Ryder Fires Back

In his letter of Sept. 17, Mr. Lou Mucci misstated the facts regarding his tenure as Republican Party chairman and the 18 months since he has been gone.

When the change in the party was made, the treasury had a balance of $2,100, down from $12,000 when Mr. Mucci took office. The party had little money to pay bills and had to raise funds immediately just to survive. At the end of the year, 2008, the balance was $7,800 after we had spent $10,000 on a countywide mailing for our county candidates.

We had no headquarters that anyone could find when Mucci left, except some space on the second floor of a trucking company, that one of our members was kind enough to let us use. Now we have a visible headquarters on South Street in Chardon.

The GOP Web site, under Mr. Mucci's watch, was inoperable, inaccurate and out of date, listing the previous chairman from four years earlier. It is now up, running and active.

Mr. Mucci left only 46 Republican precinct committeemen out of 96 precincts, less than 50 percent of the precincts filled in a county that voted 57 percent for McCain in 2008. We have increased the number of precinct committeemen to more than 60, and will have a candidate for every precinct in the 2010 primary.

The Geauga County Republican Party spent NO MONEY from its treasury on the John McCain campaign, and my wife has been paid NO MONEY from the Geauga County GOP treasury for staffing the headquarters, contrary to Mucci's statements. All of our volunteers work without compensation of any kind from the Geauga GOP except for reimbursement of out-of pocket expenses. Those always have detailed receipts.

The McCain campaign wanted us to concentrate our efforts on making thousands of phone calls seven days a week. The only volunteers we turned away were those who would not make phone calls. When the headquarters served as McCain headquarters, his campaign paid all expenses. Mr. Mucci paid monthly salaries to get people to work at the old headquarters and to serve as "event coordinators," all of which is now done by enthusiastic volunteers at no cost to the party.

As for effectiveness, we were able to pick up another county office, while retaining all the county offices except sheriff. In a presidential election year in which many traditional Republican counties went Democratic, Geauga remained a strong Republican county, with 57 percent of the vote being cast for John McCain.

In 18 months, we have rejuvenated the Geauga GOP and are on the path to restore it to the prominent place it once held in the county before Mr. Mucci's tenure. Many of the present party officers served with Mr. Mucci. We have welcomed all Republicans who wish to participate in a party that is open to all those who believe in individual freedom, and small and honest government.

Edward M. Ryder

Chairman

Geauga County Republican Party