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Both Arshinkoff, Coughlin sides claim gains; fight moves to meeting
By Stephanie Warsmith
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Wednesday, Mar 05, 2008
The fight for control of the Summit County Republican Party ended Tuesday night with more of a cliffhanger than before the polls opened in the morning.
State Sen. Kevin Coughlin, who is leading the fight to unseat party Chairman Alex Arshinkoff, was beating Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Robart for his seat on the party's central committee, but only by two votes.
That could result in a recount.
Four other contested central committee races resulted in ties.
The winners will be sorted out over the next few weeks by the board of elections and within 60 days by the GOP central committee, which must meet to decide if Arshinkoff should continue as chairman.
At stake is control of one of the most influential county Republican parties in Ohio. The party chairman makes key decisions, including how money should be spent and which candidates should get backing.
Coughlin is attempting to unseat Arshinkoff by gaining
a majority on the party's central committee. There were more than 600 candidates for the 475 precinct committee seats. While Coughlin made public the names he had submitted for his slate, the party declined to do the same.
Both sides were claiming to have scored wins Tuesday night in the central committee contests. There were about 150 races between Coughlin's slate and party candidates and the two sides disagreed with who came out on top.
Coughlin claims his side scored 83 wins, compared to Arshinkoff's 64 victories. Arshinkoff said the party won 81, while Coughlin got 66.
The two could agree on one stat: There were four ties.
Arshinkoff called Coughlin ''truth-challenged.'' Coughlin said both of them are claiming some of the same candidates.
''We'll get to the organizational meeting and this will all be resolved,'' Coughlin said.
''We feel that we're definitely in business for making a run for change,'' he said. ''Where people had the opportunity straight up or down to vote on Arshinkoff's leadership, there was an even split on opinion.''
Arshinkoff also was pleased with the results.
''We're very happy that we did well tonight,'' Arshinkoff said.
Arshinkoff said Coughlin claims to have the support of 150 of the party's candidates but claims the senator has ''far from that'' number. He said the party has firm support from 80 percent to 83 percent of these candidates.
A few central committee contests featured interesting matchups, including Coughlin challenging Robart, a staunch Arshinkoff supporter. Robart, at Arshinkoff's urging, campaigned door-to-door in his precinct. Coughlin also hit the trail.
''I'm grateful to our neighbors,'' Coughlin said. ''They may have found this confusing and did not understand why we were doing this. It's nothing personal.''
Arshinkoff, who currently is a central committee member, didn't run this time.
Coughlin and the party have been battling for months, mostly on competing Web sites and through mailings. In the past few weeks, the central committee candidates entered the fray — knocking on doors, sending out literature and calling voters in their precincts.
Coughlin and his supporters had a simple message: ''Is Alex in or is he out?'' The party emphasized the positive gains made during Arshinkoff's nearly 30 years as chairman.
Coughlin has been unwilling to name his suggested replacement for Arshinkoff. His rumored choice is Akron attorney Donald Varian, who was just tapped by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to take Arshinkoff's place on the elections board — a decision the county party is fighting in the Ohio Supreme Court.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached
at 330-996-3705 or
swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com.
The fight for control of the Summit County Republican Party ended Tuesday night with more of a cliffhanger than before the polls opened in the morning.
Get the full article here.
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