Audrey Scott: "I cannot support her Chicago-style of politics"

Below is the text of an email sent by Dorchester County GOP Central Committee Chairman John McCullough to other Central Committee members. Other than removing Mr. McCullough's email address, it is completely unedited by me.

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From: John McCullough Jr.
Subject: Upcoming MDGOP National Committeewoman Vote
To: "John McCullough Jr.
Date: Thursday, April 26, 2012, 9:57 AM

Fellow Central Committee Members,

Since it became painfully obvious that this letter needed to be written, I have been trying to think of the best way to say it… I will start by saying that voting well is hard. We get little more than a snapshot most of the time, and that’s among those of us who are paying attention. To those not paying attention (far too many people these days), they are just clicking a name when they vote. We get a five or ten minute speech, a website to look at, the candidate’s best smile, and off we go to vote.

Bottom line is, information is vital to a well-cast vote. I have been trying to like and support Audrey Scott since the first meeting she came to at our central committee when she was running for party chair. I have to admit, she did a good job with a tough situation when she took over. I also have to admit that she has an impressive political resume. But my first evaluation of a candidate is based on character and how they stand up to conservative principles, and this is where Audrey has fallen down.

The first event that concerned me was the Rule 11 waiver (that by now, most of you are familiar with) that threw the primary process, not to mention a lot of republican voters, to the curb in support of the “establishment” candidate who happened to be good buddies with Audrey and our two national committee persons. This did not have to happen, and as it turned out, did nothing to help elect that candidate. Some say Audrey, Louis and Joyce were being good “team players” in this decision. In response, I will point you to Sharon Day, National Committeewoman in Florida, who refused to sign Rule 11 down there when asked, and that refusal paved the way for none other than Marco Rubio to have a fair race for his Senate seat. Any of you want to throw Marco Rubio under the bus in the name of “the team”? Here is a quote from Sharon Day…

“You also have the right to know the reason I did not sign the Rule 11 Letter, in the event you missed the articles in the news media. I want to ensure that the Republican voters of Florida have an opportunity to select their candidate in a fair and balanced primary. It was always about the process and not the personalities.”

THAT is leadership FOR THE PEOPLE.

More recently, the Quad County Caucus (four lower eastern shore counties who get together before conventions to talk about the coming issues) held a meeting a week and a half ago, where it was my turn to lead the meeting, and in talking to the other county chairs, we decided we did not need any candidates there, but would rather just discuss amongst ourselves. So three days before the meeting I wrote the National Committee Candidates and specifically told them not to come to the meeting. Audrey came anyway. Then I pulled Audrey aside, surprised and discouraged that she was even there, and told her I could not give her time to speak about her campaign because it would not be fair to the other candidates who heeded our request. I thought we had an understanding. I opened the floor for a few event announcements and next thing I know Audrey stands up and asks if she can say a few words. I said “as long as it isn’t about your candidacy”. She promptly proceeds to talk about her candidacy for a few minutes. So what am I to think? She had just forced herself, with multiple clear statements about the process we had decided on, past the will and intent of our meeting.

Not only did she talk about her candidacy, but she said things that some of us in the room knew to be patently false. One, regarding names placed on her website where she claimed that she personally asked for all of those endorsements, when we know from first hand testimony that she didn’t, or twisted a generic comment about supporting “all the candidates who want to run” into an endorsement that got another name on her list. The second is the claim about how much money she raised as chair. This is still being looked into, but according to state GOP financial reports, she has overstated those amounts by large margins.

One chair of another county has stated that we, as central committee members, ARE the “establishment”. I reject that line of thinking. There are many of us who are trying to represent voters and, as Sharon Day put it, “the process” as well as candidates. We are in the central committee, among other things, to stand against the tyranny of government… to represent ALL of the voters who put us in office. It is a shame when we have to first fight tyranny within our own party, before we can fight it in government in general, but this is what I find myself doing in the case of Audrey and the rest of the “good ole boys” club in MD politics . She has shown me a willingness to have an extreme top-down, “I am in charge”, “it’s my way or the highway”, “we know what’s best for you, just shut up and fall in line” view of leadership. That is not what I am looking for.

I was not a Nicolee Ambrose supporter when this process started. I had never met her. But now I have met her, and I am glad that she is there, as a perfectly good and qualified alternative to Audrey, because as I have watched Audrey, I have found that I cannot support her Chicago-style of politics. We have enough of that in Washington already. We don’t need any more of it in Maryland. I hope this helps you committee members cast a more educated vote this coming Saturday… for that is the only intent of this email.

Sincerely,

John McCullough Jr.

Chairman, Dorchester County Republican Central Committee

"Trying to be salt and light, by God's grace... and encouraging others to do the same"