Allen County Republican Chair Steve Shine should shut his mouth
Posted by Mike Sylvester - 11/14/09 @ 2:13 pm - Filed Under Featured, Local Politics, National Politics
As the readers of this blog know for a long time I truly felt that Steve Shine was a terrible Allen County GOP Chair. Over the last couple of years I think he has done a much better job and my dislike of Mr. Shine has been replaced with a certain degree of respect. It looks like he is doing his best to earn my dislike again…
That being said, he was quoted in the News-Sentinel recently and said some things he should not have said.
Basically the article discusses the recently announced candidacy of Phil Troyer in the upcoming Republican 3rd District primary. Kevin Leininger writes an article where he discusses whether or not Mark Souder is a liberal on some issues or not.
Duh… Mark Souder is a strong social conservative; however, he is a big Government Republican liberal on spending issues. Consider that he voted in favor of expanding Medicare Part D, a roughly 3/4 of a trillion dollar bailout of Wall Street, and that he has voted for numerous dubious bailouts and stimulus plans that fly in the face of capitalism and conservatism…
In the article Kevin Leininger mistakenly says the national debt is 12 billion dollars and rising fast. The national debt is actually 1000 times worse that the article states; it is 12 TRILLION dollars and rising fast…
Steve Shine is the GOP Chair for Allen County. I disliked him when he kept getting involved in Republican primaries. In my opinion his job is to NOT get involved in Republican primaries; his job is to grow the Republican Party.
It is not appropriate for Steve Shine to defend Mark Souder against another Republican in the primary.
The article attributes the following to Steve Shine:
“Souder has been a superb representative, adhering to the conservative values of the district while being cognizant of its needs such as support for General Motors, which is why for the first time in history the plant is running three shifts.”
Steve Shine needs to do some more research because the above statement is so absurd that it is hard to know where to start…
Mark Souder is a social conservative I will give him that. Mark Souder is not honest; he promised to hold office for a maximum of 12 years; next year will be his 14th year. Mark Souder keeps voting with the Democrats on a large range of issues including expanding Medicare Part D (The largest increase in entitlement spending in several decades), needless bailouts of a large number of companies, a huge bailout of the banking system, etc…
It just shocks me that Steve Shine could possibly think that the local GM plant is running three shifts due to Congressman Mark Souder. Seriously Steve?
GM should be in bankruptcy and I would bet that the majority of people who consider themselves conservatives feel that GM should have been allowed to fail. Unfortunately for future Americans the taxpayers were forced to give GM and Chrysler 80 billion dollars of taxpayer money in order to keep them afloat. This money was borrowed and will be paid back with interest…
And to claim that the local GM plant is running three shifts due to the actions of Mark Souder; that is so laughable that no response is necessary…
Steve Shine needs to stay out of the Republican Primary and focus on growing the Republican Party. Steve Shine must be scared that Phil Troyer could pose a serious challenge to the big spending Mark Souder, otherwise, he would not have felt it necessary to involve himself in another Republican primary.
Steve Shine should stay out of the Republican Primary and focus on doing his job; growing the local Republican Party.
Mike Sylvester
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16 Responses to “Allen County Republican Chair Steve Shine should shut his mouth”
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Mike,
Have you ever taken the time to actually write something though provoking and informative for the readers.
It seem like all you ever say is how pissed off and mad you are at this person, or some entity.
You are a very angry man.
Mark - Just what is wrong with Mike being very angry about Souder and his fiscal irresponsibility? And very angry about Steve Shine’s improper excursion into taking sides in the Republican primary? I think you, MARK, ARE THE ONE WAY OFF BASE!
Just out of curiosity, does the A. in your name end in “hole”?
Kalb, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?
Mike, I’m not a big fan of Souder, I’m on record of saying that repeatedly. However, isn’t part of the job of the Republican Party Chairman to defend incumbent Republicans? I didn’t read anything negative he said about Troyer. What is he supposed to say, that Souder is doing a lousy job and should be replaced? How does that help the Republican Party? And while I don’t necessarily agree with Souder all the time, his huge wins against legitimate opposition seem to attest to his representing the views of his constituency.
John,
I never thought you’d ever actually lower yourself to name calling. Maybe it’s your age?
Souder hits the mark for me about 75% of the time. I cannot at any point in my life recall agreeing with 100% of anything any politician did, said or voted on.
I don’t see Shine’s remark as taking sides, he only commented on his opinion of Souder. Was it a veiled endorsement? Perhaps, but he didn’t come out and endorse anyone in his comments, now did he?
As for Troyer, if you’ve seen his complaints on Souder’s votes, a great deal of them are bills Souder voted on to approve funding for business incubators, tech centers, etc. These are job “creation” projects, not unlike the Innovation Center here in Fort Wayne. Is Troyer against investing in job growth? It would seem so.
People like Mike, and now I assume you, just see evil in any house member that’s been there for an extended period of time. Souder’s work in the 3rd district has saved as well as created many jobs.
In addition, just what is Troyer hiding from on the real issues? If you go to his web site, he’s just like Hayhurst, there isn’t anything addressing the issues there. Is Troyer going to be another “wait and see” what the local sentiment is before he tells us where he stands?
Working for Dan Coats when your in high school or being his press secretary certainly does not qualify him. Where’s his positions? Put them out there for people to digest. I’d like to know for example where he stands on education, especially since his daughter attends the $15,000 per year Canterbury School.
Considering the above, I also find it odd that Troyer’s only political contribution I can find, ever, both nationally and within Indiana is $250 to a law school buddy who ran a failed campaign in Bloomington in 2000. He’s certainly no party patron.
As for Shine, he needs to go, we all know that. He loaded the vote for chair with precinct committeeman appointees and it was disgraceful. However, no one cast their vote for a candidate based on what the local chair says, unless they’re one of the sheeple.
Oh, and to get down to your curb-level commenting I have to ask this, just to be fair. Does the middle initial b in your name end in “itch?”
:)
Mike,
I think any attempt to defend Souder as conservative is absurd and frankly not worth debating. However, I do want to point out that I disagree with the following statement you made:
That money will NEVER be paid back - EVER. It’s not possible even if you think GM will get back to a market cap that’s at its historical peak (which is highly unlikely).
I suppose if you project out 10 generations or something it might technically be possible but for all intent and purposes that money is not coming back…
Mark A,
I find it odd that you seem to view political patronage as a virtue. I think that’s one of the biggest problems with our system - regardless of which party one is affiliated with.
I will agree with you that an old internship position counts for very little and that if the candidate doesn’t explain themselves on the issues well they are not worth voting for.
Mark A,
I write all kinds of things that are thought provoking…
You should read them…
Mike
Keith,
No, Steve Shine’s job is to grow the Republican Party.
I think you could argue that his job is also to defend Republcains from attacks from other parties; however, he should stay out of primaries…
Mike
Jeff,
The Government loaned 80 billion to GM. I do not think much if any of it will be paid back.
So the taxpayers have to pay the 80 billion back that the government borrowed plus interest…
Mike
Mark A. - As soon as I hit the “send” button, I regretted doing it (the question of age may be true-my wife sure thinks so!) I also figured that the …”itch” was a probably comeback - and it was. Touche’
The position of US Representative (and Senator) was never intended to be a “life-long” assignment by our founders - and Mr. Souder ran on a “term-limits” platform back 15 years ago. Dan Coats did set a term-limit standard - I just wish that Souder had followed his example
Just for the record I am not that Mark A.!! I do agree with Mike when one of your platforms was termlimits then youshould live up to it and get out of the trough when you have had your fill…
Quick question: Should Rep. Souder not take into consideration the opinion of the voter who thought he was WRONG, when he placed term limits upon himself?
Sadly that might actually be a better response than the “changing district” one he gave…
Souder should have went around his district, hat in hand, and told people that although he was fully committed to term limits when elected, he was really starting to get some things done for NE Indiana and now was asking his constituents to release him from his pledge so he could continue to effectively represent Hoosiers in NE Indiana. If anyone thinks I should be held to my pledge, he should have said, please vote against me, I will not take it personally. He would have won in a landslide and we never would have heard about term limits again.
The whole term limits, changing district thing is why I will never vote for him (unless his opponent runs off the stage during a debate OR his opponent utilizes Matt Kelty in his campaign).
Come on Mark?? Everybody knows that the “B” in Mr. Kalb’s name stands for Boondoggle.
John and Mark- Your obscene comments were great! But you have to realize I listened to that kind of stuff for 30 years working in manufacturing plants. We were called plant trash but we were the ones that made the money. I laughed out loud at John’s but Mark’s didn’t have quite the same bite. Mark, call me before you try another one.