Dear Clermont Sun Editors:
In your Feb. 27 edition, you ran a piece by Mr. Chris Hicks titled, “How about a solution to our GOP corruption problem?” 
Mr. Hicks wrote that “[t]he Clermont GOP system has run like a Communist Politburo for years.” Mr. Hicks suggests that the solution to “take back control in the Republican Primary by opposing candidates who have aligned to a corrupt Simpson-led GOP.” Mr. Hicks is right that there’s a corruption problem. Simply changing Republicans isn’t the solution.
Much like one-party rule in Communist countries, one-party rule in Clermont County has given us crime and corruption in government. Let’s remember a few examples that we all know about:
● In November 2008, Republican County Commissioner Mary Walker pled guilty to a criminal charge of improperly influencing the award of a county contract to her son’s company. Mrs. Walker was forced to resign from the County Commission. Her husband, Doug Walker, was fired as Union Township Administrator earlier in 2008 for directing several hundred thousand dollars of township funds to the same company.
● In 2012, Republican County Commissioner Archie Wilson pled guilty in Kentucky to drug possession and soliciting prostitution. Apparently, Mr. Wilson didn’t use Ashley Madison. Mr. Wilson had to resign from the Clermont County Commission.
● According to a 2018 report by the Ohio State Auditor’s Office, Republican County Engineer Pat Manger started in about January, 2002 using county vehicles, county resources, and county employees on county time to store his lawn mower and yard furniture for the winters, to prepare campaign and fundraising materials, to set up for a child’s graduation party, and to work on his wife’s car. According to the report, this conduct continued for about 17 years. In 2019, Mr. Manger resigned as County Engineer and pled guilty to a crime of receiving improper compensation.
● In the Summer of 2019, our current Republican County Commissioners agreed to pay approximately $150,000 of County money (our tax dollars) to Mr. Hicks and his lawyers to settle a federal court lawsuit arising out of the feud between Mr. Hicks and former Republican County Commissioner and Republican Party Chair David Uible.
● In October, 2019, Mr. Uible pled guilty to criminal tampering with public records. In 2020, Mr. Uible is the candidate for State Senator endorsed by the Clermont County Republican Party.
There is, of course, no telling what the Republicans have done that the rest of us don’t know about. We do know that we’ve had over a decade of crimes and misuse of County property and money by Clermont County Republicans that started long before Mr. Simpson became Clermont County Republican Chair. Mr. Hicks may be correct that Mr. Simpson is a part of the problem. Mr. Hicks is on the Clermont County Republican Executive Committee and, as a Republican insider, he should know. However, the larger and longer-term problem is that, like any place run by “a Communist Politburo,” we have one-party rule in Clermont County.
The two-party system plays an important role in fighting corruption in government. The public has no protection when misbehavior is only addressed in a quiet conversation before or after a Party Central Committee meeting. When people from different parties are in the offices of government, they can see what each other are doing. They see the reports, the notes, and the hallway conversations. They learn what questions to ask. They also have an incentive to blow the whistle when someone from the other party is breaking the rules. Consequently, people are less likely to break the rules when there are people from both parties inside government watching each other. The sad history recited above happened because we don’t have that in Clermont County.
While Democrats are not running for every office on the ballot this November, there are honest, capable people running as Democrats for some offices. We need to elect them and end one-party rule in Clermont County. We’re not going to end over a decade of crime, corruption, and waste in our County by just substituting one Republican for another. Changing the reptiles isn’t draining the swamp.
Sincerely yours,
Raymond W. Lembke
Executive Committee Chair
Clermont County Democratic Party
Lembke grew up in and lives in Pierce Township. Lembke is a 1977 graduate of New Richmond High School. He has been a practicing lawyer in Southwestern Ohio for over 35 years.