Kids in the Hall

My political learning curve continues.  A few weeks back the three Pachyderm organizations in this area got together for a big dinner in Eureka.  They are the St. Charles County, St. Louis County, and Lewis and Clark Pachyderms, which for those who are not aware are private organizations of Republicans.  There are two separate groups in St. Charles County, and apparently they split somewhat along ideological lines.

It was an interesting evening, with US Reps Blaine Luetkemeyer and Ann Wagner speaking, as well as Tom Dempsey and Tim Jones and John Diehl who lead the Missouri House and Senate.  Most of the local politicians running for office in St. Louis and St. Charles County were there, but not all.

For example Vicki Schneider, who is running for State Senator, did not attend.  You may recall she also did not show up for the candidate debate for that office hosted by the Lewis and Clark Pachyderms.  Maybe I am missing something there.  She seems to be avoiding Republicans.

I read an article a couple of months back about the St. Charles County Republican Central Committee, where it was alleged by a local Republican “pundit” that there were some shady goings on, with money being transferred to different accounts in private session.  I had no idea if that was in fact the case or if it was just some internal grumbling, so I decided to attend the next meeting of the SCRCC and see for myself.

The meetings are held in downtown St Charles in the same building where you get your personal property tax receipts, on the second Thursday of each month at 7:30 pm.  And as you might expect, they are pretty boring.  My first meeting was the one in June, the meeting right after the alleged private session goings-on.  It seemed as though all of the committee members were in attendance, which I was told is not usually the case.

I have gotten to know a number of the folks on the committee, and I can tell you there are some good people there.  There were also some people that I had not run across before.  I do not want to name everyone on the committee but the chairman is Jon Bennett.  There seems to be some difference of opinion as to his leadership, and I began to understand that about half the folks are happy with him and about half are not.  Apparently the blogger in question was in the latter group.

After just a few minutes filled with an opening prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance and reading of the minutes from the last meeting and such, Chairman Bennett asked for a motion to adjourn into private session.  Apparently they wanted to talk about what happened last time in private.  The few visitors that were there with me had to step into the hall, and that is where we stayed for the next 40 minutes or so.

I could not tell what they were saying but I will say I heard Joe Brazil’s voice rising, and there was a passionate and vigorous discourse going on.  Since I have been excluded from the conversation, I will tell you the unofficial rumor is that they supposedly transferred all of their money to a private account of some kind to protect it should they be sued, which I suppose was a concern for some reason.  The opposition thought it was a move to gain private control of the funds without having to go through the committee.  I honestly have no idea what the truth is.

During my time in the hall I met a couple of folks.  One was the head of the St. Charles County Pachyderms.  I asked him why there were two groups in the same county, and he indicated that since his group meets every Friday at noon it is seen by some as a “luncheon club”.  He obviously did not agree with that assessment.  We discussed the private meeting and again there is something of a split on the committee, with one faction being led by Jon Bennett and another group of folks wanting to bring change and different ideas.  They brought us back in just in time to quickly discuss some radio marketing and then close the meeting. 

A week or so ago there was another post by the same blogger, discussing the closed sessions and secrecy.  Jon Bennett posted his frustration on Facebook, along with his claim that people just don’t understand what is happening.  He wondered aloud why people would believe a “no-name blogger” instead of finding out the truth for themselves.  I had to reply to Jon that I had tried to do exactly that, but since I was not allowed in the private session there was no way for me to learn the truth.

Jon asked if I would be attending the July meeting and I told him I would.  He invited me to come and talk about it there.  He says he is an open book.  I certainly am after the truth, and so once again I made it to downtown St. Charles on the second Thursday in July at 7:30 and I sat in the back of the room along with about five other folks.  Once again there was an opening prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance and some formalities like reading a thank you note and approving money to pay attorneys.

And once again Jon Bennett called for a private session and sent us out into the hall.  Mind you, we are talking about a small number of us who took the time to show up at this meeting and see for ourselves what is happening.  Understand that the folks in the back of the room were all known to the committee.  Myself and Tony and Steve and Dana and Dave and a young man I had not met before who introduced himself only as Matt, from the Missouri Republican Party.

We filed out into the hall and they closed the door.  And so, like kids in the hall always do, we started talking about the teacher and the rest of the class and stuff like that.  Because I am me I started a discussion about issues that Republicans argue.  My views are of course fiscally conservative and libertarian and capitalist and small government.  I don’t like NSA spying and I think the GOP needs to move away from being pro-big business and toward being pro-free markets.

Matt engaged with us.  He is an articulate and intelligent young man, and as it turns out he is Matt Wills, the Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party.  Here, in the hall, with the rest of us.  Matt and I disagreed on a number of things, the NSA being one, and support of business being another.  He did say that he and Ed Martin disagree on a number of issues as well.  Ed is the Chairman of the Missouri Republican Party and apparently he is not a fan of the NSA spying either.  We discussed the idea that in any “big tent” there will be disagreements on issues, and that as long as we agree on 80% of things we need to stick together.

We discussed Ed Martin’s recent call for a GOP investigation into the recent fiasco in Mississippi where it appears Republicans were actively courting Democrat voters in the Republican primary and using racism to negatively paint one candidate.  I agree with Ed Martin.  I worry about Missouri’s open primary and whether similar tactics could be used here. 

It was a good discussion.  I was happy to hear Tony Lovasco, who is running for St. Charles County Council, support individual liberty and free markets and limited government.  I later discussed townships and precincts and neighborhoods with Matt.  There are some townships where they have meetings and they are organized into precincts and Matt said he would like to see involvement at the neighborhood level, but that they cannot make that happen from the state level.  I agree with Matt.  We do need to have involvement at the most local level possible, but it has to happen organically, at the local grass-roots level.  It cannot be driven from top-down. 

Steve tired of what he termed “Jon Bennett’s theatrics” and he left.  We were eventually let back in, but it was just about time that we had to be out of the room.  There was a short discussion of the August reorganization and they adjourned.   I will take responsibility for not taking the time to introduce myself to Mr. Bennett, but I admit to being a little irritated that I came back to find out the truth only to be shoved out in the hall for 40 minutes once again.  On the other hand, we may have had the more interesting and fruitful discussion.

We MUST do better.  As I said before there are good people on that committee who are trying to bring about change and improvement.  They give up their time and are working hard because they love their country and their state and their neighborhood.  We need to have the discussions like the one in the hall.  We need to get off the couch, go to the meetings, and then go to the polls.  We need to put out yard signs and introduce ourselves to our neighborhoods.

On Saturday there was a Freedom Talks event in Washington, Missouri where a lot of good folks came out to discuss the various amendments on the Missouri ballot this August.  Again there was vigorous discussion and passion and love of state and country.  I will save the specifics for another time but one of the participants pointed out that it starts with the school board and county council and your local elected officials.

We cannot vote every four years for US President and Senators and think that is enough.  Change does not come from Washington DC it comes from you and me getting up off the couch and getting involved locally.  Turn off the television and go talk to your neighbors.