Kasich and Boehner have long sabotaged growth of Ohio Republican Party by shunning conservative enthusiasm: 'If they had just opened their arms to the conservative movement like Democrats embrace liberal activists, we would be the most powerful political party by far. Instead, we’re treated as agitators and troublemakers,' says Ohio grassroots activist-Wall St. Journal, 3/10/16

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March 2016 article

3/10/16, "In Ohio, John Boehner’s GOP Legacy Crumbles With the Rise of Donald Trump," Wall St. Journal, Patrick O'Connor, Springfield, Ohio, subscription

"Race to fill former House speaker’s seat shows how the Republican Party establishment he helped build is being swept away."...

"Ann Becker, an influential tea-party activist from West Chester Township, in the heart of Mr. Boehner’s district, says the rivalry between activists and the establishment is especially intense partly because the outsiders felt shunned by Mr. Boehner and his allies. 

“If they had just opened their arms to the conservative movement like Democrats embrace liberal activists, we would be the most powerful political party by far,” she said. “Instead, we’re treated as agitators and troublemakers.”
 
Ms. Becker lost her seat on the Butler County GOP after a fight with Boehner loyalists in the Cincinnati suburbs. Mr. Boehner tweeted congratulations to her opponent.

She now is running for Ohio’s central committee, which manages Republican operations and fundraising and decides which candidates to support....

Rank-and-file GOP primary voters are aiming their frustration at elected officials, making the district fertile terrain for Mr. Trump and his supporters....

Many conservative activists remain furious at Mr. Kasich for expanding Medicaid over the objections of Republican state lawmakers.... 

Exit polls from five states that voted on Super Tuesday showed that a majority of Republican voters said they felt “betrayed by Republican politicians.”...

In Ohio, a small band of conservative upstarts doggedly chipped away at the Republican Party’s infrastructure. They targeted often-overlooked races to fill seats on local, county and statewide party organizations.

“The central committees had been surrendered to the insiders for years,” said Ted Stevenot, a leader of those efforts who wrote the how-to book “Rigged” for other activists....

Mr. Trump’s supporters here like that he isn’t wedded to the Republican Party. They resent GOP leaders for attacking Mr. Trump more aggressively as he gains a stronger grip on the presidential nomination.

“They’re prejudiced against Donald. Instead of embracing him, they’re trying to keep him out,” said George Leibold, 58, who voted for Ross Perot in the 1990s and Mr. Obama in 2012 but now supports Mr. Trump. “If they don’t embrace him, they’re liable to lose me and a lot of other supporters like me.”"...




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