Ohio Republican Party Headquarters 211 S. Fifth Street Columbus, Ohio 43215 Dear GOP leaders, My wife and I are just your average citizens.  We support the Republican party, and individual candidates; occasionally with many donations of $20-50, and with our vote every time.  We vote a straight Republican ticket in every election.   We are conservatives. I was happy with the emerging state-level Republicans in Ohio, such as Ken Blackwell and Jim Petro.  Both have served Ohio as Sec of State and Attorney General very well.  I have been very happy with the efforts of the Republican leadership in the state congress over the past 2 years.  My previous state Senator Steve Stivers is a credit to the party and to the state. At the same time, there is much to be disappointed in.  Governor Taft has given Ohio a black eye with his disgraced office.   His personal behavior while in office has been questionable, and his support of conservative ideals has been lacking.  He has favored increased spending and increased taxes.  He has signed a concealed carry bill of Ohio, while working to render it worthless behind the scenes, through the Ohio State Highway Patrol.   Ohio’s two Republican Senators are two of the most liberal Republicans in the US Senate.  When the term RINO comes up, Mike DeWine is often cited as an example of such. Again, my wife and I supported President Bush strongly in both runs for President.  We sent money to his campaign and my spouse and I stood in line for 2 hours in Columbus lines to vote for him.  President Bush has pushed through tax cuts, and nominated good judges to the federal courts.  He has done an incredible job defending this country at set no-nonsense foreign policy.  He has surrounded himself with incredible cabinet members, based on competence, rather than race.  If President Bush left the White House last year, he would rank as one of my most respected Presidents.  But, in the past two years things have taken a turn for the worse.  President Bush’s alliance with illegal immigration and the party’s courting of the latino vote is the “straw that has broken the camel’s back” and has nearly driven me from the party.  Courting ILLEGALS because they are a large voting block, while giving up your principles, is not something I wish to be a part of.  Asking legitimate latinos, who share common values, to join the party is something I would support wholeheartedly.  Spending is out of control and federal regulation is increasing at an alarming pace.  The Campaign Reform bill, sposered by Sen McCain, passed by a Republican controlled Congress, and signed by President Bush, is an affront to anyone who has read the Constitution, and has even a passing interest in what the Founding Fathers left us in the form of a government and principles. Where will the moderation of the Republican party take this nation?  I am fairly active on various political websites, and the common theme I run across is: “I’m through with the Republican Party” followed closely by “Don’t do that… Hillary will get elected!” which is usually followed by “If that’s what it takes to shake up the Republican party, then that’s what I’m going to do”. With names like McCain and Guiliani and Pataki on the short-list for Presidential candidates, I wouldn’t likely vote for the office President, nor would my wife.  I would have to hope that Republicans would hold the House, and hope that a President Hillary Clinton would shake the Republican Party back to its core values.  There was a time when a man like Ronald Reagan could get up on stage and talk about the things he believed in, and the nation would take note and be excited to vote for him.  It was that way with President Bush in 2000.  I hope it will be that way again in 2008 or I will be withholding some of my votes. Respectfully, Leisure_Shoot

Thoughts?  What could I add or change?
I plan to send this to National and State level contacts as I find them on the Net.
Feel free to use any part of this yourself.

I definitely have some concerns about the state of the Republican party.  President Bush has done some things that I disagree with, particularly his spending policies.  Part of that has been the war and natural disasters of course, but still.  And in the dictionary under RINO there SHOULD be a picture of Senator DeWine.  He fits the bill perfectly.  But as you note there is a lot of good still in the party to be proud of.  The economy is doing good, despite what you may hear and the war and natural disasters mentioned above.  

I do wonder, however, about some of those "my friends and I are conservatives and won't vote for the Republicans" e-mails.  Anyone could be sending those out trying to influence people.  

I agree and will be doing something similar.  Send it to Bob Bennett here in Ohio...