In-depth coverage
The Middletown Journal/Hamilton JournalNews reviewed and analyzed seven years worth of financial records filed by the Butler County Republican Party with the Butler County Board of Elections and the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office to bring you this story. We are the only local news source dedicated to in-depth coverage of county government and politics.
The Butler County Republican Party may not be “flat broke” as county Democrats allege, but the GOP’s own financial records show the party’s cash on hand is at its lowest level in years and high-dollar contributions are down considerably.
A Middletown Journal/Hamilton JournalNews analysis of financial records reported to the Butler County Board of Elections and the Ohio Secretary of State show the county GOP had a total of $9,865 in its executive account last month, the main account the party uses to pay bills. The GOP also had another $585 in a separate bank account occasionally used for operational costs.
Those totals are significantly less than what the party typically reports, records show. The last time the party posted such low numbers, it had just spend more than $200,000 during the 2008 presidential election.
The Republican Party’s financial challenges came to light last week after county Democrats alleged in a news release that the GOP was being “forced out” out of its offices at the Bridgewater Falls shopping center in Fairfield Twp. for nonpayment of rent — a claim GOP leaders and their landlord have both refuted.
The Butler County Republican Party has had a stranglehold on county politics for decades and currently occupies all but one countywide office. The party has traditionally brought in thousands of dollars in contributions annually to aid Republican candidate campaigns and has played a key role in influencing many statewide ballot issues and even a few presidential elections.
Republican Party Chairman Dave Kern evaded questions Monday about the GOP’s operations, saying simply that the party was “looking at all options” to manage its expenses “as every American family does.” He attributed the low funds to 2013 being an off-year election cycle.
Still, an analysis of the party’s financial data shows the GOP had rebounded around this same time in 2009, an election off-year, when it reported $187,625 in contributions by October of that year. The party had nearly $33,000 cash sitting in the bank at that time.
Fast forward four years, and the party had collected $65,400 by the beginning of July. More than half of that money was raised during a fundraising event at the Oscar Event Center in Fairfield earlier this year.
Courtney Combs, former county commissioner and state representative, said the $2,700 monthly rent the county GOP is paying for space at Bridgewater Falls shopping center is too high.The GOP has made more than $110,000 in rent payments since it moved to the shopping center in January 2010. The party moved from its former headquarters on Ohio 4 in Fairfield Twp. because the $4,000 a month mortgage payment was too high.
The party also makes monthly payments of roughly $480 on a scanner and printer lease.
“A lot of people were disheartened by going to Bridgewater and paying $2,700 a month,” Combs said. “We didn’t need it. We could have went to a lot of other places for half of that.”
Other county Republicans say the GOP’s financial straits are the product of a “fractured” party that has lost its direction.
“We have a lot of well-intentioned folks, but we’ve lost the vision,” said Butler County Commissioner Cindy Carpenter. “At the top of our party leadership, you almost see the shift from a decade ago when local government was the focus. Now the focus is on federal issues.”
Several GOP committee leaders contacted by this newspaper refused to comment for this story under the directive of Kern. Butler County Treasurer Nancy Nix, who also declined comment, said Monday she plans to leave her role as the party’s treasurer as soon as Kern can find a replacement.
David Spurrier, a spokesman for the Butler County Democratic Party, said Monday the Democrats stand by the allegations they made in their news release. Spurrier said with the $9,800 of cash the GOP has on hand, “it’s not a big stretch to say that they’re going to have some problems paying (their) bills.”
“(The GOP is) not moving out yet, but will be moving out of their office because they are flat broke,” Spurrier said. “That’s coming from people inside the Republican Party who have been talking to our people.”
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