About 40 area Republicans attended the Greene County GOP fundraiser April 23 at the Recreation Hall of Abundant Life Ministries in Jefferson.
Iowa GOP chair Jeff Kaufmann made his first visit to the county since assuming that position last June and was the headline speaker. Kaufmann was appreciative of the near-perfect spring weather. “Nothing beats a small Iowa rural community in the springtime,” he said.
Greene County was his sixth of eight visits around Iowa scheduled over a 10-day time period.
Kaufmann said that in his visits he hoped to send a message: “The grass roots of this party is the Party… The heart and soul of the party is the people.”
He spoke of the 15 or 16 Republicans who are exploring presidential campaigns. “They’re going to be going to all of these types of events as we ramp up. They’re going to be everywhere, interacting with you. They’re going to be asked questions, and they’re not going to necessarily have their talking points ahead of time.
“Then you juxtapose that with the Democratic party, and they’re coronating Hillary. They’re not really having a debate about this.”
“We’re doing exactly what the spirit of caucuses is. We don’t care if people have a famous name. We don’t care if they have a resume a mile long. We don’t care if they have a bank account that’s completely full at six or seven digits. We care about if they interact with you, look you in the eye, and go back and forth with you.
“Every time a candidate rolls through, we reaffirm that the Republican party is governed by the grass roots. You folks decide. You are the power of this particular party,” Kaufmann said.
He also gave an early reminder that it’s important to support whichever candidate is selected for the presidential nomination. “Whoever you pick in the caucuses, there’s no excuse for not circling the wagon around whoever is picked as the candidate. If you don’t participate and vote for our nominee, you might as well vote for Hillary,” he said.
Republican National Committee woman Terra Scott of Norwalk talked about an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court in anticipation of the Court hearing a case April 28 on gay marriage. She invited the party faithful to sign a petition to the Supreme Court stating a belief that God designed marriage as one man and one woman, and that the grass roots party members will not stand for a redefinition of marriage.
Republican Sen Jerry Behn and Republican Chip Baltimore, both of Boone, were also in attendance and made brief comments. Pictured are (from left) Kaufmann, Behn, 4th District committee member Gary Nystrom of Boone, and Baltimore.
