Lorain Co. Republicans call out 'unethical' pre-election flyer containing primary endorsements

Lorain County Republican leaders are crying foul over a "phony" and "unethical" flyer sent to voters ahead of the primary election that appeared to endorse a select ticket of GOP candidates. The Lorain County Republican Party does not endorse in primary elections, Chairman Bob Meilander said Wednesday. The flyer was "completely false information" and missing a number of elected Republican officials, he said. It wasn't illegal because of a "tiny" disclaimer, but it was unethical, Meilander said. "I raised Hell about it a couple weeks ago," Meilander said. "I'm very disappointed in some of my members. I'm not going to say a whole lot about it. We're in the process of taking the next steps. It should have never went out." The flyer brought one down-ticket race into focus: State Central Committee. Both the Democratic and Republican parties have 66-member central committees: One man and one woman for each of 33 state Senate districts. Meilander, himself a former member, said the State Central Committee meets every three months to discuss party business and endorse candidates. Jean Anderson, the incumbent Republican state Central Committeewoman for Senate District 13, was not on the flyer but her challenger, Kirsten Hill, was. Hill soundly defeated Anderson in Tuesday's election, receiving 14,576 votes across the district to Anderson's 5,924 votes according to a tally of unofficial results. Anderson said the flyer, which appeared to have been created by "Republicans for Better Government," looked "to be made very Republican" like a legitimate voter guide, but wasn't approved by the county party. "That's going to be investigated" by federal and local authorities, Anderson said. "We voted not to endorse (in the primary) then this shows up." "I don't think we've heard the last of it yet," she said. Hill said "Republicans for Better Government" was behind the flyer, but was reluctant to say who was in the group when asked by a reporter. "You get the campaign finance report, you get an idea of the contributors to it. It's a whole group of people who helped out with the flyers and the project and stuff," she said. There is "overlap" in membership with her longtime affiliate Totally Engaged Americans, or the TEA Party, she admitted when pressed. "I'm trying to think how answering, talking about this benefits anybody that I care about," Hill replied when pressed further. "I hesitate to feed the beast of division ... because we work together. We just have to get through the primary and work together." Hill suggested that concerns about the flyer might be more about who won and who lost than party unity. "It's kind of water under the bridge," she said. The whole thing "shouldn't have happened," Meilander said Wednesday. "It's unacceptable. It's not illegal. But it's unethical." Hill said critics who called the flyer "unethical" should consider the First Amendment and the rights of assembly and freedom of speech. "The unethical part is to get after somebody for exercising their God-given rights," Hill said. On the men's side, incumbent state Central Committeeman Mike Witte won re-election Tuesday. A longtime member of the TEA Party, Witte got 13,620 votes to Peter Aldrich's 7,065, according to unofficial results in Lorain and Huron counties. Witte, a Republican member of the Lorain County Board of Elections, first won the post in 2022. A similar sample ballot from a group called "Lorain Democrats for Good Government" was created ahead of the 2023 primary but never mailed out. It did not break any criminal or election laws but the Lorain County Democratic Party disavowed it and called it unethical. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com