“And In This Corner….”

*** Enemies at the Door Edition – Part 2 ***

01/02/25

By Russ Otten RPSC Chair

*This 4-part series lays out the RPSC, its transformation, and how crucial the upcoming caucus is to its future.

The RPSC officially became a “We, the People” party at the annual members’ caucus in January, 2024. It was there that the members emphatically stated their support for the Republican platform and only legislators who vote likewise. It was there that the members voted nearly unanimously for the RPSC Mission: To elect Patriots and hold representatives in federal, state and local offices accountable. It was there that the members voted overwhelmingly for an RPSC Constitutional amendment that requires its Executive Committee members to support the mission. This was a seminal moment in the history of the RPSC.

It did not come without a fight, however. A recently defeated state legislator, upset that RPSC members were holding her accountable, led an attempt to split the RPSC in 2023 by writing a letter to its members with no opportunity for corrective rebuttal. Her attempt was unsuccessful because members saw through it and doubled down on their support for RPSC leadership. A small group of RPSC members, including several Executive Committee members, left the party to support her instead of the Republican platform. But the RPSC emerged stronger with 2024 as its most successful year in terms of election wins and financial support. Patriots from Sheboygan County and surrounding counties flocked to the HQ, otherwise know as “Trump Central”, to become active in key elections, get candidate signs, and purchase Trump merchandise. It was phenomenal!

On the flip side, the small group of detractors, led by the recently defeated state legislator, opened a “Republican Party of Wisconsin (RPW) Field Office” in an antiquated part of the Bitter Neumann building and announced its “Grand Opening” to all RPSC members, making it appear that our HQ had been replaced. This attempt also failed miserably because our members saw the deception and rejected it. Such are the actions of this detractor group that wants the RPSC to return to a go-along-to-get-along approach, the same approach that Trump rejected, fought against, and then decisively defeated in November.

At the core of this weak-kneed detractor group is the recently defeated state legislator who is closely tied to Assembly Leader Robin Vos, one of the most despicable yet powerful figures in Wisconsin politics. Vos has amassed and manages a multi-million-dollar treasure chest called the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee (RACC) Fund that pours tens of thousands of dollars into Assembly races across the state. In 2024, Vos used this fund to support another Republican candidate in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat Lindee Brill in a primary. Lindee is the only one in the state who survived a primary against a Vos-funded opponent.

Vos’s RACC Fund works like this. Vos “generously” offers to financially assist candidates during their campaigns. This usually includes covering the cost of yard signs, flyers, and mailers. In some cases, it may be just a few thousand dollars. In others, it could be well over $100,000. No matter the amount, once that candidate wins, he/she is beholden to Vos when arriving at the State Capital. In advance of key issue votes, Vos gathers all Republican Assemblymen in what is called a “closed caucus” and tells them how to vote. Anyone who pushes back is threatened with losing Vos’s support in the next election. It’s a brutal system that undermines what “We, The People” have elected our legislators to do; that is, represent our views, not those of Vos. And get this! All legislators who “take the Vos money” are then expected to financially support the RACC Fund annually. If they don’t, they will be ostracized and primaried by another Republican candidate who is willing to take the “Vos money”.

As you can imagine, the RPSC finds this system despicable and has openly opposed it the past 3 years. We have loudly denounced it locally, in our district, and state-wide. Vos, who wields power over the Republican Party of Wisconsin (RPW), and the RPW have now targeted the RPSC and plan to affect our annual members’ caucus on January 25. I will share that plan in the next segment of this series.

Stay tuned for “And In This Corner….” – Enemies at the Door Edition – Part 3.

The purpose of this series is to inform, not incite. I hold nothing personally against any of these individuals. Simply, they do not fight for the issues that matter most to Patriots.