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To the editor:
Politically motivated letters to the editor published a few days prior to an election warrant an extra level of scrutiny, particularly when the signer of the letter professes to be "not political" nor having "no political axe to grind".
Take Ms. Sherry Kissinger's recent letter to the editor in which she makes precisely such a claim, but then proceeds to contradict herself by spewing one false and, frankly, ignorant claim after another in support of a false political narrative about the upcoming primary elections. What hogwash.
Since I am at the center of this woman's rage, allow me to address: 1) Ms. Kissinger's role in local politics; and 2) my role as a leader in the Ohio Republican Party, as follows:
1) Sherry and her husband David Kissinger are part and parcel of a small, lunatic fringe group that is obsessive in their support of Joe Blystone for governor. Never mind that it is Joe Blystone, not Dave Johnson, that is under criminal investigation for elections fraud.
The Kissingers have staged protests and have picketed Columbiana County Republican Party functions, screaming at 85-year-old attendees with bullhorn in hand.
Just this past week, they organized and staged a picket line at the Mahoning County Republican Headquarters as a protest of U S senate candidate J D Vance, who was the featured speaker that evening.
The Boardman police had to be called in to break up the physical altercation that was initiated by, egged on by and elevated into a violent scene by, you guessed it, the Kissingers. The incident remains under criminal investigation.
So let's not be swayed by any self-proclaimed notion by the Kissngers that they are merely "civic-minded" business leaders out to seek truth. They are anything but that.
2) As the duly elected Treasurer of the Ohio Republican Party, I am sworn under oath to report Party finances as they are submitted to and certified by the Ohio Secretary of State and/or the Federal Elections Commission. Every single dollar raised and spent by the state party is reported to these governmental authorities.
There has never been a single finding against me by any state or federal elections authority concerning any state or county party funds in my thirty years as a Republican official. Not one.
Furthermore, there is not a single shred of evidence that any state Party funds are "missing" or are in any fashion whatsoever "in question".
To the contrary, an audit done by a certified public accountant firm from outside the state of Ohio, just two months ago, confirms that monies falsely alleged to be "missing" are not now nor never were "missing". These findings confirm that the allegations being leveled at the party are nothing but a pack of lies.
These absurd accusations against the state party are coming from a charlatan member of the state central committee, Mr. Mark Bainbridge, who wanted former GOP state chairman Jane Timken to hire him as a paid consultant. She rightfully declined. He hasn't been right ever since.
This same tortured soul hates the governor for his failing to appoint him to the Accountancy Board of Ohio, for which he recently applied. Frankly, Mr. Bainbridge should be hauled before the state accountancy board for the patent lies and deliberately false allegations of "missing money" that he has knowingly advanced about the state party. The accountancy board does not look favorably upon former auditors using their position to lie about finances of a public entity.
As we know, Mr. Bainbridge has turned his little charade into a frivolous lawsuit at great cost to the state party. His attorney in this mockery of a suit, Mr. Scott Pullins, had his license "indefinitely suspended" by unanimous decision of the Ohio Supreme Court for "professional misconduct" back in 2010. At that time, the court established, as a condition of reinstatement, "a requirement for reasonable medical proof that he (Pullins) was mentally fit to practice law." Maybe that case needs revisited?
Mark Twain once observed that "figures don't lie, but liars figure." The battle going on at the Ohio Republican Party is nothing more than this -- outright liars that are fabricating a false narrative of "missing money" in order to seize power and control of the Republican state committee for themselves and their wacko fringe candidates. Sherry Kissinger has merely regurgitated their garbage story. And, I promise we will hear more of their lies, more of their mischaracterizations until they are eventually defeated, both, in a court of law and at the ballot box. Stay tuned.
David W. Johnson ,
Columbiana County GOP Chairman,
33rd District State Republican Committeeman
Treasurer of the Ohio Republican Party,