In a compelling and fairly open letter to Eric Lusk, Chair of the Cumberland County Republican Committee and entrenched apologist for State Chair Rich Cebra, Tony Bennett, Chair of the Washington County Republican Party, expresses his outrage with Cebra, who apparently threw Bennett under the bus, calling Bennett's honesty into question when Cebra's ill-conceived plan blew up in his face.
After discussing his support of Cebra during the campaign for the Maine State Chairman's seat and for the first part of his reign over the state, Tony touches on his disappointment with Chairman Cebra's inaction regarding the the Penobscot County Committee election farce.
He then goes on to talk about the concern which he experienced with the Chair's failure to abide by the bylaws regarding the budget, the problems about the ill health of the Maine State Republican Party's finances, the FEC compliance, and the dismissive reaction when State Committee members and long-time Republican activist Kathleen Caso brought up questions about the budget.
And he talked about his feelings about State Republican Chair Rich Cebra appointing as his RNC proxy former state member Jan Staples, who was censured for her behavior at the 2012 Republican National Convention, her assistance in voiding the duly elected Maine delegates to that convention, and her casting of a vote regarding the RNC rules which ran counter to the overwhelming majority vote of State Committee members who.
But the final straw has come after Cebra called a phone conference with the County Chairs. Only six of them bothered to calling. During that conference, Rich Cebra sent a list of Republican legislators who voted against the recent tax bill. Four of those six County Chairs sent the list to their members, due to what they say Cebra told them to do.
And when that action -- inappropriate for the Chair of the Republican Party, to say the least -- blew up in Cebra's face, he threw the Bennett and the other 3 county chairs under the bus, claiming he did not suggest that they do anything of the sort.
Tony Bennett, a military veteran who has a stellar reputation among those who know and deal with him, is outraged, and most level-headed people would say justifiably so, and this four-page letter details many of the problems with the ineffective and dishonest way that the Maine State Republican Committee is being run under the reign of Richard M. Cebra.
Here is that letter:
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