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Nobody claims to have authored attacks on chief
By Stephanie Warsmith
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Jan 19, 2008
Whether she knows it or not, Hillary Rodham Clinton is involved in the battle to unseat Summit County Republican Chairman Alex Arshinkoff.
The county party is challenging the legality of a mailer sent out by state Sen. Kevin Coughlin, who is leading the effort to oust Arshinkoff. The front of the piece features a picture of Clinton with the message, ''We can beat her if we are united. But . . . ''
The inside solicits support for toppling Arshinkoff.
The party, which is mounting an expensive effort to defend Arshinkoff, plans to file complaints this month with the federal and state elections commissions and the Summit County Board of Elections.
The reason?
The party says Coughlin's group — the New Summit County Republicans — was required to have an official committee to send out a piece calling for the defeat of a federal candidate. Plus, the party contends, the mailer should have included a disclaimer Please see WEB A4
saying who paid for it and identifying the group's treasurer.
Jack Morrison Jr., who is secretary of the county party's executive board, said the GOP checked with the Ohio secretary of state and was unable to confirm the existence of Coughlin's group.
''They have violated Ohio law and are operating under the name of an entity that does not exist,'' said Morrison, who also at times serves as Arshinkoff's personal lawyer.
''It's a name only.''
The dispute over the Clinton mailer is one of several examples of so-called ''dirty tricks'' that have surfaced in the war for control of the county Republican Party. While some aspects of the fight have been highly public, others are happening behind the scenes — laced in anonymity and secrecy.
As for the Clinton piece, Coughlin says he's in the clear because his group isn't subject to the same requirements as organizations working on behalf of political candidates. He said he is attempting to gain the majority on the county party's central committee — which will decide the party's leadership this spring — and members of this committee aren't considered elected officials under Ohio law.
Plus, Coughlin argues, the mailer had his group's return address and didn't specifically call for the defeat of Clinton. Instead, he said, the piece sought to unify Republicans.
''This is another example of why Alex needs to go,'' Coughlin said. ''He's filed a complaint to defend Hillary. If Hillary has a problem, let Hillary's campaign file an action. The Republican chairman should not be doing her dirty work for her.''
'Pink site'
Both Coughlin and Arshinkoff have Web sites where they've traded barbs, but neither approached the nastiness of what some have dubbed ''the pink site.''
This site, so-named because of its distinctive pink background, was online until about a week ago, when it suddenly disappeared.
The anonymous person responsible, who called himself ''Arshniquellic'' — apparently a combination of the names of Arshinkoff and Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic — used the site to launch personal attacks against the chairman.
The site posed questions like ''Who's a bigger embarrassment to the GOP: Larry Craig, Mark Foley or Alex?'' (Alex won) and ''Which crazy, power-mad dictator does Alex remind you of?'' (The answers included Kim Jong II and Saddam Hussein. ''A thug is a thug is a thug'' was the most popular response.)
The Beacon Journal did not receive a response after it sent an e-mail to ''Arshniquellic,'' asking for his identity. An Internet query to determine who was behind the site turned up no results.
The party also is trying to determine who started the site. Angela McMillen, the party's executive director, said someone from the party each day printed any new content on the site. She said she tried to avoid looking at it after seeing a particularly nasty photo on the site.
''It's gone. Obviously, somebody figured out it was wrong and illegal,'' she said.
One of the last postings was a list of blog comments attributed to Arshinkoff — many under the moniker ''Big Al'' — that took personal potshots at Coughlin.
McMillen said the comments were not made by Arshinkoff.
''The chairman doesn't blog,'' she said.
Meanwhile, Coughlin said he wasn't responsible for the site and doesn't know who was.
Letter stirs complaints
An investigation also is under way on a recent letter sent to county GOP leaders that bashed Arshinkoff. It was attributed to a party loyalist who says she didn't send it.
The letter included several disparaging personal remarks about Arshinkoff and said, ''Instead of being the party of stability and order, under the chairman, we are job-grabbing opportunists peddling influence.''
Kristina Spahr Kremer, who was listed as the author, is the daughter of Virginia Spahr, executive director of the county Republican Party until her death in 1998. Kremer said she was outraged that the letter was linked to her.
''I was angry. Hurt. That's my reputation,'' said Kremer, one of the party's candidates for the central committee.
Kremer filed a report with police in Cuyahoga Falls, where she lives, and contacted the U.S. Postal Service, though neither has been able to determine who sent the letter.
She said she also spent $850 to distance herself from the letter by sending another letter advising the party's executive and central committee members and poll workers that she had nothing to with the initial mailing.
''Never have I seen such a cowardly act of desperation as the letter with my name falsely attributed as the author,'' her message to fellow Republicans said. ''Mr. Arshinkoff has been a friend to my family, and I consider this letter as a personal attack on both of us.''
Though the party has no proof of who was behind the anti-Arshinkoff letter, the speculation is that it was Coughlin.
''We'll sort it out,'' Morrison said. ''If Kevin and his boys were involved, they will be exposed for what they are. If they weren't, they have nothing to hide.''
Coughlin, however, says he thinks the party itself was responsible. He called it a ''tired old play'' of ''sending out a straw man and then beating on it.''
''Personally, I believe Alex and his team sent it out to be able to point the finger and say, 'They did this,' '' Coughlin said.
More calls, letters
Coughlin says this was one of several mailers and phone calls inaccurately linked to him.
He has heard about three phone calls made to local Republicans from people claiming to work with him. The callers made comments about Arshinkoff and asked whether the people they were contacting supported Coughlin.
In response, Coughlin sent out a memo saying any mailings he sends will be on ''Team Coughlin'' campaign stationary or will have the New Summit Republicans name and return address clearly displayed. He said callers will identify themselves and provide a phone number where they can be reached.
''I have no doubt that these anonymous mailings and calls are the work of Alex Arshinkoff's dirty tricks machine, designed to confuse and divide Republican activists at a time when we should be united behind a strong winning party,'' the memo stated. ''Mr. Arshinkoff will stop at nothing to hold onto his chairmanship.''
''There's a lot of anonymous stuff going on,'' Coughlin said, ''people hiding behind a veil of anonymity.''
The party denies any involvement in these mailings or phone calls.
''We couldn't do that,'' McMillen said, noting that the party must account for its expenses.
She said anything the party sends out is either on the party's letterhead or identified as being from a committee.
''We don't need to operate under stealth,'' she said.
Seeking 'smoking gun'
Coughlin is looking into whether Arshinkoff had elections board employees recruit central committee candidates while on the clock at the board.
He filed a public records request with Summit County asking for phone records for the workstations of Arshinkoff and six others at the elections board for Oct. 1 to Jan. 4 — the filing deadline for candidates in the March primary election, including those running for central committee.
Coughlin has received records for two of the months and will get the rest next week. He said he and his staff have talked to people who were called by board employees about running. He said they will look over the records to try to match up the calls.
If the records confirm Coughlin's suspicions, he said, this will be ''a smoking gun.'' He said he will then consult an attorney on how to proceed but thinks this would violate state election and ethics laws.
''The board staff administers elections,'' Coughlin said. ''Recruitment calls would be a clear-cut violation of law. . . . We will pursue this as far as we can.''
Wayne Jones, the Democratic chairman of the elections board, brought up the phone call issue during a recent board meeting. He said such activity had to stop because it violates a new ethics policy by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.
The policy, released Dec. 11, prohibits board employees from ''engaging in any political activity while on state time or board of elections time.''
Jones said both parties have previously had board employees make calls seeking people to run for their central committees. But he said he's heard the calls employees were making for Arshinkoff went beyond solicitations, including asking people whether they would support Arshinkoff's remaining chairman.
''We can't have partisan activity going on at the board of elections,'' Jones said.
Arshinkoff referred questions about the phone calls to Bryan Williams, the Republican director of the elections board.
Williams said both parties had board employees make phone calls to recruit central committee candidates, which has been a long-standing practice. He said if there is a determination that this is illegal or inappropriate, ''we should fall into line with that quickly.''
Williams said soliciting central committee candidates, regardless of what is said in the process, is among the practices he thinks the board should cease in light of Brunner's ethics policy.
''There are a number of activities that the board has done for decades that I think are questionable,'' Williams said. ''These are things that people can reasonably conclude are political — not in the spirit of nonpartisan activity.''
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached
at 330-996-3705 or
swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com.
Whether she knows it or not, Hillary Rodham Clinton is involved in the battle to unseat Summit County Republican Chairman Alex Arshinkoff.
Get the full article here.
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