Oh, oh, looks like the local Republican Party has a little leadership problem.
Journalists can be a pain, I know. Always asking the most annoying questions possible and homing in on whatever seems most like a problem. Believe me, it’s no less so in the office.
But if Summit County Republican Party Chair Melanie Monestere thinks she has an issue with Park Record staff writer Jay Hamburger reporting straight up in March on the party’s voting snafus statewide, what about her own party members irked at the same thing, writing to the editor, calling, talking on and off the record with that dreadful press?
Hamburger only bore witness to the primary, after all, quoting Republicans at the event at Ecker Hill Middle School who were trying to vote amid a bit of chaos with voting machines and the party’s decision to have members vote in person this time. He also witnessed that attendance was great, though apparently only 9% of registered Republicans statewide cast votes.
It was his fault the Republican faithful themselves were frustrated that night? Wouldn’t the party leadership have a bit more to do with that frustration than some reporter standing around with a notebook?
If you can’t do something right, try to make sure no one else knows — is that it? Makes a certain amount of sense, I guess. But is that really the face of the local Republican Party, ducking a basic responsibility? Don’t Republicans pride themselves on being accountable?
Barring the press last week from doing its work at something as presumably public as candidates seeking office was digging the hole deeper in a blue county where Republicans must reach across divides to convince voters they might really have a better way.
And the local GOP leadership couldn’t even be competent at that. Only Toria Barnhart was stopped and a production made about the press being banned except for some alt right tweeter covering the event for an account with 40 followers, which sounds less like a journalist than a wannabe influencer.
The rest of the local news media streamed right past. Only Barnhart identified herself up front and sought help (hah!) lining up interviews with candidates, mistaking local party leaders for honorable and honest brokers. What a sucker, right?
All the local and statewide news entities covered the hiccups in March the same way. That is, accurately. Hamburger did nothing unusual or untoward in his work covering what happened.
The delays, the confusion, the lines weren’t hard to see. Rankled Republicans who tried to vote weren’t hard to hear.
The state chair of the party, Rob Axson, had better sense than to dodge reporters and fail to return simple phone calls and emails ever since.
“I want to thank all the candidates who participated, our dedicated organizers and volunteers, and especially the caucus-goers, even when dealing with long lines and some hiccups to the check-in process in some locations,” he told The Salt Lake Tribune last month.
It’s not that hard, see? Too bad word didn’t trickle to the head of the Summit County branch of the party, where presumably the party hopes to make inroads with the community at large.
The local party chairwoman refusing to answer questions and then looking for easy scapegoats doesn’t reflect much leadership, sorry. Under pressure is exactly when to step up and be accountable, I’d think, scary as that might be.
The message here is that Monestere wasn’t up to the moment. Instead of modeling the higher values of her party, she showed a lack of character and did a disservice to her candidates. How else to interpret this behavior from the face of the local party? Did she not read her job description?
She also gave Barnhart the far more interesting, revealing story about the GOP leadership, at least in Summit County, than we’d get from the usual rah-rah elevator speeches for the partisan choir at these events. Nothing wrong with those. They are bonding moments for the party faithful, for Democrats as well as Republicans.
I had hoped the Summit County Republicans would be as sharp and solid as Aspen’s organization. Like here, Aspen’s GOP has no prayer of winning local elections, but they persevere, help the state cause, and are a very viable, open organization, way better than the Democrats there who became lost in their own rhetoric.
I was a huge fan of the local Republicans in my time there. Their leaders always returned calls promptly, and they had plenty to say when they did, smart enough to never lose their opportunity to make their point.
But I’m also mindful of the opposite at the local level. In Grass Valley/Nevada City, California, we had a contentious county clerk primary in spring 2022 for the office that runs local elections.
A racist, lying flier against the Democratic candidate showed up in mailboxes throughout the county, a mysterious PAC taking credit. Her ethnicity is Filipina, and the folks responsible for the flier seemed to think playing that up as darkly as possible would be some sort of advantage, along with lying about her positions since the truth apparently wouldn’t do.
Naturally, one of our dreadful journalists assigned to the task found the members and donors of that PAC. Key members turned out to be the officers of the local Republican Party. I mean chair, treasurer, other leaders.
The Republican candidate was crushed. I have no idea if reporting on who exactly was behind that dirty trick made a difference, but in a rural county where nearly 40% of the affiliated voters are Republican, more voted for the Democrat. This in a area that routinely elects Republicans to their version of the county council.
Can’t say I minded being banned from their meetings after that.
Don Rogers is the editor of The Park Record. He can be reached at[email protected] or (970) 376-0745.