A MN Publius reader has tipped us off to some controversy brewing inside the local Republican party. Joe Repya, a very prominent Republican activist who lost to Ron Carey last year in a battle for the chairmanship of the MN GOP, has been formally rebuked by a local party unit in the south metro for sending abusive emails to a local party official.
The controversy started when Repya requested that the Republican Party Chair of SD 38 send tracking footage of St. Reps Sandra Masin and Shelly Madore filmed by local activists at a town hall meeting to a few other local party chairs. After not receiving the footage in the timeframe he expected, Repya fired off a series of abusive emails, including one excerpted below.
Dear Justin,
Thank you for your response. However, if you were troubled by my tone you may want to be seated while reading my response.
Your response reminds me of the spoiled child in the school yard that has a toy that the other children would like to play with. Instead of sharing, the spoiled child thumps his chest and ignores the other children’s requests…
…You have provided me with a great blog post on “How Not To Be a Team Player and Lose Elections!” I’ll give you until 5:00 PM this evening to do the right thing and contact the SD Chairs of 37 and 40 and tell them that you will have a copy of the tapes for them by Friday. I’ll even pick up and copy the tapes for you is that will help.
Otherwise, I will post the most scathing blog entry with your own words aboven about your show boating and inability to help 2 CD and fellow Republican SD’s. You will become the poster boy for what is wrong with the Party. I’ll also provide your contact information so that your fellow Republican’s can contact you and tell you what they think about your motives and comments and Democrats can contact you and tell you to keep up the great work!
Your behavior in this matter has been shocking and real disappointment. I suggest you correct your ego and help the team, or we certainly will have a another bad November. It is “bullshit” behavior like this that makes me sick to be a Republican.
Now, is that clear enough for you to understand?
Respectfully,
Joe
Distressed by Repya’s conduct, the SD 38 Executive Board passed the following resolution unanimously.
The SD 38 Republicans Executive Committee fully supports the conduct of SD 38 GOP Chairman Justin Countryman in his handling of the materials of a town hall event on April 19, 2008, as Justin was working with the appropriate parties to strategically maximize the impact of the materials.
The SD 38 Republicans Executive Committee condemns the threatening, coercive and abusive behavior of Joe Repya in communications with SD 38 GOP Chairman Justin Countryman in regard to the release of materials of a town hall event on April 19, 2008.
MN Publius is attempting to contact Joe Repya for comment and we’ll publish any response he might care to make.
UPDATE: Turns out it wasn’t footage of Franken, but rather Masin and Madore. Also, Andy Apilkowski takes Repya’s side.
UPDATE 2: Joe Repya responds at his blog. I will have much more on this story tomorrow.
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Music, sweet music.
Help me out here.
Why would Joe Repya, or any GOP official, care to provide comments to a DFL operative regarding an internal GOP party dispute?
Swiftee,
It is standard journalistic practice to offer both sides a chance to present evidence. It is called journalistic intgetrity. I assume you watch Fox so that is a foreign concept, but the point is that you offer both sides the chance, whether or not they choose to speak is up to them. Alec
Because, Swiftee, we paid someone to fake the e-mail. Then we bribed them all to actually make the resolution and the statement, and are actively using the liberal media to cover it up and make the Republicans look bad.
Jeez, why does any dirty laundry ever get aired? Someone on the other side had an ax to grind, obviously.
And here I thought the Republican Party was tearing itself apart between the cheap labor Corpratists, Religious anti-science Whackjobs and the anti-latino Know Nothings. To find out it is all about secrecy, access to video footage and who pissed in who’s corn-flakes… well if greed is your only foundation for a political philosophy may be it does make some sense.
Did you know that John McCain is older than the Golden Gate Bridge? Some how this does not fill me with confidence in his ability to face the challenges of the 21st Century.
When the GOP no longer stands for anything other than fear mongering and lying to win elections, and that no longer works, the individuals involved begin to show their true colors.
The Republican implosion continues…
Swiftee,
Why would Joe Repya, or any GOP official, care to provide comments to a DFL operative regarding an internal GOP party dispute?
this coming from a guy who is adamant that Al Franken should disclose his personal financial dealings with his account to the public.
talk about hypocrisy…..
Both Madore and Masin are 2 of the worst fundraisers in the DFL caucus.
Nice to know that while Julie Bunn and Jeremy Kalin work there tails off on their fundraising, Madore and Masin think they can be lazy knowing their caucus will bail them out in the months before the election.
Sacred feces! Been away from this place for a while, and lookee, lookee. We’re used to LTE screeds from Joe Repya, so nothing much new there. Okay, a documented threat, but hey, that’s the Bushlican way. Then, as I scrolled down through comments, suddenly found myself plunging even further down the rabbit hole to the Madore/Masin grenadelet. Poot! Must be half past silly again.
You wanna talk irony? If Obama wins, Repya (as a commissioned officer in the US Army (Active, Reserve, National Guard, Retired or Ready Reserve) he is prohibited from speaking in a disparaging manner about the President . I do belive I found a reason to vote for Obama - just to shut Repya up! Of course, if Repya decides to resign his commission, he is free to speak (what’s left of) his mind. But then he wouldn’t have an excuse to suit up again, taking a valuable place that a fit officer in our military could fill. Repya has been a blowhard since day one, he is not a Republican, he’s a blowhard and a bully.
Yoni, you unmitigated moron. Al Franken is running for US Senate; Joe Repya is not.
Al Franken hopes to hold one of the most important offices on the planet; Joe Repya is involved in an inside baseball rundown.
Can you get your pea sized brain around the difference?
That was a rhetorical question…save your dribble.
Does anyone actually believe anything that this guy says. He is a guy that is completely of his rocker and has shown on more than one occasion his tendency to blow up.
This guy cannot handle at all the fact that he is completely irrelevant to the MN GOP and the vast majority of all of its activists. Threatening a BPOU leader, is that how he would have conducted himself as party chair?
My resonse is posted on my blog: The Eagle’s Nest Blog at:
http://joerepya.typepad.com/eaglesnest/
IM,
I’m retired, so I can say anything I wish about Obama.
gopgal,
You obviously missed Ron Carey doing exactly that last weekend in Rochester to a number of BPOU Chairs. My quess is you work for the party and are just on of their goons.
gopgal,
You obviously missed Ron Carey doing exactly that last weekend in Rochester to a number of BPOU Chairs. My quess is you work for the party and are just one of their goons.
If I know this right Madore and Masin are two of the most pathetic fundraisers in the Democratic caucus.
Nice to know that while REp. Bunn and REp. Kalin work hard to raise money, Madore and Masin will be lazy hoping their caucus will bail out their laziness in the final 30 days of the campaign.
…….gee….maybe with all this tension and personal disagreement within the Republican party, I should vote for Democrats instead of Republicans and embrace more of a tax-and-spend approach which includes heavy Government involvement and excessive social welfare……
Nope, it was only a nightmare. I’m still voting for McCain, Coleman, and several other R’s on the ticket in November. This kind of stuff might make for an entertaining blog posting, but do you really think it is a signal of a party in chaos?
Repya clearly can’t get over the fact that he got his clock cleaned by Ron Carey in the election for State Party Chair.
I didn’t stick around for the State Central meeting last weekend but from what I heard, Repya pretty much destroyed the little bit of credibility he had left with anyone on State Central.
I saw him walking around the Convention, trying to kiss the keister of any member of the press who would listen to him. Repya loves the attention from the media — I wonder if he has ever made a volunteer phone call or knocked on doors. He likes the spotlight but does’t want to get in the trenches and do the real grassroots work.
It appears as though he becomes unhinged very easily — something that will not serve him well in politics. If he were ever elected to a Party leadership position, it’d be a huuuuuge gift for the DFL.
Looks like Repya is showing the anger that caused the censure from SD38 in the first place. This guy is losing his marbles and is falling off the deep end!
Repya, you are right, I was not at the state convention, I did hear you got quite the beat down though! Because that statement about the chairman is coming from you I don’t believe it!
Yes, Dan - it’s the signal of a party in chaos.
There’s a reason republiCon Ron didn’t discuss all of the Amended To The Amended To The Amended FEC Returns during the convention; there’s a reason republiCon Ron shut the Central Committee meeting after the convention down, rather than field questions about the abismal shape of party financial records.
But, before the meeting was shut down, the Auditor is reported to have admitted to a SEVEN FIGURE ERROR.
The party is in chaos because the current party leadership caused GOP to stand for GreedOverPrinciples.
Colonel Repya is a National Delegate, and rumor is GOP “Leadership” is planning on revoking his delegate status.
The funny thing is, rumor also has it that the 2 alternates behind LTC Repya are Paulites - do you see the irony of GOP Leadership kicking out Repya in order to seat a Paulite?
The Minnesota Republican party teeters between being a sit-com and a melodrama. It is a great laugh either way.
You would think that the head of the party, some suggesting the next Vice President, could get this greed circus under control. Or at least not stealing funds, stepping on basic political rights and playing nice. Then a wise man once said that the Republican Party resembles a tribe of cannibals… look out when they run out of enemies.
gopgal is slandering Joe Repya’s good name. His comments about the convention stuck to the facts, I was there. His blog is here for all: http://joerepya.typepad.com/eaglesnest/2008/06/the-minnesota-g.html