PRESS RELEASE: Conservative Republican Candidates refuse to participate in "Republican Club of Cecil County" debate.

Cecil County, MD, March 8, 2018: Candidates for Cecil County Council Ed Larsen, Thomas Wilson, and Richard Lewandowski have announced that they will not be participating in any debates hosted by the Republican Club of Cecil County.

The Republican Club of Cecil County has long been accused of being a vehicle of establishment politicians and other insiders which is used to give the public the false impression that certain Republican candidates are endorsed over other by the Republican Party.

The truth is that the Republican Club of Cecil County has no connection to the Maryland GOP and, unlike official Republican Central Committees, The Republican Club of Cecil County has no members who are elected to their positions by the public.

In past election years, The Republican Club of Cecil County has hosted primary Republican debates in which only paying club members are allowed to vote for the candidates that the club will be endorsing. Many people have expressed concerns that these debates are merely used to prop up pre-selected candidates who will then use the club's endorsement on campaign materials to gain an advantage over "outsider" candidates. Official Republican Central Committees refrain from endorsing any Republican primary candidates and instead focus on supporting Republican candidates during the general elections.

Currently, County Executive Alan McCarthy presides as The Republican Club of Cecil County President. McCarthy has received financial backing and endorsements from The Cecil Business Leaders for Better Government PAC, who have strong ties to the Republican club. The Cecil Business Leaders for Better Government PAC have already endorsed candidates who will be opposing Larsen, Wilson, and Lewandowski in their primary races for County Council causing concern that any debate hosted by The Republican Club of Cecil County has a huge potential for bias and favoritism. This concern is magnified by the fact that every Cecil Business Leaders for Better Government PAC endorsed candidate in recent years has been declared a winner in the Republican Club's debates.

It is for these reasons that Mr. Wilson, Mr. Larsen, and Mr. Lewandowski respectfully decline to participate in any Republican Club of Cecil County debates.

RESPONSE LETTER to the Republican Club of Cecil County

Cecil County Republican Council Candidates decline invitation to debate

March 8th, 2018

To The “Republican Club of Cecil County”

We would like to thank the club for its kind invitation to a debate. We have given some thought to your recent correspondence. It is always difficult to decide how to respond to people whose ethos is so alien to our own. We feel obliged to say that nothing fruitful or sincere could ever emerge from the debates between us as the County Executive Alan McCarthy being your president of that club and the majority of the proxy members are part of the Cecil Business Leaders PAC who have already made their endorsements well known and would certainly foster bias in these “debates”.

We should like you to understand the intensity of this conviction on our part. It is not out of any attempt to be rude that we say this; but it is because of all that we value in Republican principles, which has not been fostered or applied with your long established club.

We would also like to announce to all of the conservative Republicans who take the Republican principles seriously that “Republicans are taking back Cecil County”

Yours sincerely,

Vincent S. Sammons

Tom Wilson

Ed Larsen

Richard Lewandowski