Going back as far as the 1912 presidential election, there have been two Republican parties – the Taft Republicans and the Rockefeller Republicans. Today it is the Country Clubber Republicans and the Christian Conservatives.

Over the years, it was understood that the Country Clubbers would provide the dollars and clout needed to win, and the Conservatives would provide the votes and volunteers. This uneasy alliance has worked for many years but now seems to be unraveling. With the notable exceptions of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, the Country Clubbers, a.k.a. Good Old Boys (GOB), have insisted on picking the nominees. They have used their money and influence to ensure that only candidates they deemed viable would have a chance of getting the nomination.

The result has been that over time the party has undergone a leftward drift, making it almost indistinguishable from the Democratic Party. Democrats wanted large government spending projects. Now, Republicans want large government spending projects. Democrats wanted to trample individual rights and show contempt for private property rights with intrusive regulations like the smoking ban. Now, Republicans support this heavy-handed abuse of government powers as well.

The result of this leftward drift has been to make conservative Republicans disaffected by the party. Their sense of frustration on a local level resulted in the nomination of conservative Matt Kelty for mayor. Kelty’s nomination was an opportunity for the local Republican Party to demonstrate unity and heal gaping rifts that existed between the leadership and party backers. What has occurred instead is a towering disaster that will have far-flung implications.

Instead of the GOBs accepting defeat and jumping behind the candidate the people picked for mayor, the party insiders began demanding that Kelty reveal the original source of money that he lent to his campaign. Kelty simply could have told the GOBs that where his money came from is none of their business and if they thought they had cause, they could get his personal records subpoenaed. If they didn’t want to do that, then he didn’t want to hear any more on the subject. Case closed.

Kelty opted not to go that route, because he knew he had nothing to hide, and he had done nothing wrong. Once Kelty updated his records to show that he had received a personal loan from friends that he then loaned to his campaign, the GOBs leaped into action. First, they had the matter taken up by the Allen County Election Board, which, of course, found that Kelty had done nothing wrong. Next, they had their gal in the prosecutor’s office, Karen Richards, appoint a special prosecutor, which led to the laughable indictment Kelty now faces. This level of scorched-earth, win-at-all-costs politics will not result in the outcome that the GOBs had hoped for.

First, the sense of outrage has made the split between the GOBs and party faithful come out into the open. The resignation of Ken Neumeister from the Allen County Republican Executive Committee, contrasted by the overwhelming support Kelty received from the precinct officials, shows Neumeister’s isolation from the rank and file. Second, now that people are aware of who has been secretly pulling the strings of government for years, it has created a keen new interest in their motivation in trying to destroy such an honest and honorable man as Kelty.

What would form this much fear of Kelty that they would be willing to take such extraordinary steps to keep him out of power? If the moneyed elite had simply refused to provide any financial support to Kelty, it would have been a result of the all too predictable I’m-taking-my-ball-and-going-home behavior that can be expected from the GOBs. However, their feeling that they desperately needed to stop Kelty, an honest and incorruptible man, from taking a closer look at the financial books of local government raises questions of what makes them so fearful. Neumeister and others may find themselves the objects of increased scrutiny with regard to any business dealings they have, or hope to do, with local government. The GOBs must have had some compelling reason to open this Pandora’s Box, because, as they say, those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones or simply count on owning the local prosecutor.

Fort Wayne is dependent upon unified conservatives recognizing friend from foe. This is the time for the uneasy alliance of money backers and volunteers to unite and appreciate each other’s roles.

I firmly believe this is the low point for Kelty. I expect victory for him in November, followed with the acquittal of these politically motivated, trumped-up charges. As for the GOBs, they may have condemned themselves to a walk in the wilderness. If they think all of us small-government conservatives throw our hearts and souls into supporting Republicans just to ensure that government contracts go to Republican contractors, they are sorely mistaken.

Originally appearing in the News Sentinel. Reprinted with permission from the author, Sharon Kuhn.

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