The two leading factions of the Warren County Republican Party are in a standoff over who will lead the party for the next two years.

        The internal upheaval came to a head at last week's organizational meetings of the county's central and executive committees, both of which adjourned prematurely after shouting and other unpleasantness, according to several of the more than 100 attendees.

        The central committee elected officers, but did not finish appointing at-large executive members. The executive committee broke before electing officers.

        “Some of the great disagreement is against me,” executive committee Chairman Les Spaeth says. “They want me out.”

        “They” is the party's unofficial “conservative caucus,” unofficially led by county Right to Life President Lori Viars.

        The conservatives — who are younger and newer to the county than longtime party leaders — want to replace 77-year-old Mr. Spaeth with Mason Councilman Tom Grossmann, 44.

        “We have a lot of young professionals, younger family people — just like myself — and I think we need to bring them into the party,” says Mr. Grossmann, an attorney in downtown Cincinnati. “Who better to get them involved than people who are like them?”

        The conservatives have held sway in the party since 1994, Ms. Viars says, “but never sought the chairman's seat in order to maintain party unity.”

        The turning point came with Gov. Bob Taft's visit to the county party's Lincoln Day dinner earlier this year. Conservatives, angry about Mr. Taft's selection of a pro-choice running mate, wanted to dis-invite him, but the executive committee's board decided not to do so, by a one-vote margin.

        “Politically, you have to support your leader, and Bob Taft as the governor of the state of Ohio is the leader of the state party,” Mr. Spaeth says. “If I don't like it, it doesn't make any difference. That's what you must do as chairman.”

        The factions
have been negotiating since last week's aborted organizational meetings, Mr. Spaeth and others say, but it's not yet clear how and when the standoff will be resolved.

        Stay tuned.

        Over and out: The last of the elections complaints stemming from last fall's Lebanon City Council race ended with a whimper last week in Columbus.

        On a 5-2 vote at a hearing Thursday, the Ohio Elections Commission found businessman John McComb did not make false statements in a newspaper ad criticizing several incumbents.

        Four people, including then-council members Mark Flick and Jane Davenport, filed the complaints over the ad, which dealt with a nearly 200-year-old, fire-damaged building that council ultimately forced Mr. McComb to sell to the city.

        Other election complaints filed against Mr. McComb and candidates Amy Brewer and Norm Dreyer II were dismissed or withdrawn earlier.

        Tips and comments on suburban politics may be relayed to reporter Cindi Andrews via phone, 755-4157, or e-mail, at candrews@enquirer.com.

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