By Gretchen Garrity
Don't think the RINO Establishment is only on the state or federal levels. It's firmly entrenched in your local Republican party, too. Local party leaders enjoy their status, part of which includes selecting candidates for the voters.
How does this work? The Missouri GOP is a private organization. While its members include Republicans elected to public office, it nevertheless is not held to transparency standards like our elected representatives in their official capacity. For instance, citizens have no intrinsic right to expect Sunshine requests to the state or local GOP because they are private organizations.
What you see on their websites and in their communications is what they want you to see. If you want an idea of what goes on, you need to attend their meetings, get to know the individuals involved, and watch how the sausage is made. And even then you won't know everything simply because you are dealing with groups of people who have friendships, alliances, etc.
Grassroots individuals and groups across the nation have been running into the comfortably-rooted apparatus on local levels that resent the upsetting of their apple cart. The Establishment has their ways, their people, and their views. And they aren't going to share power if they have anything to say about it. They know better than you. Because.
Additionally, the Jefferson City gang includes various state level elected officials as well as their ball-and-chains--the lobbyist cabal. These work the local organizations and people quite smoothly.
Sure they agree with some things the grassroots activists are firm about. They've given up on opposing President Trump (at least openly). They pay lip service to conservative causes like Initiative Petition Reform, Abortion, Tax Reform, local school control and so on. Some of them even care about those things.
However, when push comes to shove, like a secret society, they protect their own, and often fail to live up to their expressed convictions.
Case in point: some in the Christian County Republican Central Committee had been involved in efforts to thwart wins that grassroots workers across the state fought for, namely the duly-elected delegates and other officers to the RNC. Not to rehash the events leading up to the attempted coup of the State GOP Convention by establishment individuals, but it was several members of the CCRCC who were involved.
These individuals were instrumental in Towgate (info HERE and HERE and HERE), the quashing of the 2024 platform, and later challenging the slate of delegates that Missourians across the state had voted for. Yes, some in our Christian County political apparatus were hard at work to overturn the will of the people in order to reward their friends.
And what has happened since they were exposed? Were they rebuked? Did they resign? Did they apologize? Is there no explanation on the CCRCC website for what happened? Nothing.
This is how the local machine works. And if you go against them, they do all they can to squash you. Instead of reflecting on their behavior, on the larger goal of saving our state and helping Missourians live better lives, they circle the wagons in order to keep their control grid functioning.
Not everyone in the CCRCC has this issue. Many are honest folks who are also frustrated. But, if the leadership of the CCRCC does not hold members accountable for their actions they sure as heck aren't going to go to bat for citizens in any meaningful way--unless it's no skin off their noses.
There has been particular intra-party fighting about the governor candidates--Bill Eigel and John Ashcroft. Few people in Christian County are Mike Kehoe fans so the race down here is Eigel versus Ashcroft.
The establishment Republicans are firmly in Sec. Ashcroft's corner, and they resent any positive news about state Sen. Bill Eigel, or any negative information about Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. In fact, an app called Team Reach, which is for active citizens to share information and post events, has as an administrator Mrs. Sandy Karnes, one of the people involved in Towgate. And her husband, Jack, attached his name to the Derrick Good challenge against the grassroots slate. That challenge was defeated because the evidence proved the challenge had no merit.
Last evening, Mrs. Karnes saw fit to delete my Team Reach post of the article regarding alleged lawfare on the part of the SOS's Office. It was posted below a pro-Ashcroft flyer Karnes had posted. Is the cardinal rule in the primary season that candidates supported by the Establishment shall have no open opposition? Are the issues addressed in the article not to be given an airing because we have to be respectful of others' choices? Karnes has apparently posted on Facebook about the situation, although she is careful not to name names. Why? Name names. Let us dialog and see who is lying and who is telling the truth.
That our Secretary of State's Office has had troubling interactions with dedicated grassroots patriots over election integrity, is a real issue that should be grappled with in order to determine the best candidate for Missouri Governor.
And Karnes is not alone in her "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil" attitude. The local Establishment has circled the wagons. Incidentally, both Sandy and her husband Jack are again candidates for committee man and woman. See all the candidates here.
The Establishment dictum is thus: We are a Team, as long as you think like us.
Instead of having the guts to face the opposition, Karnes took the easy way out and censored my post and then admonished me to be respectful. Here is Karnes being "respectful" to an Eigel campaign worker not too long ago at an Independence Day parade. Notice the campaign worker simply continued on his way. He didn't attempt to stop her. Why? I think it's because he believes in his candidate, Sen. Bill Eigel.
When the tables were turned, and Mrs. Karnes was "handing out" an Ashcroft flyer on Team Reach, she didn't behave as the Eigel campaign worker when someone came along behind her. She didn't just move on. She actively censored important information pertaining to the race for governor. Truth was not as important as Team Establishment. If the document in question was erroneous, Karnes has the opportunity to refute it. She knows she can't refute it so she attempted to squash it.
