We the People of Johnson County Missouri, Monday, December 4, 2023 ⚖ VETTING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES: YES.
Hi Folks!
The following information is from an article emailed to me by Cyndia Haggard, Chair of Vernon County GOP Central Committee. As you can see the demand in Missouri for vetting candidates before they are allowed to run on a Republican ticket is HEATING UP!
I agree with the thoughts expressed in the article. The reality is that our “Super-Majority” of Republicans in Jefferson City have turned Missouri from a RED state, to a PURPLE state. HOW ON EARTH COULD THAT HAPPEN?
As the article discusses, people with Democrat thinking are being allowed to run on the Republican ticket. Currently there is nothing to disallow that. Vetting would let people who truly have conservative Republican thinking that aligns with the Republican Platform run as Republicans. Those who do not align with Republican thinking can run on any other ticket they so desire.
Take a read below. I think our Republican Party needs to vet candidates before allowing them to run. I want to see Johnson County vet our Republican candidates. To do that our Republican Central Committee would have to vote it in. To date I haven’t seen a lot of interest in doing that by our current Johnson County Republican Central Committee leaders. I may be wrong. It’s happened before. More than once.
The next 2 Johnson County Republican Central Committee meetings are:
Put these dates on your calendar, and attend! We need you!
Vetting - The Truth vs The Myths
Cyndia Haggard
This article has appeared on numerous FB sites. Feel free to share it with your own mailing lists. It's important to debunk the incorrect information being spread about what vetting is and is not. The people parroting incorrect information are either misinformed or attempting to discredit our process for their own reasons. They love to say we're taking the choice of candidates away from the voter, which isn't true. We're making sure those with an R behind their names ARE Republicans. Candidates who don't make the cut can still file as something else, and voters can still vote for them if they want to.
VETTING - THE TRUTH VS THE MYTHS
There appears to be a lot of misinformation out there on the subject of vetting candidates for office. Let's see if we can set the record straight and dispel the perpetually self-replicating myths.
The purpose of vetting is simple. The Republican Party Platform defines the values of the Republican Party. You can't join the Lions, Elks, Catholics, or any other organization without abiding by their rules, yet we elect people to office who then have control of many aspects of our lives, and we don't even ask them if they agree with our platform! We have just allowed them to pay a fee and file. We assume, we hope, they're actual Republicans. Some are, some aren't.
Our state legislature with Republican "super majorities" is a great example where many aren't. Folks all around the state are screaming for the Republican Party to do something. If we don't defend our values, what is the purpose of our party? Do we even have a party when our so-called super majorities in Jeff City can only pass two bills of importance in five months because so many "Republicans" vote with Democrats more often than the party they ran under.
So, we're vetting. But we can't just pick and choose. This is the first year out, so it's understandably going to have some hiccups. Some counties are taking the lead and will forge the path for the rest. Your county may be one of those.
Does that mean we don't trust our county elected officials? Not at all. It means we have an opportunity to set the example, along with other vetting counties, for the rest of the state. Your Recorder of Deeds likely does a great job. Your Treasurer is probably an honest person who works hard. And so on. THAT isn't the point. The point is to be objective and fair as we vet candidates for office. Each currently elected office holder who ran as a Republican CHOSE to do so when they had competition for the job. Did choosing a party then mean they would be looked at as not capable of representing both sides? Apparently not, or they'd have run as Independents. So why are we hearing from counties, mine included, who are saying their incumbents are furious over the idea they should be vetted?
If you had a child in school, and the teacher told you that your child would have to take a test weekly, but other children wouldn't, would you feel like your kid was being picked on? Sure, you would, and you'd probably be mad about it. Same with vetting. The recorder of deeds, the assessor, and many other jobs would likely be done the same regardless of party. But what about jobs like prosecuting attorney, judge, sheriff, county clerk? We've ALL seen stories on TV or in print media about counties where woke office holders in these positions won't do their jobs and crime and corruption is the result. So, for those jobs in our counties do we just vet those positions and give a pass to the rest? Do we treat them like your kid in the above example? Or do we apply the rules to all office holders equally? "All equally" is the only fair and objective way to go. It's not a reflection on any individual office holder.
So, some specifics about what we are doing.
The decision to vet in any county occurs because a majority of the committee votes in favor of it.
Vetting is a simple process. No mounds of paperwork, no hidden agendas, no secret process. It's fair and objective and takes less than an hour from start to finish.
We have a uniform approach statewide. Some counties won't and/or can't vet, some are, and Monday we start vetting at the state and federal level. We've already had several ask us for time slots including SOS Jay Ashcroft and Senator Rick Brattin.
If you go to repaccmo.com, you'll find a video from Mark McCloskey defending vetting. You'll also see videos from candidates who support the process, and more videos are coming. One of those videos is included with this post. It's from a pastor and senatorial candidate in Jackson County who supports vetting and gives good reasons why. He expects to be vetted himself in the next couple of days. He isn't offended by the process. He's proud to support it.
Every aspect of the vetting process is out in the open. There is no secret anything. The test is administered and scored by Survey Monkey. We get the score. The candidate statement has been posted on FB and is available to anyone to look at. The records we check are public. We have openly advertised that the Values Survey is based on the Missouri Republican Party Platform. No where is there the opportunity for any individual to put their thumb on the scale. Fair, objective, credible, and out in the open.
For all elected officials, the Survey and Candidate statement are ALL they have to do. The Survey takes about 20 minutes. The candidate statement is one page. While they're doing the survey, which is delivered by and scored by Survey Monkey, we check to be sure there are no criminal records, ethics violation convictions, or delinquent taxes. We don't actually believe our county elected officials have any of those, but again - fair and objective application of the rules across the board. Just like not picking on your kid, we're not picking and choosing who to vet.
Republican voters deserve to know when they look at ballot choices and see an "R" beside someone's name that the candidate's values match their own. This is NOT about who is the "best" Republican, this is simply about whether or not a candidate IS a Republican. Why wouldn't everyone running under the Republican ticket want to give voters that assurance? We are simply attempting to ensure that voters can pick the BEST Republican from among choices that ARE Republican. It isn't personal. Plus, those who don't make the cut can still file as something else, and voters can still cast a vote for them if they want to.
AGAIN…..The next 2 Johnson County Republican Central Committee meetings are:
Put these dates on your calendar, and attend! We need you!
