Tom Zawistowski, self-appointed leader of Ohio’s tea party movement by virtue of his numerous press releases, has been talking big about bringing down what he calls “the establishment” for months now.
Who is the evil “establishment”?
Anyone who doesn’t toe his line 100%. Agreeing with somebody on 80% or even 90% of the issues isn’t good enough for Tom. That just means you are a RINO and must be torn down.
His Ohio Citizen’s PAC endorsed 25 candidates for Ohio legislative seats. He also aimed for knocking off incumbent Congressmen David Joyce and John Boehner. He made bold predictions in numerous emails:
Can you feel the Panic in the Political Establishment???
Can you feel the change coming? Can you feel the power of the people surging? Can you sense the panic from the political establishment?
Have you heard about Shannon Jones begging RINO Senate Leader Keith Faber for more money for mailings this week because she is afraid of Kelly Kohl’s? Have you heard about the poll in the 8th Congressional district that shows John Boehner below 50% in his race against J.D. Winteregg? Do you know that Union backed RINO Dave Joyce in NEOhio is only at 35% in the polls and fighting for his life against Matt Lynch?Our “sweat equity” will beat their money…
How many incumbents did Tom Z defeat?
One, in Peter Stautberg. (Peter Beck doesn’t count. With 69 indictments against him and most every Republican in the state calling for him to resign, he was done for on his own.)
Boehner got over 70% of the vote. Shannon Jones won by 40 points. Joyce beat Lynch by double digits.
Tom even launched a campaign against the governor after failing multiple times to recruit a primary challenger for him. He actually called it “Operation Do Not Vote For Kasich”.
We need to emphasize the point how much they need our support on May 6th and you need to communicate this to all or your contacts. We want our people to vote, but we do not want them to vote for Governor. Just leave it blank. Vote for Josh Mandel and Yost and DeWine and Housted, all of whom are un-opposed in the primary, but leave the Governor blank. Why? Because we want to show the good governor what votes, and how many workers, he is not going to have come November if he does not give us a reason to support him. Get the word out all week long. I would love to see a huge vote difference between what the others get and what Kasich gets.
To other purveyors of purity, it was just assumed in their world that Kasich would have fewer votes. It was just a question of how many.
@baseballcrank will be interesting to see how fall short Kasich falls of vote totals for treasurer/auditor/etc…
— Jason Hart (@jasonahart) May 7, 2014
The result? Kasich received more votes than any other statewide candidate.
Zawistowski’s campaign of name-calling, negativity and division doesn’t seem to be resonating with Ohio voters, does it?
I don’t agree with what Governor Kasich has done 100%, either. I’d say it’s probably around 85%. The difference between me and Tom is that I don’t believe that 15% is reason to tear him down with as much fervor as the Democrats do.
Ronald Reagan’s 80-20 rule applies here. Reagan, who these folks would call a RINO in 2014, once said “Somebody who agrees with me 80 percent of the time is a friend and ally, not a 20 percent traitor.”
It looks like Ohio’s Republican primary voters agree with me and the Gipper.
With the hyberbole of his rhetoric leading up to the primary, and the dismal results he obtained, Zawistowski has revealed himself to be nothing but a loudmouth paper tiger.
