By Mike Thayer
FARMERSBURG, IA. -- I had the priviledge of attending a Clayton County Republican Central Meeting last night and it was truly enjoyable.
The folks of Clayton County know what they're doing!
Attended by about 35 people, the meeting chaired by Denny Hamann was very cordial, informative and productive. Everything was very polite but relaxed, people asked great questions, nobody talked over each other, answers given by members of the committee were straight forward. Three members of the Central Committee are also elected officials of the county, all giving nice updates regarding county business to the GOP Central Committee members in attendance.
Being from Coralville and attending several Johnson County Republican Central Committee meetings over the years, what I witnessed last night was refreshing. In Clayton County, there was no bickering, no whining, no sidetracking on nonsense, and most importantly, no progressive thought! And here's something else of note: Clayton County knows how to raise cash. Their fund balance was surprisingly similar to that of Johnson County's! That's an indicator of what healthy party production will do for you.
Clayton County is in northeast Iowa and includes towns like Strawberry Point, Elkader and Guttenburg and makes up part of Iowa's First Congressional District.
Also on the agenda last night were some speakers.
Mike Breitbach, a resident of Strawberry Point is running for a state senate seat (state district 28). A lot of people have high hopes for this man, more information can be found at his website at: http://www.friendsforbreitbach.com/
Businessman Rod Blum of Dubuque, is running for Congress, hoping to face off this fall against Democrat incumbent Bruce Braley. At this time, Blum is the only announced and official GOP candidate and has no competition for the primary race. A detailed story regarding his comments at the Clayton County meeting is forthcoming.
Lawyer Ben Lange of Independence also spoke to the committee. Lange ran against Braley and lost in 2010 and is considering another run. He is currently in Exploratory Committee status, which means he can't actively campaign. A detailed story regarding his comments is also forthcoming. You won't want to miss this, it's a follow-up to the related stories here on the Coralville Courier regarding the FEC stated differences between testing the waters and active campaigning.
Again, it was a pleasure to attend this meeting and I look forward to atttending another, as well as others throughout the state.
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