Kevin DeWine steps down at Ohio GOP

The Highland County Press

Kevin DeWine, the chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, has announced his resignation.

According to a report in the Dayton Daily News, DeWine is leaving his position on April 13 when a successor will be elected. He says he will remain on the state central committee.

"(DeWine) has announced he's stepping down just two weeks after GOP leaders in seven of the state's largest counties asked him resign," the DDN said.

In a letter to party officials Wednesday night, DeWine said "factions within our party" are fighting over who is best to provide leadership. He says that fight could become a "party-splitting dispute that no one will win and everyone will lament."

On Jan. 16, 2009, the 66-member Republican State Central & Executive Committee of Ohio unanimously elected DeWine to serve as chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, one of the largest state party organizations in the nation.

As the party's chief executive officer, DeWine is responsible for the management of all party operations and services, including candidate recruitment, campaign support, training, fundraising, voter contact programs, communications, technology resources and legal strategies.

Highland County Republican Party chairperson Kay Ayres has served as vice chairman of the Ohio Republican Party since 2003, and has supported DeWine in his ongoing rift with Gov. John Kasich.

According to a report in The Columbus Dispatch, Ayres said she is "heartbroken that the governor and his allies (were) trying to depose DeWine a little more than a year after he led the party to a massive victory in statewide elections."

"The attempted coup is splitting the party when it needs to be unified going into the 2012 elections," Ayres said. “It’s almost become: We have met the enemy, and it is us.”

The Examiner.com reports: "DeWine's successor, which rumor has it could be Robert Bennett, now 73 years old, who served as party chairman since 1988 and who paved the way for DeWine to succeed him in 2009, appears ready, at least on an interim basis, to again take the reins of the party in a year when Ohio again plays a pivotal role in determining whether President Obama wins a second term or whether he's unseated by the eventual GOP standard bearer.

"Rumors also say that former Congressman Bob McEwen could also be tapped to replace DeWine, but some GOP insiders say that would be a bad choice."