County GOP Convention Reports: Cleveland County

Part two of a four part report on the 2015 Republican County Base

By Guest Contributor, John Greening, of Moore

County breakdown: about 141k voters

Republican affiliation: 47%

2012 Republican presidential support: 63%

Cleveland County GOP

  We had much lower than usual turnout at my county convention this year, due to the weather.  The first half of the convention went smoothly for the most part.  We had an outstanding keynote address by Steve Fair, Stephens County State Committeeman, and other convention business went through without incident.

John Greening - Cleveland County GOP

  When it came time for the election of county officers, there was only one contested race.  The gentleman who had announced that he was running for Vice Chair sometime prior, had a challenger put forth from the floor.  This led to a bit of discussion regarding the rules, as the intention to run had not been presented to the proper people by the appointed deadline.  However, it was determined that their could be a race, due to the weather and possibly other factors.
 Both candidates were outstanding and both gave good speeches.  In the end, the announced candidate won with two thirds of the vote, while his challenger got a third; not bad for a late entry.  I hope he stays active and involved in the party, I can see a real future for him.

The south metro region of OKC metro
is the heart of Cleveland County.

  I had served on the platform committee, and we had simplified our platform vastly over the one from previous years.  We had also made an attempt to congeal the beliefs upon which we all could agree town to simple, broad terminology, with the purpose of building consensus.  This strategy did not go over well, as various ones within the convention wanted their particular pet issue identified and defined more clearly.  After much discussion and debate, with the weather worsening, it was decided to send the parts that were approved through and table the rest.

  We have a great county party, and we're going to do great things.  The biggest challenge I see ahead of us is that certain factions are going to have to learn that they won't ever get everything they want, and that's OK.  They have to learn to pick their battles.  None of us is going to get everything done that we want, but we can all get something out of the deal if we just learn to give and take, and work together for the good of the party, county, state and nation.

• Chairman: 

Dave Spaulding, Former Norman City Councilman and Businessman

• Vice Chairman: 

Larry Heikkila, Retired U.S. Navy Command Master Chief and retired City of Norman Safety Manager

• State Committeeman: 

John Roberts, Former County Party Vice Chairman and current State Party Political Director
State Committeewoman: 

Jana Roberts, Long Time Activist

• District Committeeman: 

John Greening, Officer of The Sooner Republican Assembly and Cartoonist for The Oklahoma Constitution

• District Committeewoman: 

Pat Tautfest, Long Time Activist and President of The Cleveland County Republican Women’s Club

David Van Risseghem