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Owner59 -> Teas and Cons battle each other in New Hampshire (8/24/2011 11:02:16 PM)
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/24/new-hampshire-republicans_n_935689.html
The chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, Tea Party leader Jack Kimball, will be notified Thursday that members of the party's executive committee will vote on whether to remove him at a Sept. 1 meeting, sources in the state told The Huffington Post.
Two sources said at least 20 of the 36 committee members support removing Kimball. Only 19 are needed to do so. If Kimball is voted out, longtime vice chairman Wayne McDonald would take over the chairman's spot.
Kimball called the meeting himself in response to growing controversy over his seven-month-old chairmanship that has spilled into the national spotlight this week, following accusations by Kimball that national and state Republicans are withholding money from the state party to force him to step down.
DeLemus also told HuffPost that many Tea Party activists will leave the Republican party if Kimball is ousted, though he downplayed any talk of forming a third party.
Since then, however, his performance has drawn little praise even from his staunchest supporters. He has been a lackluster fundraiser, he has not built relationships with either Republican officials and activists or with the press, and he has not been an aggressive or loud voice speaking out against Democrats. Instead, he has drawn media attention by making several gaffes -- the most recent being his signature of a petition to allow the Libertarian party on the ballot in the general election.
Besides the fact that a Libertarian candidate would siphon votes away from a Republican presidential candidate in 2012, Granite State Republicans believe that Kimball has violated the party's bylaws by signing the petition.
In addition to all this, the Republicans have also lost two special elections for state legislature seats, prompting more criticism of Kimball and also raising questions about the actual influence of Tea Party groups.
In response to all this, Kimball and his supporters have resorted to accusations of bribery by national Republicans. Kimball told the Manchester Union-Leader that O'Brien told him the Republican Governors Association was withholding $100,000 from the state party on the condition that he resign from the chairmanship. It was an allegation first aired on a Tea Party-affiliated blog. The RGA has denied this. O'Brien is not commenting on the matter.
But early Wednesday morning, an anonymous e-mail was sent to reporters that claimed to be from a new Tea Party group, the Granite State TEA Party. It attacked Sununu for opposing Kimball last winter, and said the chairman " has been operating with one hand tied behind his back" because of the lack of support from others in the party.
The email described the $100,000 that was supposedly being withheld as "blood money" and said that "an all out civil war is brewing in New Hampshire between 'establishment' and TEA Party Republicans."
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