LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: DISGRUNTLED LOCAL REPUBLICANS SPEAK OUT ABOUT DISCRIMINATORY ACTIONS OF THE VANDERBURGH COUNTY GOP LEADERSHIP
JUNE 10, 2024
LETTER ONE
I am new to the Republican Party. It is shocking how things are being handled as far as elected and certified officials in Vanderburgh County in the May 7th, 2024 Primary.
Michael Daugherty and Kenneth Colbert were chosen fairly by the people in this election and now they are being put before a kangaroo court to take them out of 2 separate offices.
I don’t understand how this can happen. Makes no sense to remove from office 2 very hard and diligent working people duly elected from office. Both helped new candidates acclimate to the election process and brought new people into the Republican Party. Both care deeply about the Republican party and the people of Vanderburgh County.
I pray that all involved in this decision would examine their hearts and their motives for removing these 2 duly elected and certified officials, and realize you will be held accountable for your actions. I don’t see how being able to speak for 1 minute is fair in anyone’s eyes.
The hearings on Monday, June 4th for 3 precinct committeemen were very unfair as well. Being allowed 3 minutes to speak in a 45-minute hearing is outrageous.
These officials, PCs, and State Delegates have rights, given by the Constitution to speak freely, Seems those in charge of this hearing have violated those rights, and the hearing on June 4th, 2024. I am ashamed of the actions of those in charge of these hearings.
I pray that none of you sleep until you reveal the truth to “We The People”.
SINCERELY,
Tracy Kissel PC
SECOND LETTER
I and many of my Conservative friends in CenterTownship in Vanderburgh County voted for Michael Daugherty and Ken Colbert to be our chosen delegates to the IN GOP Convention. We voted for them because they use their 1st Amendment rights to stand up and be a voice for our shared values when our local leadership has gone astray.
They both were certified as our delegate representatives. If you now stop them from being our delegates, you are disenfranchising our many votes for them.
I have been a PC, and past delegate, till Duckworth manipulated our township and # of delegates allowed per chosen area, and I did not make the cut this last primary, even though I had twice the votes as 2 years ago. I come to all the few meetings he has had, I pay the Country Club price to attend the banquets, and I work our GOP booth at our Fall Festival.
Please do NOT disenfranchise my votes and those of others. I might leave the party, even if they don’t CANCEL me like they have Michael and Ken.
It may be within the party “rules” to do what they have done, but it is still WRONG, and disloyal to other Republicans.
This behavior is nothing better than what the corrupt Democrat Lawfare is doing to Trump.
This behavior is nothing better than what the corrupt Democrat Lawfare is doing to Trump.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Molloy
THIRD LETTER
What in the heck is happening to the GOP in Southern Indiana? I have heard the local GOP leadership is trying to remove PCs & delegates duly elected by voters in Vanderburgh County/ Center township. Why is the will of the voters being undermined by the local corrupt GOP leadership? This should not be allowed to happen and should be stopped.
Clara Featherstone,
FOURTH LETTER
I am 65 years old and have voted Republican since I first became eligible to vote. I began losing faith in the Republican Party after the November 2020 election, and nothing I have seen from the GOP since has restored my faith.
The recent antics by Mr Duckworth to disenfranchise the people who voted for Michael Daugherty, Ken Colbert, and one other candidate for delegate utterly disgust me. What is it going to take for the Republican Party to represent its voters?!? The actions of Mr Duckworth cannot stand.
Thank you.
ANON
FIFTH LETTER
We are extremely distressed that the state GOP is attempting to remove duly elected and certified Delegates to the State Convention, Mike Daugherty and Ken Colbert. By doing so, the party is nullifying the votes of the men’s constituents.
If the people’s votes don’t count, why do we vote? Why are the people denied the right to choose who represents us? Who gives the party the right to overthrow the votes of the people to select their own choices to fill those seats?
Marie Elaine Freeman
FOOTNOTES:
THE CITY-COUNTY OBSERVER POSTED THE ABOVE LETTERS WITHOUT BIAS OR EDITING.
WE HAVE BEEN TOLD BY SEVERAL RELIABLE SOURCES WITHIN THE LOCAL GOP THAT several PARTY LOYALISTS may not be VOTING FOR ANY GENERAL ELECTION CANDIDATE THAT OPENLY SUPPORTED MIKE DUCKWORTH’s ILL-ADVISED SANCTIONS AGAINST MICHAEL DAUGHERTY, KEN COLBERT and CHERYL BATTIEGER-SMITH.
.
These calls to wake-the-hell up, that the GOP has been taken over by Trump wanna-be Fascist-style types?
(“We are in charge. Votes do no matter in the Nazi Party.”)
They were alarmist? Crazy?
NO. THEY WERE NOT. This is happening right in front of you. Voters are supposed to have rights.
The ancient Greeks created democracy, to overthrow fascist rulers. (They also created those columns you see surrounding President Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.) The United States is directly founded on the principles of democracy, a gift from them, to all of us.
What Pericles said then? He could just as easily been saying it about Evansville:
“Our city is called a democracy because it is governed by the many, not the few. In the realm of private disputes everyone is equal before the law, but when it is a matter of public honors each man is preferred not on the basis of his class, but of his vote and his merit. No one, moreover, if he has it in him to do some good for the city, is barred because of poverty or humble origins.”
WAKE UP! The new GOP is lawless and a mafia-style machine interested in preserving it’s own power. It is happening RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. Voters? Bah!
Mike Duckworth is single handedly destroying the Republican Party in Vanderburgh county, and his plan started with losing ALL elections in 2023. The uni-party plan is going well for him. Him and Cheryl Schultz are PIC’s.
It is time for Mr. Duckworth to be replaced as Vanderburgh County Republican Chair. Whatever use he has been to the Party, his usefulness is now a liability. Good potential candidates abound. First look should be to Connie Robinson as Chair and Jonathan Weinzapfel, as Vice Chair. These patriots gave us 12 years of Mayor Winnecke.