As many of the regular readers of the blog can attest to, there is a serious problem with the leadership of the Oldham County GOP, specifically with the Chairperson Anne Gernstein. I have been active in the political scene of Oldham County for nearly five years now and during that time I have rarely experienced a time when Anne Gernstein was not dividing the party, rather than uniting and moving it forward. To speak frankly, in my opinion saying that Anne Gernstein’s leadership has been abysmal would be an understatement. Nonexistent would be a much more accurate description.
I have spoken to countless people around Oldham County and the consensus is very clear that Anne Gernstein is destroying the Oldham County GOP. Her actions as Chairperson are hardly what one would usually expect from a party leader. To begin with, saying that Anne Gernstein “speaks like a sailor” would be a slap in the face to sailors, as the lewd language and disgraceful way in which she has spoken about nearly every elected Republican official in Oldham County is unacceptable. Anne Gernstein thrives on gossiping and belittling Republicans throughout Oldham County. Furthermore, in my opinion, she also seems to have a serious problem with other women being in positions of power, based upon her obvious disdain for women such as Mary Ellen Kinser, Paula Gish, and Julie Barr.
As many Republicans who are seeking office for the first time have found out over the years, Anne Gernstein is known for “blacklisting” anyone who decides to run for office that doesn’t “approach her throne” and ask for permission and her stamp of approval to seek the office. This happened to me and at least four other first-time Republican candidates for office in the last five years. Even sadder is that fact that others who have spoken with her prior to filing for elective office were typically discouraged and told of the many reasons “why they could never win”.
Anne Gernstein is also known for choosing sides in local primary elections here in Oldham County. What kind of a party leader engages in such practices? She openly worked for and supported Duane Murner in his candidacy for Judge-Executive, even though there were other candidates, including a sitting Republican Judge-Executive. Another issue that I have discussed with several people is that fact that Anne Gernstein operates the Republican headquarters from a leased space in LaGrange with a sign over the office encouraging people to vote for Duane Murner as Judge-Executive. This sign has been in place for approximately five years now. Anne has told me personally that Howard Ferrell, the owner of the building, put the sign up. However, if she were so opposed to its placement, why hasn’t she moved to a new location over the last five years?
Another interesting topic is how Anne Gernstein appropriates the funding received by the local GOP through donations and attendance at the annual Lincoln dinner. To the best of my knowledge, a large percentage of this money goes directly to her, solely at her discretion for various “expenses”. I have yet to see one dime of money spent to support local Republicans running in contested races. Many other counties spend donated funds to back Republicans in contested races, why not Anne Gernstein and our local GOP? Even more disappointing is that Anne has worked far more for candidates OUTSIDE of Oldham County, such as Marcus Carey and Mike Sodrel, than local Republicans. She also chose to support Tray Grayson in the U.S. Senate Primary earlier this year and in my opinion has done very little to support Rand Paul in his race against Jack Conway. This is quite simply unacceptable.
The final straw with many local Republicans concerning Anne Gernstein was her abysmal handling of the nomination process to replace the deceased County Attorney John Fendley. While she had more than sufficient time to interview candidates, she chose not to do so. Instead, she spent her time soliciting John Carter to submit his name as a candidate. There were other candidates who also submitted their names for consideration, including Galen Clark who lost the May primary by less than 200 votes to John Fendley. Anne Gernstein’s disdain for Mr. Clark is so prevalent that she never considered him for the nomination, as evidenced by the sound byte recently heard on this site. She even went as far as to mock County Judge-Executive Duane Murner because in her words, he wanted Courtney Baxter nominated. Anne Gernstein could care less what the Republicans of Oldham County want, as evidenced by her complete slap in their face for not giving Galen Clark fair consideration for the nomination. Mr. Clark is a man who has run for the office twice previously, unlike Mr. Carter who has never run for the position previously. Now, Anne is working feverishly to help Mr. Carter get elected in an effort to save what little face she might have left. If you look at her car, the only Republican candidate in the county who she will display magnetic signs for is John Carter, even though there are several other contested local races. Way to go Anne in supporting all local candidates!
It is clear that Anne Gernstein has likely alienated herself with nearly every office within Oldham County by her badmouthing of elected Republicans who run them. This includes the County Clerk, Sheriff, Judge-Executive, and the Fiscal Court Magistrates. Additionally, she has lied in some of her statements about various officials, including Magistrate Rick Rash. As for others, the vicious rumors which Anne Gernstein spreads around the county have been damaging and are totally unnecessary.
I have been informed that several of the larger annual donors to the local GOP are withdrawing their support until Anne Gernstein steps aside or is removed. I applaud each of them for this. There is no way in my opinion for her to ever regain any shred of respect necessary to effectively operate in her position. It is time that she does the right thing for once and step aside. She has devastated the local party unity enough already.
