Tag: Butler County Republican Party

Good Government Is Not Revenge:  Jonathan Edwards, Sheriff Richard Jones, and the Butler County Republican Party

For me, the standard is Jonathan Edwards on human government. The new Jonathan Edwards Study Bible arrived in August of 2026. I opened it on a hot afternoon after riding roller coasters at Kings Island with two of my grandchildren. That is not a cute detail. That is the point. Good government is supposed to protect ordinary life — grandchildren, county fairs, Sunday school, a sheriff who still thinks Butler County can look a little like Mayberry and a little like a serious modern county at the same time.

If Yale and Princeton were like they were during Jonathan Edwards’s time, I would likely have several PhDs by now, but over time, they have turned into globalist institutions, which I found repulsive when I was of college age.  They have turned into anti-American insurgent places that ruin the minds of young people.  But, Yale has preserved Edwards’s papers. The Study Bible puts his notes, essays, Resolutions, and miscellanies system next to the New King James text.[1][2] Everybody in this party who claims to care about order, virtue, and limited government should own a copy and actually read it. I am a small-government kind of person. I was Tea Party. I was Reform Party in the 1990s. I was talking about Donald Trump in 1999 when he was circling the Reform Party nomination against Pat Buchanan.[3] I have been in human communication and local politics for thirty years. I know what an intramural fight looks like. I also know what it costs voters.

What Jonathan Edwards Meant by Human Government

Good government as a moral order, not a branding exercise

Edwards believed that good government belongs to the highest moral order of a proper civilization.[4] I agree with him. That does not make me a big-government conservative. It makes me a person who thinks the point of the smaller government we do have is to be good — competent, restrained, honest, and aimed at the public good, not at the vanity of the people holding powerful positions.

You do not get into government to make a name for yourself. You get into government so that people have representatives. You want those representatives to be as good as possible. There is only one legitimate motivation: to make the thing good in the Edwards sense — an earthly office that still answers to a moral law it did not invent.

“The enjoyment of [God] is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied.”

— Jonathan Edwards, as featured in The Jonathan Edwards Study Bible (Thomas Nelson, 2026)

That sentence is about God. It is also a warning about politics. If your happiness is a title on a sample ballot, a headline, or the humiliation of a rival, you are already in the wrong temple. The party slate card exists so voters can find good candidates. It does not exist so that somebody can settle a score.

Romans 13 is not a revenge verse

Edwards read civil authority inside God’s moral government of the world.[5] Magistrates exist. They are not priests. They are not avengers of private grudges. They are supposed to keep the peace, punish actual wrongdoing, and leave room for the rest of life — family, work, church, property — to go on.

That is why I keep saying the same sentence to people who want to turn the Butler County Republican Party into a revenge shop: you do not do politics for revenge. You do not look to even scores even if you were bullied. You do not use the power of government, or the machinery of a party, to bully everybody else. If you cannot serve voters, you are not in it for the right reasons.

Why This Bible Arrived on Time

Kings Island, two grandchildren, and page 1176

I had a rare day with two of my grandchildren at Kings Island, late in the summer season. We rode the big coasters. It got hot. We came home for lunch and a cool-down. The box had been dropped at the house. I knew what it was. I sat down with that Bible for an hour while the kids recovered, and then we went back to the park to swim.

People can laugh at a grown man getting quiet over a study Bible. Fine. I have spent decades looking for a single object that holds theology, philosophy, and a usable picture of public life in one binding. This one does. There is an essay on human government that I keep pointing people to — in my copy it sits around page 1176 — and just over the next page there is another piece on the means of grace. The book is full of that mixture: doctrine with a spine, and a vision of what a people owe each other when they try to govern.

Edwards was thrown out of his own church

Edwards served the Northampton church for twenty-three years. He is the man of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”[6] By 1750 a majority of the congregation voted him out. He preached a farewell sermon and left.[7][8] He went to Stockbridge to teach and minister among Native Americans, a smaller work, after a public humiliation. Later he was respected enough to become president of the College of New Jersey — Princeton — and then he died. Yale keeps the papers. Princeton had the office. The church that made him famous also removed him.

He was not removed because he had become a thief. He was removed because he was more exacting than the politics of the room would bear. That is a lesson with teeth. Sometimes the righteous thing is to stay and fight. Sometimes the righteous thing is to step out of an equation you can no longer serve well, because the people have decided they do not want you. The question is never “What feeds my name?” The question is “What actually produces good government for the people in front of us?”

I Have Zero Tolerance for Bullies

I can already hear it: then why do you support Sheriff Jones? People call him rough. Some people call him a bully.

I have had no tolerance for bullies my entire life. I have gotten into fights over people being picked on, often. I do not care if the target is a man or a woman, big or small. I do not care which party the bully belongs to. I have no patience for personality types who use an office to get revenge on rivals.

That standard cuts in every direction. It cuts against Democrats who treat government as a punishment engine. It cuts against Republicans who treat a county central committee like a private army. It cuts against anyone who thinks the point of winning is to make the other guy miserable.

Sheriff Jones and I have not always been the best of friends. I still want him in the party. Those two sentences can both be true if you believe, with Edwards, that the office is larger than the grudge.

Sheriff Richard Jones Is My Guy

A big tent means you keep the sheriff

I like Sheriff Richard K. Jones.[9] I want Sheriff Jones in the Butler County Republican Party. I have said, more than once, that he sometimes sounds like he still has a Democrat nerve in him on a public-sector question. Good. I want a Republican Party big enough to pull people who left the other side. I want a party that can stand on a stage with him and not flinch.

He has been sheriff across multiple terms. I want him around for as long as he wants the job and the voters still give it to him. When he goes on international outlets and talks about immigration and the jail, I want him able to say he is a member of this county Republican Party. I do not want him pushed into independent exile because a faction could not share a room with him.

Seven years of silence, one parking lot, two hats

In 2011 Ohio went to war with itself over Senate Bill 5 and public-sector unions.[10] I was on one side of that fight. Sheriff Jones was not with the Tea Party types who got burned when the referendum turned. We were both on WLW in those years.[11] He was friendly with Willie. I was friendly with Doc Thompson. Doc got pushed off, went elsewhere, and later died after being hit by a train under circumstances people still talk about. Willie is still on the air. Jones is still on the air with him.

After that bill, Sheriff Jones and I did not talk for six or seven years. We would be at the same events and walk past each other. Then I took my family to Charleston, South Carolina, for a week. Charleston is a fine city. People treat it like one of the best places in the world. My daughters and I love pirate history; you cannot stand in that harbor without thinking of Blackbeard and of the Civil War forts. I liked it. I came home happier to see Butler County.

That is not a cheap patriotic line. You do not know what you have until you have walked a “better” place and realized your own county is just as good if not better in many ways, working farms, and a party that has actually produced national figures.[12] JD Vance came out of this ground. Vivek Ramaswamy has been in our orbit. Warren Davidson’s office in Washington has been a good shop. Bernie Moreno has been a serious addition.[13] Interns and staff I met this year in those offices were the kind of young people who make you think the farm system still works.

Jones and I walked out of an event toward the cars. He broke the ice. He liked my hat. I liked his hat. I liked his boots. I like his Andy Griffith picture of what a sheriff’s office should feel like. We started talking again. It took almost eight years.

The grand jury and the jail tour

I am not young. I am in my senior stretch of life, around sixty as of 2026. One of the best civic jobs I have ever held was foreman of a Butler County grand jury. It was not the money. It was the view.

People called me during that season to whisper about “corruption” in the sheriff’s office and the prosecutor’s office. That is what people do when they do not get the outcome they wanted, humans try to create political pull to get rid of people they don’t want to work with. I like our prosecutor’s office. I like Mary Swain a great deal.[14][15] I like the people who actually carry files upstairs to the prosecutors’ offices, which I was able to tour and I consider to be one of the finest places on earth.

The grand-jury room sits on the same floor as the clerk’s world. You take indictments up. You meet the assistants. You meet the deputies who work child-exploitation cases and drug cases. You get answers to questions you have had. And because a grand jury should understand what it is doing when it votes a true bill, Sheriff Jones gave me a tour of the jail. We talked. When his book came out he told me about it. I read it and reviewed it. I recommend it very highly.

That is the other side of the man some people only meet in a fight. If you cannot work with that, you probably do not have the temperament for coalition politics.

Nancy Nix Is the Benchmark

If Sheriff Jones is the law-and-order pillar I want inside the big Republican tent, Nancy Nix is the governing temperament I want the rest of the party to study.[16] I have said it until people are tired of hearing it. She pours hours into this party. She is good government from top to bottom. When she walks into a room, the room still works. That is a rare skill.

I liked Roger Reynolds for a long time. I was on his side until he turned his fight against Nancy Nix.[17] Clearing your name after a legal disaster is one thing. Using the wreckage to tear down a sitting officeholder who actually runs the shop is another. Parties are supposed to put a slate card in front of voters. They are not supposed to become instruments for a man who cares more about his name than about the taxpayers in the file.

George Lang and Debbie can sit down with almost anybody and not get moved off their mark. That is a Trump skill too: talk to the person across the table, find the deal, do not surrender the spine. I have asked George more than once whether Kathy Wyenandt (the area Democrat) can be pulled toward the party instead of left as a permanent foreign object working the community against itself. I would rather recruit than exile. Same rule as Jones. A bigger tent is not a mushier platform. It is a refusal to donate our own people to the other side because we enjoyed a feud.

What a County Party Is Actually For

Volunteers, yard signs, and jobs that do not pay

Most of the jobs that make a county party run do not pay. People do them because they love the idea of a slate card voters can trust. They stand at the county fair. They work a fundraiser. They put a name on a yard-sign list. When those people are disparaged in the paper, of course they get hurt. That does not make them fragile. It makes them human.

The job of party leadership is to keep that machine pointed at voters. A unified party that serves voters will beat a pure party that serves a clique. Purity spirals are how you lose townships you used to win in your sleep.

Butler County is a Republican county that still has to earn it

Most people in Butler County gravitate Republican. That is a blessing and a trap. It is hard to keep an identity when you win so often that winning starts to feel like weather. It is hard to remember that the point is still to make government good. Todd Hall, as chairman, understood a lot of that. I try to stay out of internal knives as much as I can, because I want the system to work and I want people to feel engaged.

Thomas Hall and Sheriff Jones had their differences on policy. They got through it. They use radio well. Once they were fine with each other, Jones and I were fine with each other, once again. That is how adults do it. You do not have to marry your coalition partners. You have to stop treating them like enemy combatants.

Trump changed the party. The county still has to govern.

Trump redefined what a Republican powerhouse looks like. The old country-club party cannot pretend he did not happen. He has also, over the years, become something closer to an evangelist of a certain American memory — Mount Rushmore more than permanent Washington. I have become a fan of Washington, D.C., in the years he has been back in the White House. The offices that represent this county have been worth visiting. The city is not the enemy. Drift is the enemy.

The next years will not be as easy as “were you for Trump after 2020.” Everybody had a simple test then. The tests now are messier: energy policy after the FirstEnergy mismanagement of the real message,[18] how statehouse fights land in a sheriff’s office, whether a township trustee race is a farm system or a grudge match, whether we run toward competent people or toward whoever promises to punish last year’s enemy.

A Personal Ledger I Had to Close

Latte Sipping Prostitutes, Lakota, and being left on the air

I am going to tell a story I almost left out, because good government requires that you put some things aside even when people wronged you.

Everybody around here remembers the meltdown on WLW when I called a class of Lakota levy politics what I thought it was. I said people were selling out children to a system that works like a taxpayer-funded babysitting service with a union attached. Democrats piled on. Some Republicans who had been with me went quiet or went woke on the spot. A donor-class press release landed on the Scott Sloan show while I was live. They confronted me on the air.

I got through the interview; it was very difficult. I did not fold. But a lot of people abandoned me when it would have cost them very little to stand there. Todd Hall was one of my people, and when it mattered most, he and many others left me hanging. It took years to get over that. I could have carried a grudge forever. I did not, because I wanted a Republican Party that could still win for the needs of the voters.  I remember very well who stood with me and who didn’t, and when people wonder even now why I feel the way I do about certain people and not others, that memory usually gives an easy answer.  

That is the whole method. You may feel one way in your chest. If the party is trying to build something voters can use, you park the personal file and work. You handle squabbles another way. You do not burn the machine to warm your pride.

I have a clean record on purpose

I sign my name to what I write. People have been looking me up for years trying to find dirt they could use against me. I have been married to the same person for a long time. I can say, as a man almost sixty, that there is not a woman who can step forward and say I bruised her or hurt her in some way that finds itself on a police report.  If you don’t have a clean background, you can’t stand in front of a party and tell other people how to live.  Even if you have your side of the story, just being in a story like that shows bad judgment, and it will cause people not to follow you as a leader.  You have to be cleaner than clean if you want to hold big responsible seats.  

If you want to be a Walmart greeter, you can often get a matter expunged and live a quiet life. If you want to be the head of a political party, or the person who starts busting heads and announcing that there is a new sheriff in town, you do not get that courtesy. Enemies come out. The past comes out. Paying someone to bury a file is not the same as righteousness. The internet keeps what the clerk seals.[19]

I am not interested in ruining people for sport. Plenty of men and women have made mistakes and then put out yard signs, joined a church, and tried to live a second chapter. Redemption is real. Leadership of a party is a different office. It has to be clean enough to survive daylight, because daylight will be applied.

Leadership, Todd Minniear, and the Problem of a Hidden Past

Todd Hall did a lot of unglamorous work in the background.  Of course people complain about it, as they do everyone in a responsible seat, and they cling to the fantasy that they could do better if only they had more power. A lot of the people who have been running this thing are tired. They show up unpaid. They love the idea of good government even when the job does not love them back.

People have asked me about running for Liberty Township trustee and school board at Lakota; I get asked about it at least once a week for many years now. I like the trustees we have. I would not shove them aside for a title. People also asked Todd Minniear to step toward more leadership.[20] I have been a fan of that instinct. He has been a great trustee. He has the kind of energy a party uses when it needs a next chapter, and I was thinking of him as the Party Chairman once I knew that Todd Hall and others wanted a break.  He and I had a good discussion not very long ago about Roger Reynolds; Todd was on one side of the discussion, and I was on the other.  We didn’t argue about it, we instead put our focus on the things we shared in common.  

If you are carrying material that political enemies can turn into a wrecking ball. I will not pretend that “nobody will notice” is a strategy. Democrats already collect this stuff and wait. Factional Republicans will use it too if the fight gets personal. That is not theory.

How to Have a Fight Without Becoming the Fight

A few rules:

1.  Serve voters first. If a move does not make the ballot better, it is probably vanity.

2.  Keep Sheriff Jones in the party. A Republican Party that exiles its own long-serving sheriff is not tough. It is insecure.

3.  Treat Nancy Nix as a working model, not as a faction mascot. Rooms that light up when she enters are rooms that can still govern well, learn from her.

4.  Recruit before you purge. Democrats who can live with limited government are more valuable than Republicans who only live to punish Republicans.

5.  Do not use government, or party office, to even a private score. That is Edwards in one line.

6.  If you want the chair, assume every sealed thing will be unsealed in public. Plan for that before you run, not after the first mailer.

7.  Put grudges in a private drawer when the county needs a unified card. You can still be a man. You do not have to be a faction.

What Voters Actually Buy When They Buy a Party

Donors and church voters do not want the same conversation in the same hour. That is fine. The chairman’s job is to put them in enough of the same room that candidates can raise money without becoming a different species from the people who staff the polls. If you cannot do that, you do not have a party. You have a club.

I want GOP picnics that feel like a county still knows how to stand around a grill. I liked watching the energy when national operators came through Ross and people actually showed up. I want campfire competence. People do not have to agree on every shade of red. They can still agree that Sunday school is not a joke and that a sheriff’s office is not a think tank.

You can make a million dollars in a lot of businesses. You cannot easily build good government. It costs time, reputation, and the ability to absorb a newspaper hit without setting the headquarters on fire. People who pour themselves into this work deserve leaders who understand that cost.

Edwards lost Northampton and still did the next faithful job. That is available to anyone in this county who is about to lose a fight. It is also a warning to anyone who thinks winning a fight is the same thing as being right. We will all stand in a different dock than a central committee. That is the farewell sermon. It is a better political theory than most of what gets posted after a poorly run meeting.

The Need

Buy the Jonathan Edwards Study Bible. Read the government material. Read the farewell sermon. Then look at Butler County and ask a simple question: are we building a party voters can take pride in, or are we building a revenge path for people whose feelings got hurt?

I support Sheriff Richard Jones. I support a big-tent Republican Party that recruits instead of exiles. I support Nancy Nix as the working picture of countywide competence. I want new leadership that can stand daylight. I do not want scandals in the background of the people who hold the keys, and I do not want the keys used to punish rivals.

That is the Edwards form of Republican politics. It is also just adulthood. Butler County has given the country more than its share of serious people. We should act like it.

Bibliography and Further Reading

Jonathan Edwards and moral government

Edwards, Jonathan. A Farewell Sermon Preached at the First Precinct in Northampton. Boston: S. Kneeland, 1751. Reprinted in The Works of President Edwards and in modern sermon collections.

Edwards, Jonathan. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Enfield, Connecticut, July 8, 1741. In The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 22. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Edwards, Jonathan. The Nature of True Virtue. In The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 8, Ethical Writings. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Everhard, Matthew, ed. The Jonathan Edwards Study Bible: Experience Abiding Joy in Christ (NKJV). Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2026.

Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University. The Works of Jonathan Edwards Online. http://edwards.yale.edu.

Scripture

The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Romans 13; 1 Timothy 2:1–2; 1 Peter 2:13–17; 2 Corinthians 1:14.

Butler County offices and elections

Butler County Sheriff’s Office. “Sheriff.” Official biography of Richard K. Jones. https://www.butlersheriff.org/sheriff.

Butler County Auditor. “Meet Nancy.” Official biography of Nancy Nix. https://auditor.bcohio.gov.

Ballotpedia. “Butler County, Ohio, elections, 2024.” Entries for sheriff, auditor, clerk of courts, and prosecuting attorney.

Butler County Republican Party. https://www.butlercountygop.org.

Reported local history

Callahan, Denise G. “Butler County GOP selects Nancy Nix as new auditor.” Journal-News, February 3, 2023.

Journal-News. Coverage of the Roger Reynolds prosecution, removal from the auditor’s office, and 2024 efforts to contest Nancy Nix’s tenure.

Dayton Daily News. “Jones easily re-elected as Butler County sheriff.” July 6, 2020.

WLWT. “Butler County sheriff speaks out on deportation… and high-profile local crimes involving illegal immigrants.” June 28, 2025.

ProPublica. “The Sheriff Gets His Man.” November 15, 2016. Background on Jones’s early Trump-era profile.

Ohio context

Ohio Senate Bill 5 (2011) and Issue 2 referendum materials, Ohio Secretary of State.

Reporting on Ohio House Bill 6 and the FirstEnergy scandal, 2019–2023, for the state-level energy fight mentioned in passing.

The author’s related work

Hoffman, Rich. The Man Warrior Podcast. Episodes on Butler County party politics, county government, and Edwards.

Hoffman, Rich. Signed columns and posts at overmanwarrior channels. The radio history with WLW is part of that public record.

Footnotes

[1] The Jonathan Edwards Study Bible: Experience Abiding Joy in Christ (NKJV), ed. Matthew Everhard (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2026). Publication date August 18, 2026. ISBN 978-1-4003-3953-2. Official product page: https://www.thomasnelsonbibles.com/product/the-jonathan-edwards-study-bible-nkjv/

[2] Yale University’s Jonathan Edwards Center hosts The Works of Jonathan Edwards Online at http://edwards.yale.edu. Edwards himself was not president of Yale. He served as the third president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1758 and died shortly after taking office.

[3] The Reform Party presidential contest of 2000 included Patrick J. Buchanan and a brief exploratory effort by Donald J. Trump in 1999–2000. Trump later ran as a Republican and won the presidency in 2016 and 2024.

[4] Edwards’s most sustained treatment of government is not a single short “essay on human government” in the modern magazine sense. It is woven through his moral theology: God’s moral government of the world, the duty of magistrates, and the obligation of citizens. See especially “The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners”; sermons on Romans 13; and the dissertation The Nature of True Virtue. The Study Bible gathers related notes and essays beside the biblical text. Page references in this piece follow the author’s personal copy.

[5] Romans 13:1–7; 1 Timothy 2:1–2; 1 Peter 2:13–17. Edwards read civil authority as part of God’s moral government, not as a substitute for the church and not as a theater for private vengeance.

[6] Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” preached at Enfield, Connecticut, July 8, 1741. Standard text in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 22, Sermons and Discourses, 1739–1742 (New Haven: Yale University Press).

[7] On June 22, 1750, after twenty-three years as pastor of the Northampton church, Edwards was dismissed following a congregational vote over qualifications for church membership (the “communion controversy”). He preached A Farewell Sermon on 2 Corinthians 1:14. He then served the Stockbridge mission among Native Americans before his Princeton appointment.

[8] Edwards, A Farewell Sermon (Boston: S. Kneeland, 1751). The sermon’s central claim is that pastor and people will meet again before Christ’s tribunal, where controversies and treatment of one another will be judged. That is the moral frame the author applies to party fights.

[9] Richard K. Jones, 45th Sheriff of Butler County, Ohio. Born Hamilton, Ohio, October 11, 1953. Elected sheriff in 2004; took office January 3, 2005; subsequently re-elected, including 2020 and 2024. Official biography: https://www.butlersheriff.org/sheriff.

[10] Ohio Senate Bill 5 (2011) restricted collective bargaining for public employees. It passed the General Assembly and was signed by Governor John Kasich, then repealed by statewide referendum (Issue 2) in November 2011. The fight split many Ohio Republicans from public-safety unions and local officials.

[11] WLW (700 AM), Cincinnati. Long-running talk hosts associated with this period include Doc Thompson and Willie. The Lakota schools controversy and on-air confrontations described here are from the author’s firsthand radio work, not from a single official transcript.

[12] Charleston Harbor, Fort Sumter, and the early-eighteenth-century pirate history of the Carolina coast (including Edward Teach, “Blackbeard”) are standard public history. The comparison to Butler County is the author’s travel observation.

[13] Vivek Ramaswamy (Ohio) and J.D. Vance (Middletown, Butler County) are the two most nationally visible political figures to come out of the modern Ohio / Butler County conservative pipeline. Vance is Vice President of the United States as of 2025. Rep. Warren Davidson represents Ohio’s 8th Congressional District. Bernie Moreno was elected U.S. Senator from Ohio in 2024.

[14] Mary L. Swain, Butler County Clerk of Courts. Michael T. Gmoser, Butler County Prosecuting Attorney. Both Republicans holding countywide office as of 2024–2026. See Ballotpedia, Butler County, Ohio, elections, 2024.

[15] Ohio grand juries are convened under the Ohio Revised Code and local court practice. Foreman service is a civic appointment. Descriptions of jail tours and floor layout are from the author’s service and are not a disclosure of secret grand-jury deliberations or votes.

[16] Nancy Nix, CPA, Butler County Auditor. Appointed February 2023 by the Butler County Republican Party Central Committee after the felony conviction and removal of Auditor Roger Reynolds; sworn in February 13, 2023; elected November 2024. Previously Butler County Treasurer for nearly sixteen years. Office: https://auditor.bcohio.gov.

[17] Roger Reynolds, former Butler County Auditor, was convicted in December 2022 of a felony count of unlawful interest in a public contract related to Lakota Local Schools and a golf-training facility. He was removed from office. In 2024 he unsuccessfully sought to oust Auditor Nancy Nix through Ohio Supreme Court action and a Board of Elections protest. See Journal-News coverage, 2023–2024.

[18] FirstEnergy / House Bill 6 is the shorthand for Ohio’s 2019 nuclear-and-coal subsidy scandal, which produced federal prosecutions and years of state-level fallout. Democrats and Republicans both own pieces of the policy environment that made Ohio’s generation politics toxic. The point in this essay is party discipline after a scandal, not a legal brief.

[19] On public records, expungement, and political research: Ohio sealing and expungement statutes do not erase every trace of a matter from news archives, court indexes, or opposition research files. Leadership of a county party is a public role. That is a practical warning, not a legal opinion.

[20] Todd Hall has served as Executive Chairman of the Butler County Republican Party. See butlercountygop.org. Todd Minniear ran for Liberty Township Trustee (at-large) in 2025. References here to party leadership conversations are the author’s personal political judgment, not an official party endorsement.

Rich Hoffman

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About the Author: Rich Hoffman

Rich Hoffman is an author, political consultant, and strategic advisor based in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the creator of The Politics of Heaven—a unique framework that connects biblical theology, ancient history, and modern power structures to explain how moral alignment and spiritual forces shape global events. Blending real-world political experience with deep research into archaeology, UFO phenomena, and suppressed historical narratives, Hoffman offers compelling commentary on topics ranging from ancient civilizations and the Dead Sea Scrolls to modern populist movements, paranormal continuity, and leadership strategy in chaotic environments. As the author of The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business and the forthcoming Politics of Heaven, he brings a grounded yet provocative voice to media discussions, supported by firsthand experiences and a cross-disciplinary approach that bridges science, history, and theology. For interviews, speaking engagements, or expert analysis, visit richhoffmanbooks.com or contact directly via phone at 513-307-5815 or email at rhoffman@richhoffmanbooks.com.  If you’ve seen the movie, Disclosure Day and want to talk about it and the implications of Presidnet Trump’s UAP disclosures, let me know and we can bring some color to your coverage. https://richhoffmanbooks.com/media-inquiries-broadcast-topics-and-contact-info/?frame-nonce=ad51e7ecba I do have a firsthand UFO encounter to discuss.

From the Portable Office on the Road: Butler County Republican Leadership Change and the Call for Unity in the Fight Against Socialist Inroads

I have been traveling a lot this summer of 2026. My portable office goes with me. It is a rolling command post with a good chair, a refrigerator stocked with my favorite drinks, and windows that change the view almost every day. One day, the Tetons. Another day, the high country in Colorado or the open stretches of Utah and New Mexico. Just before recording some thoughts, I watched the ferry reverse into its slip, filming through the glass as the water churned. That is the life right now. I can work, read for hours, and still stay connected to home while the scenery shifts.

From that distance, the picture in Butler County comes into sharper focus. Politics is a bloodsport. Transitions happen. I checked in with some of my closest people back home and learned that Todd Hall is no longer chairman of the Butler County Republican Party. Art Sauerwein has taken the role. I always liked Todd. The job is genuinely thankless. It wears people out. Running a business on top of it, managing personalities, herding volunteers, and keeping the central committee pointed in one direction takes a small army and constant energy. I hope Art has a good run at it. The party needs steady hands.

Perspective from Distance Makes the Stakes Clearer

When you are removed from the daily handshakes and the same faces at every event, the larger pattern stands out. We have minor philosophical differences among ourselves. That is normal. What is not normal is letting those differences become the main event while outright socialists and radical Democrats keep pushing into local offices. I have watched it happen in places like West Chester.  It is the same impulse you see nationally with the more extreme progressive candidates. It does not matter if the fight is on Main Street or in the national headlines. The goal of those forces is the same: expand government, raise the cost of living through policy, and treat constitutional limits as optional.

I have said for years that we need a big tent. I mean it. That includes people who may lean a little softer on some issues as long as they will stand with us against tax increases, against socialist experiments in the schools, and for basic fiscal order. Sheriff Richard Jones has always struck me as a Gunsmoke Republican. That is the personality I want in the top law enforcement job. Even if he occasionally frustrates pure ideologues, I want him successful. The same goes for others I have known for decades.

Local Fiscal Reality Versus the Socialist Alternative

Butler County and much of Ohio under Republican stewardship have largely kept the books balanced. Surpluses have been more common than structural deficits. There has been resistance to the constant pressure to raise taxes. That is good government. It is the opposite of the model that turns every problem into a reason for bigger bureaucracy and higher burdens on working families. When I talk to people at campgrounds across the country, the pattern repeats. Many of them are Trump voters. They fly the flags. They are getting away from out-of-control local governments elsewhere. They recognize solid management when they see it. We have had a good run of it here. The job now is to protect it and expand it.

Personal Notes on the Players

I think highly of George Lang. I always have. Nancy Nix is often painted as a mainstreamer these days. I do not see her that way. I see her as a person who has done great work in the auditor’s office. Roger Reynolds has sympathizers, and I was one of them for a long time. I never understood the decision to go after Nancy Nix the way it happened. That kind of personal fight does not help the larger cause. When you are trying to win elections and keep socialists from taking seats, internal score-settling becomes a luxury we cannot afford.

The chairman’s role is not glamorous. Todd Hall held it for a long stretch after David Kern. He came in young and stayed through periods of real discord. Some people felt he did not have enough hours in the day. That is a fair observation about the demands of the job. Leadership at that level requires heavy delegation and constant recruitment of capable people. I hope Art Sauerwein understands that and builds the team accordingly. I wish him well. I will miss Todd in the role, but the work continues.

The Real Task Ahead

Trump observed years ago that people get so used to winning that they start losing to experience the thrill of winning again. That is a real danger. We cannot afford boredom or internal exhaustion. The fall elections and the offices that matter most require Republicans to lock arms. The goal is straightforward: more Republicans in office than Democrats, constitutional values protected, fiscal discipline maintained, and the Trump agenda advanced at the county level the same way it is being advanced nationally.

I will spend more time on the road this year and then settle in for the fourth quarter closer to home. The portable office has proven its value. I can read, think, write, and still stay plugged into Butler County. When I talk to people at those campgrounds, I get a clearer read on the national mood than I sometimes get in the middle of local factional fights. Most of them want government that works without constantly reaching into their pockets or experimenting with radical social theories on their children.

I hope everyone finds a way to shake hands at the picnics and fundraisers. Support the new chairman. Remember what we have in common is larger than what divides us. Keep the focus on winning. Do not get tired of it. The alternative is watching more socialists and their enablers take ground, one township and one school board at a time.

Footnotes

1.  Conversations with longtime Butler County Republican contacts, summer 2026, regarding the transition from Todd Hall to Dan Ferguson as party chairman.

2.  Public record of Todd Hall’s long tenure as Butler County Republican Party executive chairman, beginning in the mid-2010s following David Kern.

3.  Local election results and coverage of West Chester Township trustee races and related contests showing shifts in local control.

4.  Butler County and Ohio fiscal performance under Republican majorities: consistent emphasis on balanced budgets and resistance to routine tax increases, as reflected in county and state budget outcomes over recent cycles.

5.  Public statements and reporting on Roger Reynolds’ legal history, his attempt to reclaim the auditor’s office from Nancy Nix, and his later involvement in the county commissioner primary before withdrawing.

6.  Sheriff Richard K. Jones’ long record and public positioning as a traditional law-and-order Republican.

7.  Observations from campground conversations across multiple western and mountain states during summer 2026 travel regarding voter sentiment and local government dissatisfaction.

8.  C-SPAN and local reporting on 2026 Butler County Republican events, including candidate and leadership appearances.

Selected Bibliography for Further Reading

•  Journal-News (Hamilton/Butler County) coverage of Butler County Republican Party leadership, endorsements, and primary contests, 2024–2026.

•  Butler County Republican Party official materials and candidate endorsement lists.

•  Ohio Republican Party statements and State Central Committee updates, 2026.

•  Ballotpedia and Butler County Board of Elections records on local races, including West Chester Township trustees and county offices.

•  Reporting on Roger Reynolds’ conviction, appellate reversal, and subsequent legal efforts regarding the auditor’s office.

•  Public financial and budget summaries from Butler County and the State of Ohio illustrating fiscal trends under Republican control.

•  Contemporary accounts of Sheriff Richard Jones’ tenure and local political positioning.

•  Travel notes and personal observations compiled during summer 2026 from portable office locations across the western United States.

Rich Hoffman

More about me

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About the Author: Rich Hoffman

Rich Hoffman is an author, political consultant, and strategic advisor based in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the creator of The Politics of Heaven—a unique framework that connects biblical theology, ancient history, and modern power structures to explain how moral alignment and spiritual forces shape global events. Blending real-world political experience with deep research into archaeology, UFO phenomena, and suppressed historical narratives, Hoffman offers compelling commentary on topics ranging from ancient civilizations and the Dead Sea Scrolls to modern populist movements, paranormal continuity, and leadership strategy in chaotic environments. As the author of The Gunfighter’s Guide to Business and the forthcoming Politics of Heaven, he brings a grounded yet provocative voice to media discussions, supported by firsthand experiences and a cross-disciplinary approach that bridges science, history, and theology. For interviews, speaking engagements, or expert analysis, visit richhoffmanbooks.com or contact directly via phone at 513-307-5815 or email at rhoffman@richhoffmanbooks.com.  If you’ve seen the movie, Disclosure Day and want to talk about it and the implications of Presidnet Trump’s UAP disclosures, let me know and we can bring some color to your coverage. https://richhoffmanbooks.com/media-inquiries-broadcast-topics-and-contact-info/?frame-nonce=ad51e7ecba I do have a firsthand UFO encounter to discuss.

Vote for Diane Mullins in the 47th District in Ohio: She has the Republican Party endorsement and she’s a very respected church pastor

I am thrilled to see Rev Diane Mullins running against Sara Carruthers for the 47th Representative seat in Ohio.  Sara has shown herself to be the Nikki Haley of the Butler County Republican Party, disparaging MAGA Republicans as if she hoped that party politics would swing back to the globalist brand that has brought so much trouble to the world of politics.  The Central Committee criticized Sara Carruthers because she broke caucus with House Republicans last year and joined Democrats to elect a moderate Speaker.  She revealed herself as one of “the Blue 22” who joined Democrats to prevent the Ohio House from the type of reforms that were needed to align with an America First platform.  And after Lynda O’Connor was voted out of the Lakota School Board, a lot of soul-searching had to be done in Butler County politics.  It can be a tough job trying to meet the needs of donors who want entirely different things from politicians than voters do, but Sara had crossed the line and paid for it when it came time to issue party endorsements.  Sara has a lot of money in her war chest, but the person on the slate card is her challenger in the Ohio primary, Diane Mullins.  And I am rooting for the pastor of Calvery Church in Hamilton to unseat Sara for a more appropriate representative once Trump is back in office, and an America First platform will be needed from top to bottom in Republican positions.  I’d vote for Diane Mullins in a second and would be very happy to do so.  In my district, I will be voting for Thomas Hall.  However, when it comes to the 47th District, after what Sara Carruthers said and did over a very short time, she deserves to be replaced by someone who represents that district more accurately.  After all, that is the name of the game.  Not every district is the same; the goal is to ensure that voters get proper representation.

From my experience in these kinds of political discussions, where Constitutional concepts are at the core of all discourse, I have found that religious people tend to do better when it comes to defending constitutional necessity.  Since our laws are based on Judeo/Christian Biblical tradition, it takes people familiar with religious life to understand and apply law to daily life.  We’ve tried secular politicians, and they are too easily moved off their mark and corrupted at the slightest temptation.  It has always been a challenging game to play where large amounts of money had to be raised to get a politician’s name identity so that they could even get elected.  That would put politicians always at the short string to those donors, which then could pull them off course to constitutional alignment.  But that has changed a lot over the last few years, where traditional media has lost much of its power, and vlogs, podcasts, and blogs like this have turned out to be far more potent than yard signs and television ads.  More people spend their time getting news online than watching it in front of the television.  So that plays into this opportunity to have someone like Diane Mullins in the 47th seat instead of someone who clearly couldn’t handle the pressure in Sara Carruthers.  Wherever possible, I think the Ohio House would do better to have religious people in representative government, lessons learned.  I’ve always thought that way, but for the sake of society in general, they wanted to believe a more secular approach was possible, but it isn’t.  That experiment has failed miserably.

Of course, there’s more to a representative position than just being religious.  However, in Diane Mullins’s case, she has a lot of experience working with large groups of people and leading community improvements.  It’s interesting to hear how print media trained in classic reporting interprets a pastor of a church running for elected office.  Many of those people have very little understanding of what church on Sundays entails or what the context of biblical study plays in our law and order society.  So they repeat the same woke rules that BlackRock has flowed down to them from the World Economic Forum and expect the people of Hamilton, Ohio, to accept those standards.  News flash, ordinary everyday people don’t care one bit what the aristocrats from Davos think about religious opinion.  They have solid and independent views in Butler County, Ohio, and don’t want a United Nations filter on their political discourse, significantly benefiting Diane Mullins.  She’s fresh and passionate and has proven she can walk through the valley of death and resist temptation.  And that is needed in Columbus.  We need a lot more like her to represent our government.  If we had them, we would be a lot better off in the future.  Traditionally, someone like Diane Mullins would not get much traction because the donors would choke off access to the Central Committees because they controlled the media.  However, as everyone has learned over the last ten years, traditional media is a thing of the past.  A war chest can get some yard signs out.  But it can’t buy people’s opinions as it once did, which has been a hard lesson for the Republican Party.  The hard lesson of Trump should have been evident to everyone, but the globalist types thought they had control, but they never did. 

There are a lot of people who only get involved in politics for the money that can be made off the power the government provides, and among donors, if their business survival depends on globalism, then they are going to try to steer their political representatives into that direction, to protect their viability.  That’s how Mitch McConnell has got himself into so much trouble with his shipping business and how John Boehner lost all credibility as a pot lobbyist.  I’ve had some hard talks with people who have to walk that fine line, and it’s not easy.  However, government service becomes much more viable when the Bible guides representatives.  And I think Diane Mullins would bring a lot of fresh air to the 47th District.  Friendships often form in political efforts because almost everyone is likable when the rubber hits the road.  But we must judge what people do, not what they say, and in Sara’s case, she played a role of deceit when she worked to keep a Speaker of the House who was much more America First from taking the gavel, and for that, she needs to pay.  It will be interesting to see how Diane Mullins does with the Butler County Republican Party endorsement as opposed to the amount of donor money Sara Carruthers has.  It will be a real test of where we are these days on what voters get from their representatives and whether they can break free of the kind of controls that have previously held politics down.  Do the donors control the party, or is it the voters?  We’ll find out on March 19th, 2024.  I hope that Diane Mullins will get a chance to make Butler County Great Again, which could lead to a whole new set of opportunities for a good, moral government. 

Rich Hoffman

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The Ohio Republican Party Endorses President Trump: When I say something, pay attention and benefit yourself

I would offer to anybody who would care to do the work to point out when I was wrong.  Occasionally, I may support a political candidate that doesn’t quite get over the finish line, such as the Russ Loges situation in Butler County, Ohio.  But that was due to him being put on the ticket with a loser, someone I didn’t support, which pulled him down.  But generally, when I help someone or propose a topic for discussion with resolutions attached, I tend to be right.  And I would dare anybody to go over my many years of doing this kind of thing and show me where I have ever been wrong, especially on big topics that are very controversial, such as the Covid attack we experienced around the world.  I was one of the very first people to explain what was happening, and everything I said, everything, turned out to be right even if it took a few years to unravel the story.  So I’m not a spike the football kind of guy, but this is an occasion where I have to spike the football because there was so much opposition along the way, I deserve to spike the football now and then.  This is about several Lincoln Day Dinner conversations that I had in April of 2023 when Ron DeSantis came to speak with his wife, and they were presented to us as the final solution for the 2024 Republican nomination.  As I said on that day, and as was confirmed in December of 2023, the Ohio Republican Party has endorsed President Trump for the 2024 election, and I can’t help but say, “I told you so.” 

Those were dark days after the 2020 election, and I have watched the Republican Party quickly try to bounce back to the mess it was before Trump came along.  It wasn’t that long ago when I had a VIP opportunity to meet with all the Ohio bigwigs at an event in West Chester that involved Kid Rock, and I politely did something else.  At that time, these were the biggest names in politics, and just under ten years later, almost none of them are still in the game.  They have been removed from office in some form or another, and I saw that coming way before anybody else did.  Even before Trump came down the escalator, I was for Trump and said so while everyone else was supporting, well, everyone else.  I quickly saw Trump’s advantages, which are pretty evident today.  I knew what the real challenges were to the Constitution, and I knew it would take a personality like Trump to accomplish our objectives.  And nobody else would be able to.  It took the election of 2016 for everyone to get on board, and even then, it wasn’t until the actual inauguration that people openly admitted to supporting Trump.  And I thought it was disgusting when so many people were quick to jump off the Trump train after the stolen election of 2020.  Yes, it was stolen.  How could anybody think otherwise by this crooked, criminal government that wants someone like Joe Biden in the White House?  How obvious does it have to be for people?  Yet quickly, in the wake of the 2020 election, people retreated to their former positions of supporting weak presidential candidates in 2024.  It made no sense.  The trajectory of the country was not headed in a RINO direction, so why did so many intelligent people insist on such picks?  What did they think would happen as a result?  Didn’t they understand the game that was on the table in our country and worldwide?

At the Lincoln Dinner 2024, I listened to some bizarre theories about why Ron DeSantis would be better than Trump in the White House and I couldn’t help but scratch my head.  That dinner was an excellent event where we all had a chance to meet DeSantis and his wife, and I saw nothing in their personalities that said, “These are the leaders of the free world.”  So why did people insist that DeSantis would be Trump lite, and that was exactly what our country needed?  I disagreed politely, of course.  Nobody knew what was going to happen next.  I had very strong feelings that I knew.  But you never know until you know.  I explained to everyone how Trump would win his legal cases, why he wouldn’t be thrown in jail, that the social media landscape would change to Trump’s advantage, and that he was the only Republican worth supporting.  People thought I was crazy and had drunk the Trump Train Kool-Aid too much and had lost perspective.  So, it was a frustrating night.  I was in the minority and have been for the past three years.  Since Trump was removed from office, I began adding videos to my written articles and there are now well over a thousand of them, most of them are about Trump in some way or another, explaining why Trump is great for America and global politics and I put them out for free, so people can have some point of reference.  Yet many brilliant people couldn’t see what was right in front of their faces, which was baffling. 

The smoke has cleared a lot since then, even though it was just a few months ago, and the Ohio Republican Party has formally endorsed President Trump once again.  The Central Committees get it, and increasingly, the Republican Party is a lot better than that event I spoke about in West Chester with all the heavyweights who lost much of their appeal over the next few years.  But through that smoke, I have called things accurately despite the opposition, and here we are.  Trump is way ahead in the polls.  All court cases against Trump have turned out to be nothing and we are watching our country punch through a very dark time, and redemption is on the radar.  By endorsing Trump, now the Republican Party can get on the same page, which it has needed to do for a while now.  All the fragmented opinions can now be joined, and we can focus on winning.  As I said, there is no place in the future for authoritarian government like what the Biden administration offers.  That is not where people are, nor will they ever be.  The Trump offering is the opposite of what the media is declaring: an authoritarian regime.  It is they who are the authoritarians.  Trump is freedom from that approach and it is just bizarre that more Republicans didn’t see it all along.  So, getting the Ohio Republican Party endorsement was a huge announcement, not just for me, but it allowed everyone else to get on board and unite the party.  I continue to write and say a lot of things, much of them, if not all of them, will turn out to be true.  I hope people will make it easier on themselves and listen instead of trying to fight me over every little thing in the future.  I say things, people listen.  That’s how it works.  Listen and benefit.  That would be the best approach, and when it comes to Trump, it took everyone way too long to get there.  But at least they are there now, and we can put our minds to good things to come because we all deserve it.

Rich Hoffman

Judge Lyons Wants to Put Darbi Boddy in Jail: Yet, the Butler County Republican Party desires unity?

It was ironic that at the same precise moment that Judge Lyons was seeking to put Darbi Boddy, a Lakota school board member in jail just for being on school board-related business in Columbus, Ohio where he imposed a restraining order keeping her from Isaac Adi, another school board member, that the Chairman of the Republican Party of Butler County, Ohio was sending out a letter trying to unify the party after a tough election. Here was a prime case of some old washed-up crusty crab who has been trying to destroy a mom with fines and incarceration because Darbi essentially didn’t kiss the ring of Lynda O’Connor, who had just lost the election, and that same GOP endorsed her. Literally, just a few days before, I was at another political event where Isaac was there, and he was telling me how much Darbi was like a sister to him and that he loved her. Yet just a few days later, he and his attorney, another sucker for Lynda O’Connor, were trying to put Darbi in jail while her husband was overseas serving our nation. And they have a child at home forming opinions about the world and she sees all this harassment of her mommy by really ruthlessly diabolical people. Smart judge. Smart Isaac. Isaac wasn’t lying to me, was he? Actions always tell the truth. And to all the other people who have gone way out on a limb of injustice to stand behind Lynda, who positioned everyone for failure out of pure selfishness. As I read that letter from Todd Hall, my phone was constantly going off from a lot of Darbi supporters who wanted to go to war with these people in a very vicious way. Somehow, I don’t think this is the kind of unification Todd was talking about in his letter. But I read it carefully and tried to find something positive about it.

I’ve known Todd Hall for a long time, and I like him. I’ve stood up for him when many people wanted his head in much the way I stand up for Darbi. I like to see good people trying to do good things. If they stumble their feet along the way a bit, I don’t get hung up on it. I judge intent for what it should be, and actions mean a lot in determining that intent. And I understand what Todd Hall wants to do after a tough loss, which is good. To get the Republican Party all pointed in the right direction. The trouble is that everyone has a different opinion about what the right direction is. It is the job of leadership, no matter if it’s a political party, a company, or a sports team to figure out what “right” is and get a team accomplishing it together. And in the Butler County Republican Party, over the last several years, Jennifer Edwards at Fox 19 is always there to stoke the fires, as I warned everyone about. She doesn’t do to Democrats what she does to Republicans. She was again pushing the Darbi story in Butler County just as she did the story against Roger Reynolds where Sheriff Jones went after him, and other people completely maliciously, just to show power over other rivals within the party. When power becomes more important to these teammates, any organization is destined to fail; in this case, voters have been taking notice. And Todd tried to point that out in his letter with motivational quotes to get everyone’s attention. But one particular quote I thought was especially relevant and was the point of the entire letter:

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships – Michael Jordan.

That sounds generic enough, but there is a good story to this. Everyone knows Michael Jordan was probably the greatest NBA player ever to live, in a time when people liked professional basketball before the league started eating from the hands of communist China. But while Jordan was with the Bulls, they won six national championships, so obviously, he was essential to the team. But a lot of background stuff went on that allowed Michael Jordan to be all he could. He had teammates like Scottie Pippen, who was always a quiet background player who was excellent in his own way, so he drew double teams away from Jordan and allowed some of those games with such spectacular results. Then there was Dennis Rodman, the crazy character who was always causing trouble and drew a lot of attention, again allowing Michael Jordan to be more of what his talents could provide to their full extent. Then there was the coach, Phil Jackson, who had a unique leadership ability to get all those crazy characters pointed toward wins on the court when, if left to their own devices, they would likely have flown apart and destroyed each other. Putting all those unique personalities together in one place without fights is tough. But a good leader like Jackson was able to, and the results were evident, as Todd Hall pointed out in his letter. Perhaps he was thinking about teamwork generically; even Michael Jordan needed a team. But it’s more than that; it’s a leadership element that is the most desired in the world, much more than gold or any precious metal, winning leadership, no matter what organization we are discussing. The Chicago Bulls had it; teams that had Tom Brady on them had it. We see it in specific companies, entertainment, music, and art. And we see it in politics with President Trump.

Rob here is Judge Lyons and these are the kind of people we are dealing with
Looks like Kerry told on these three

When you don’t have your version of Phil Jackson in a leadership role but have lots of wild personalities on a team, like Dennis Rodman, Michael Jordan, and Scottie Pippen, winning isn’t guaranteed.  Great talent can do what great talent does, but wins are hard to come by without leadership.  Someone should have told Judge Lyons and Sheriff Jones that being a bunch of stingy old mustache men with about five minutes left in their careers isn’t enough.  They should be recruiting new, bright people so the Republican Party can win next week, next month, and next year.  But after the way people have seen how the GOP has treated Darbi; who in their right mind would want to play for that team?  Who wants to be thrown in jail because they refused to kiss the ring of some egomaniac that is only in politics because they don’t have that kind of respect anywhere else?  Once they step out of politics and go to Ace Hardware to buy some nails for the house, people stop saying hi to them and treating them like local celebrities.  So they seek personal fulfillment in destructive ways, bringing the party down which reflect in losses at the ballot box.  If the Republican Party isn’t giving the public wins, then people aren’t interested.  And that was what fueled the Chicago Bulls when Jordan was playing there.  Without the successes, they would have just been another team.  But what we have now is a Butler County Republican Party run by older relics hanging on to their past who are jealous of the young, beautiful people, and they aren’t interested in winning.  They are interested in the power of their position.  And if they are shown disrespect, they want to put their critics in jail.  That is precisely what happened to the former Butler County auditor, Roger Reynolds.  And that’s what they are trying to do to Darbi Boddy and many others who are challenging the old farts with playing time, looking for a victory.  But victory isn’t essential to the Republican Party, and the public is losing interest.  And it will take more than a letter from Todd Hall to fix any of that.

Rich Hoffman

The Great Leadership of Todd Minniear on 55 KRC: Standing up for good Republican government voters can be proud of

You might have heard the fantastic Liberty Township Trustee Todd Minniear on 55 KRC with Brian Thomas talking about the overwhelming vote from the Butler County Central Committee to censor 22 Republican representatives for working with Democrats to elect a much more moderate Speaker of the House, which in many ways was political sabotage. As it turned out, the BCCC voted to censor those Republicans by a tremendous margin, which joins many other central committees across the state and will help start the path of removing those representatives from office. The next time they want to run, this censorship will make it more difficult for them to seek office. And this is how it has to be in these RINO hunting days where Democrats simply put an “R” next to their name and misrepresent themselves to the public who thinks they are voting for Republicans. I’ll put that radio interview here for everyone to listen to again because it’s an important political step and shows outstanding leadership on behalf of Todd.

Additionally, I am including the letter I read in my own video podcast on the matter, which Todd Minniear sent to the Butler County Central Committee ahead of their meeting to vote on behalf of censor, laying out the arguments. It was a windy day and a tough thing to read, so I also include it here as an example of how good government looks and taking a bold stand in favor of a position and sticking with it. It is wonderful to see area Republicans standing on integrity, but even better, it’s great to see a Butler County politician, especially in Liberty Township, Ohio, showing such leadership when it would be easier just to keep his head down and hope to get an invite to the latest wine tasting ceremony and be a popular guy with the locals. It’s much better to express courage, judgment, and integrity, which benefits our community more than just another baby-kisser in ways that are measured best when leadership is sought and appreciated. 

To: Butler County Central Committee Representatives

From: Todd Minniear – Liberty Township Trustee and Liberty 21 Central Committeeman 

I am writing to encourage you to vote yes this Thursday to censure 22 Republican representatives who voted in favor of Speaker Jason Stephens, and to commend Representatives Creech, Gross, and Hall for voting to support the Republican caucus nominee Derek Merrin.   

I am a novice in politics.  Embarrassingly, I didn’t get serious about protecting our conservative values until Governor DeWine violated my constitutional property rights by shutting down my business during Covid.  In response, I sued the Governor and the Ohio Department of Health/Amy Acton.  My suit was successful in enabling my business to open fully and saved many businesses across OH. 

The Covid attack strategy also highlighted the fact that the number 1 job of ALL levels of government is to protect our freedom.  This greater awareness inspired me to run for Liberty Township Trustee in November of 2021.  Thanks to hard-working conservative campaign supporters (several of them on BC Central Committee) I was elected.    

I share that background as context for why I am motivated to send you this note today.  As you know, we need our Republican representatives to protect our lives and life by moving conservative values forward and fighting against Democrats who continue to move further Left. 

The 22 out of 67 House Republicans who partnered with all 32 House Democrats to elect the speaker preferred by Democrats betrayed the conservative Republicans of Ohio, severed the Republican supermajority, and most certainly made deals with the Democrats that will greatly limit the fantastic opportunity we had to move conservative legislation forward. 

Thanks to the Butler County Republican Women’s Club, I had a chance to sit in on their last meeting where House Representatives Carruthers, Creech, Gross, and Hall answered questions on this topic.    

Here are the headlines driving my support to censure.

·       The Republicans went into caucus and agreed to vote to select a new speaker.  There were several House Representatives in the mix and Derek Merrin won.  Merrin should have received all Republican votes and been the new speaker.  However, in a shocking move, 22 Republicans partnered with all Democrats to elect Stephens.  When two of our Butler County representatives were asked at the Women’s Club meeting if this was “dishonest on the part of the 22” they said “yes” – the agreement was to unite to elect Merrin, but they reneged.  You can see how this has divided our party.

·       It is clear, and our Butler County representatives confirmed, Merrin is significantly more conservative than Stephens who was elected by the Democrats and the 22.  Having a less conservative speaker, one the Democrats supported, means certain conservative agendas will not move forward. 

·       Stephens understands he will need these Democrat votes again to be reelected two years from now.  He must stifle the conservative agenda to earn the Democrat votes.    

·       Why do you think all 32 Democrats voted for Stephens?  The specific deals made with the Democrats will become known.  Three of our four Butler County Representatives said, “deals are always made.”

·       The State Central Committee properly censured the 22 and the last list I saw showed ~20 other counties in Ohio censured, I believe Warren County’s Central Committee had a unanimous 100% vote to censure.  Butler County should be known as one of these leading conservative counties.

·       The vote for speaker is not a piece of legislation where reasonable minds can vote differently.  It was mission-critical for our party to be united and put a conservative speaker in place.  The 22 wanted a more moderate speaker and they sacrificed the strength of our supermajority, literally handing power to the Democrats to get their moderate speaker. 

·       Most importantly we must send a formal message to 1) the 22, that they made a tremendous error, 2) the 45 Republicans who stood for the party, including Rodney Creech, Jennifer Gross, and Thomas Hall that we commend them, and 3) any future representative, that they must stay true to the conservative principles of the party and don’t ever make this same mistake.

I have great respect for the Butler County Central Committee.  We are one of the few political bodies that consistently stand and vote based on conservative principles – principles over all else.   

Todd Minniear – Liberty Township Trustee

Many people don’t know that Todd was one of the most courageous people when it counted most who sued the State of Ohio and the DeWine administration for the Covid lockdowns. He was successful and was able to reopen his business in the heat of Amy Acton, the Health Director at the time, trying to shut down all businesses on the latest CDC policy of mass social distancing as a means of treating Covid 19 which was being spread from China to mass populations to harm them, likely purposefully, during an election year to implement the World Economic Forum Great Reset. I’ve read enough about the situation to see that the evidence for such statements is more than abundant. But at the time, it wasn’t so clear, and it took a lot of guts for Minniear to climb out on a limb like that, challenge the DeWine administration in court, and win. But that should be a lesson to all others. If you stand by the Constitution, you will find that our entire court system is built around it, and you will win most of your court challenges. That is the case with Lakota schools. That is the case with Covid restrictions. That is the case overall of Free Speech cases such as the one recently where a magistrate won a judgment against a Butler County Judge, which will be a topic for another article all its own. The Constitution works, and it is great to see people in politics who understand that basic premise. But it takes leadership and courage to stand behind law and order sometimes, and under tremendous pressure, Todd Minniear has done so and continues to. His leadership was evident in the Central Committee vote and continues to express itself in ways that greatly benefit the residents of Butler County’s Liberty Township residents. I wish there were more like Todd Minniear out there. But I’m happy to see that there is just one. 

Rich Hoffman

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Making The Butler County Republican Party Great Again: People don’t want to think of Boss Hogg when they think of politics

At first, I thought of the complaints as leftovers from contentious issues that have divided the party, such as the Thomas Hall battle with Matt King and the obvious rift with Sheriff Jones and Roger Reynolds. I tend to view those kinds of things as family squabbles within a household. Usually, people get over things and move on, which was happening with that nice event for Thomas Hall. But when people who don’t usually deal with the Butler County Republican Party are complaining, they don’t know about the details, only their experience with it. And that experience has not lived up to the reputation of the past, where Butler County had a lot of volunteers, high engagement, and the kind of national reputation that made President Trump want to come and campaign in the area. But the reputation that was developing, because of all the rifts from leadership that was flowing out into state and federal politics, was not a good one. For a community of over 400,000 people, small-town politics was back in fashion where a few party leaders had turned the wonderful Butler County Republican Party into something that would make Boss Hogg from the Dukes of Hazzard blush. And that was embarrassing to hear. I had been hoping that after the 2022 election, many of those trends would level out and that much of the problem had been not having the unifying factor of Trump to rally behind. Without Trump, the party has reverted back to the differences that it had during the early 2000s. But now that Trump was running again, my hope was that the party would unite again behind him. However, this time there appeared to be a different kind of problem. Many older people in leadership now are in the way of younger and hungrier personalities, and those elements feel restricted in their ambitions, which is not a good thing for future growth.

This problem reminded me of the Cincinnati Bengals and how the Brown family just can’t get out of their own way for success. Sure, they have had some good players over the years, but they just have not been able to put together a successful string of seasons to show fabulous organizational presence. They went to the Super Bowl last year and had a pretty good season. They had the whole off-season to get better and improve on the previous year with essentially the same players. The Bengals invested in a new offensive line, but the results were not good. The quarterback, Joe Burrow, has been sacked more than any other NFL quarterback. So the Bengals didn’t get better because the problems with the Bengals were in their coaching and front office. Not the players on the field. So if leadership was always the problem, the Bengals didn’t help themselves by investing in an offensive line; if they didn’t have the kind of coaches who could take advantage of those improvements, then, of course, the problem would still present itself as a problem. Obviously, the Butler County Republican Party was having the same issues. Many new talents are coming into the party who can network and connect with the world. There are lots of MAGA Republicans across the state who are newly engaged in politics and are looking for jobs to do. But then, when they interact with Butler County, we have this Boss Hogg image that people have of our elderly leadership, and it turns them off, and it’s starting to show to the outside world. 

It was good to see a nice GOP event in Butler County dedicated to a victory celebration for Thomas Hall at the Majors Barn. It was a tough election season, and some hard feelings emerged during that race, which clearly split the Butler County Republican Party in half. But several people supported Matt King, who ran against Thomas for the 46th Representative Ohio seat. They were there to congratulate Thomas and to show leadership in coming together as a party now that the election was over. There were people there that I could speak with where things got pretty heated, and we had some nice conversations, and everyone made up. I know everyone couldn’t come, people were busy, but you could tell a lot about Republican Party leadership by who was there and who wasn’t. I can tell you someone, who was there, Roger Reynolds, was, and we had a nice conversation about the horrendous problem that was happening to him. I asked him if Sheriff Jones was going to pay for all his massive legal bills for the phony trial coming up for him in December of 2022, which to me looks like a complete political hit job. That is not the kind of thing that makes the Republican Party better, but something that has made it worse. Roger kind of smiled at me and shrugged his shoulders. He’s one of the good guys, and his only focus was on getting that mess behind him so he could live his life again. And Thomas and I spoke about the new Speaker of the House and what an excellent relationship those two had together, which was encouraging. Good things were happening. But I also received reports from some of the state people and the federal people who deal with Republican parties all over the country. Their impression of the Butler County Republican Party was not a good one. There were a lot of complaints about engagement, phone calls, appreciation letters, and just basic organization, and while I kept up a happy face inside, I was pretty mad. I am proud of the Butler County Republican Party and don’t like hearing people say bad things about it. 

Hey, I get it; we all get older. You look in the mirror and what looks back is a person falling apart. Age can be cruel. And when the dog doesn’t respect you, and your wife is complaining about you leaving your socks in the corner by the bathroom, and nobody thinks you’re all that special, it can feel great to go to a Party meeting and have everyone worship you for all the things you have done in your life. It’s hard to be big enough to get out of the way and let younger people step in and show their ambitions.   That has always been the Bengals problem; the Brown family has always gotten in the way of its own success. And that is what is happening with the Butler County Republican Party. It’s not just from the direction of the police, but there are commissioners, trustees, and many others who are holding positions as placeholders, then getting mad at the youth for nipping at their heels. And my advice to them, the elders, is if you really love the Republican Party, you would want to do the right thing, and that is to get out of the way and let those with the most ambition and freshest eyes step into leadership positions. Sometimes being a great leader is in getting out of the way. And hanging on to the past and living off a reputation to hide the aging process from your own eyes isn’t love. It’s selfish, and the only result is that you become the latest Boss Hogg in the world and become known not for good deeds but for corruption and ill-advised political fights that ruin everything a lifetime took to build.

Rich Hoffman

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The Lincoln Day Dinner of 2022: Battles coming, going, and brewing

It’s always good to talk about nice things, and the Lincoln Day Dinner for 2022 for the Butler County Republican Party was undoubtedly something good to talk about. Like I say all the time, politics is a blood sport. People aren’t always supposed to get along. So it’s not the function of a prominent Republican gathering at the Savanah Center in West Chester to just have everyone get along, even though they did. The goal of politics is to get the best people into public offices that can be obtained. Often the best management of any resource involves pressure applied to individual vision to draw it out for the public’s benefit. In Butler County, with Todd Hall as the party’s Chairman, it has undoubtedly been a success story. Butler County is a large, wealthy county in Ohio; it has over 400,000 people and a major national university. And every officeholder position in the county is held by a Republican. That is something to say and provides a good indication of what the people of Butler County are really like. But it’s not easy to manage all the ‘A type” personalities who get into politics for their communities. The people who run for office don’t tend to be the shy types, so managing all those personalities, especially when they sometimes get cross with each other, is quite a challenge, and Todd Hall does the job well, which culminated in the evening at that dinner which was nothing short of magnificent. 

Mike Pompeo came in to speak at this Lincoln Day event, along with the nationally bestselling author Vivek Ramaswamy, who managed to find time between Fox News media appearances to give a rousing speech to a hungry room of freedom fighters. Warren Davidson, of course, was there and was instrumental in bringing Mike Pompeo in, fresh from the Trump administration, where we all had the feeling of reloading for the next round of political battles that were coming next. I had a chance to talk to Jim Renacci a lot as he came down from his campaign for governor of Ohio, which is going well. There were many people from all over the state of Ohio who came to this Butler County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner, which filled the Savannah Center into every crevasse. It was great to see so many friends in one place simultaneously. The battles that everyone fights for are worth it, especially on evenings like that one. During primary season, like the one we have this year where there are so many contentious races, such as the governor race where Mike DeWine is running for re-election, and Jim Renacci was challenging him, it would be easy to have factions of discontent which wouldn’t even be able to shake hands. But the event’s mood, led by Todd Hall and guided by the diligent hands of hundreds of volunteers who worked behind the scenes for the party’s best interests, provided an atmosphere that felt more like Mar-a-Lago from Trump’s Florida home than just another political gathering. Every last touch had behind it a love of country and an intention to do good in the world. Different people, of course, have different ideas about what good is, but the pursuit of it was apparent for all to see. 

It’s not like the Butler County Republican Party was playing things easy; they recently endorsed Jim Renacci for governor over the incumbent. In the audience was Justice Pat DeWine, the son of the governor.  Jane Timken was in the audience, and Mike Gibbons, who are both running for the hotly contested Senate seat soon to be vacated by Rob Portman. There were literally hundreds of contentious side stories that could fill novels that interacted in the halls of that grand event, but what impressed me was the candor with which it was all presented. Todd Hall’s management style with all these unique personalities allows for hotly contested debate and personal battles that still celebrates the achievement voters get in the end, and that is something special. Politics is tricky under the best of circumstances, but routinely pulling off successes like what Butler County enjoys is quite an accomplishment. Of course, behind the scenes come the unifying elements of Ann Becker, whom I’ve known for many years now, going back to the Cincinnati Tea Party, which she led. Debbie Lang who always brings energy to everything she’s around. Joe Statzer and Mark Murphy work on all the details. There is a long list of people behind the scenes who make the Republican Party of Butler County, such a great organization. I single out Todd Hall because it takes a unique person to give all these diverse personalities autonomy and to trust that people will find common ground and build from that position rather than break out in fistfights from the many different perspectives that so many officeholders have. Guided by a less skilled hand, everything could turn out to be a disaster rather than the success story that it continues to be. 

Ultimately, the Lincoln Day event is a good team builder, and they are always nice to go to when the people putting them on so much love what they do. But what the public gets is a strong party that represents them where it matters most. Contention in politics is good; it forces the best people and best ideas to the surface to manage on behalf of the voters, and Butler County is an example of how it should be done everywhere in the country. The Butler County Republican Party is the example that everyone should be following, especially in the newly Trump-led Republican party. The management style it takes to unify so many diverse personalities is the stuff success seminars are built on. To have an evening in the height of election season just to take a breath of fresh air is nice. But the reminder of why so many people get into public office and how an army of volunteers behind the scenes contribute their time and energy without ever thinking about pay tells a story that is worth recognizing. If not for them and the tireless hours of work that go on behind the scenes, there would not be a great Republican Party of Butler County. There would not be a Republican in every Butler County political office. The strength of the party is because of all the effort that countless people put into it, and by the leadership of Todd Hall to have just enough guiding force to keep people together just enough but not to impose on them any dictates which might threaten their unique gifts for which voters could then select as representatives. The whole evening was just as impressive as the Butler County Republican Party is itself. It reflected many thousands of hours of hard work and an ambitious eye toward tomorrow; whereas bad as things look on the national horizon, in Butler County, Ohio, all is great and getting better. If such a formula could project itself nationwide under the next Trump presidency, there is a lot to be excited about in the years to come. Because ultimately, politics is there to serve the Republic for which we all fight to make a stand, and the voters are in charge and respected by the guiding light of hard-working people who genuinely understand how to do it right.

Rich Hoffman

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