By Frank Eathorne, guest columnist
Eathorne is the Chairman of the Wyoming Republican Party
Joe McGinley of Casper recently published yet another hit piece against the Wyoming Republican Party, accusing his fellow Republicans of “extremism.” For those of you who are unfamiliar with Joe, you may be surprised at the vitriol and contempt that he directs towards the Republican Party. You may be thinking that anyone who would be so vicious must have something big driving his passion and complaints. That, however, is not the case; it’s just Joe being Joe.
For those of us who have worked with Joe for the last several years, his latest smear comes as no surprise. It is simply the latest rant of someone who has been entirely unsuccessful in convincing his fellow Republicans to follow his lead as he seeks to compromise our long-held Republican principles, and to fundamentally alter the Republican Platform to where it is meaningless as a guiding document.
The officers of the Republican Party have been largely silent as Joe has thrown his public tantrums and spread falsehoods and misinformation. The State Central Committee is tasked with addressing these issues, and we have deferred to those grassroots members to set policy and to respond. We have always recognized Joe’s attacks for what they are – the antics of a sore loser who has been unable to get a foothold in taking over the State Party, with his fellow Republicans on the Central Committee also seeing him for what he. We only respond now at the request of a substantial number of Republicans around the State who are tired of his attempts at defamation and his efforts to destroy our Party from within.
While Joe spun his latest opinion piece in the vein of a recruitment letter asking folks to get involved, his real intention is obvious. He has again watched County Party after County Party around the State elect conservatives to their leadership team (Chairman, State Committeewoman and State Committeeman), and has realized that his dishonest and inaccurate hit pieces against the State Party have gone unheeded.
It is likely that Joe is thinking ahead to the upcoming state officer elections at next month’s Central Committee meetings, and is making a last-ditch attempt to smear anyone not on his personal slate of candidates by resorting to his favorite tactic – branding his fellow Republicans as “extremists.” This is clearly not the Dale Carnegie approach in “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” but again, we are dealing with Joe McGinley here, someone who thinks it is appropriate to call those same Republicans “cockroaches.” Perhaps we will soon be elevated to “extremist cockroaches.” You just never know what Joe will come up with next.
It is also important to understand that, while Joe’s disdain for the Republican Party and his fellow Republicans appears to be limitless, he doesn’t spend the same effort challenging Democrats or their policies. By way of example, while the Democrats in Washington, DC have publicly announced their intention to destroy Wyoming’s energy industries and indoctrinate our children to hate our Country, Joe has chosen to spend his efforts “warning” anyone who may be interested in becoming active with the Republican Party that they will first need to root out the “extremists.” He never says why they are “extremists,” everyone is just supposed to take his word for it.
Joe has a single-minded obsession with getting rid of the conservatives in the Republican Party. That seems to be a rather confounding way to further the goals of the Republican Party, but that has been Joe’s approach, and we doubt that he will change course now. That is just Joe being Joe.
As for the substance of his accusations, what Joe calls “extremism” is nothing more than a belief in and adherence to the conservative ideals and principles set out in the Wyoming Republican Platform (voted on and approved by grassroots Republicans from every County).
Because the Republicans of this State do not agree with Joe’s efforts to water down or, in some cases, entirely nullify, what we stand for, he decided that the best approach was to form a new group, one calling itself the “Frontier Republicans,” the purpose of which appears to be perfecting what would charitably be described as “how to be a moderate,” which, in today’s politics, is kind of like aspiring to be tapioca pudding.
If you think of Mitt Romney, Jeff Flake, and Lisa Murkowski you will get an idea of what the “Frontier Republicans” stand for. If you think of the now infamous “Lincoln Project” (formed solely to attack President Trump) you will get an idea of the purpose of the Frontier Republicans. These folks do not seek to further the conservative agenda; they seek to destroy those who believe in it.
You can say one thing for Joe, he knows how to follow the lead of the Biden administration, the Democrats and the national media. He has learned well that it is best to avoid engaging in a serious discussion about the issues, when calling your opponents “extremists” seems to further your agenda.
The policies and agenda coming out of the new administration in DC pose the greatest threat to the future of this Country that we have seen in our lifetimes, including open borders, campaigns to undermine and defund the police, Nancy Pelosi’s bill to destroy free and fair elections, packing the Supreme Court, attacks on private property rights, taking away our guns, destruction of our mineral industries, the closing of our coal-fired power plants, and energy poverty. These are just some of the threats that we face from Biden’s socialist policies.
The Wyoming Republican Party and its officers have been actively involved with pushing conservative solutions to counter the threats from DC, while also fighting for liberty and freedom. That is the agenda that we will continue to pursue. While Joe may consider our efforts in that regard to be “extreme,” few others do. Now is not the time for Joe’s petty internal party squabbling and name-calling. We have serious work to do to preserve the State and nation we know and love.
We expect that Joe will continue to sling mud, distort the facts, make baseless accusations, and pursue his quest to ruin the names of anyone who sees the world differently than he does. Please remember as you read one of his future diatribes, that it is just Joe being Joe, and most likely means that he lost yet another vote or another election. If you later run into him on the street, pat him on the head and tell him that you wish him well with those Frontier (Lincoln Project) Republicans.
Frank Eathorne
Chairman, Wyoming Republican Party
David Holland
Vice-Chairman, Wyoming Republican Party
Corey Steinmetz
National Committeeman, Wyoming Republican Party
Harriet M. Hageman
National Committeewoman, Wyoming Republican Party
