By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - If Butler County Commissioner Michael A. Fox seeks an endorsement from the county's Republican Party again, he figures to get at least two more votes - his and his daughter's.

Fox and his daughter, Ashley, a Miami University student, were among the 257 people elected in hotly-contested Republican Party Central Committee precinct representative races Tuesday. The committee is the party's grass-roots core that makes endorsements and party policies.

Fox's allies "gained about 40 seats" Tuesday, said Donald Carpenter, a Fox supporter who lives in Fairfield. In all, 31 committee members lost their seats Tuesday. Another 25 committee members were elected in precincts that had no incumbent, according to Butler County Board of Elections reports.

Party Chairman Joe Schwarz said the balance of power in the party leadership had not changed Tuesday. "The makeup of the party... is what everyone was expecting," Schwarz said.

Said Joe Statzer, former party political director: "The attempt by an officeholder to take over the Central Committee failed miserably."

Fox and his supporters had encouraged more than 100 people to run for committee seats after he had failed to get the party's endorsement for re-election last fall.

Other party leaders recruited candidates for some seats, he said.

The contests became contentious in the final week, with an unprecedented number of mailings.

Party leaders were upset about a mailing from an unauthorized group, Conservative Republicans for a Change, organized by Carpenter, Fox and West Chester insurance agent Don Spurlock. The unauthorized use of President Bush's photo on the literature angered State Rep. Gary Cates, R-West Chester Township, co-chair of Bush's Butler County campaign.

Carpenter on Monday filed an Ohio Elections Commission complaint over Cates' letter in support of John Crothers, who ran against both Carpenter and his wife in a Fairfield precinct.

Cates warned voters against "outsiders and people who aren't even Republicans (trying to) infiltrate our party." Crothers won the seat by one vote.

Cates Wednesday defended his letters to voters, saying that "some people, in my opinion, are engaged in trying to destroy the party."

Cates agreed with Fox that having more people aggressively campaigning for precinct seats was good for the party.

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com