictions. That is the case overall of Free Speech cases such as the one recently where a magistrate won a judgment against a Butler County Judge, which will be a topic for another article all its own. The Constitution works, and it is great to see people in politics who understand that basic premise. But it takes leadership and courage to stand behind law and order sometimes, and under tremendous pressure, Todd Minniear has done so and continues to. His leadership was evident in the Central Committee vote and continues to express itself in ways that greatly benefit the residents of Butler County’s Liberty Township residents. I wish there were more like Todd Minniear out there. But I’m happy to see that there is just one.
Rich Hoffman
The Gunfighter's Guide: 