Saline County Republican Headquarters at Market Street and Sevier Street in downtown Benton. (Photo by Shelli Poole)
The owners of the local Republican Headquarters building voted recently to remove the current Committee from the premises. That moving day was happening on Tuesday, afternoon, July 2nd, 2024. Pay close attention to the names of the players in the statement below, because they are named very similarly. We have color-coded them to help sort it out.
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STATEMENT FROM THE BUILDING OWNERS:
Friday night, June 28th, the Republican Party of Saline County, Inc. held a meeting to address concerns over the use of its property at 125 North Market St. Benton, AR.
The property at 125 N. Market is owned by the Republican Party of Saline County, Inc. a non-profit corporation whose purpose is to advance and support the Republican Party, its principles, and its candidates. The Saline County Republican Committee has been allowed to use 125 N. Market for meetings; their obligation in return for this use is to pay the property taxes and insurance coverage.
As the property owners, the members of the Republican Party of Saline County, Inc. voted unanimously to issue a notice to the Saline Co. Republican Committee (and the Saline County Republican Women) to vacate their property effective 5:00 p.m. July 7, 2024.
Over the past year, the current committee has begun to take a strange turn, for example conducting “meetings before the meetings” behind closed and locked doors, where the decisions of the county Republican committee were orchestrated. It was additionally troublesome that meetings were conducted with no regard to decorum or a sense of “fair play.”
While there have been these and other concerns, it was the following two incidents that prompted the decision to request the committee to vacate:
1. The committee’s vote of “no confidence” in our elected members of the U.S. Congress – Sen. Tom Cotton, Sen. John Boozman and Rep. French Hill and their subsequent press release to advertise this vote. As such, this committee actively worked against the stated purpose of the Republican Party of Saline County, Inc.
2. The committee endangered the investment in our property at 125 N. Market by its failure to pay the property insurance by the due date, which rendered the building uninsured.
The Republican Party of Saline County, Inc. remains committed to aiding the elections of our Republican nominees and supporting our Republican elected officials.
While each individual maintains their God-given and Constitutional right of free expression, the Republican Party of Saline County, Inc. ,as an entity, will not abdicate our organizing principle to support and advance our Republican Party, its principles, and its candidates. Full stop.
READ PART 2:
Part 2 – Local Republican Chair responds to vote to remove Committee from building