The Campbell County Republican Party’s first official meeting of the year was Thursday evening, and the party elected a new treasurer and submitted a written notice of removal for the chair.
Members of the party have been outspoken about divisions that emerged in February. Party members called two special sessions, one in March and one in April, to remove Chair Anna Zinkhon and Treasurer Stephen Cunningham from their positions. The Republican Party of Kentucky’s 4th District ruled those meetings invalid because Zinkhon did not call them to order.
During Thursday’s meeting, Zinkhon announced that Cunningham had resigned and that they would need to nominate and elect a new treasurer.
Cunningham told LINK nky he resigned due to his family welcoming a new child and his disinterest in working with particular party members.
“Our third child is due in August,” Cunningham said. “I have no desire to be in the same room with Jessica Neal, Geraldine Olson, Tammy Nolan, Jerry Gearding, Kim Zimmerman, and their entire crew of crazy people.”
Party members nominated Terry Hatton and precinct captain Steve Kunath, and they were each given five minutes to state their case as to why they were fit for the position.
Kunath won the election with 28 votes to Hatton’s 18.
“I am super excited that Steve Kunith is the new CCRP Treasurer,” Nolan told LINK nky. “He will do an amazing job. He’s very detailed. It is no surprise that Steve Cunningham could not bow out gracefully and had to slander members of the CCRP as he exited the party. No surprise, we’ve seen it many times before with him. He’s always had a real problem controlling his temper and acting professional.”
Kunath is originally from Fort Thomas but said he spent 21 years in the Washington D.C. area. He said he primarily worked in various odd jobs involving government contracting around D.C. and has a doctorate in economics.
“My goal would be to try to keep the funds that we have—I think $151 or something like that—try to keep it so that we cannot spend any of it,” Kunath said. “I would rather not spend money personally unless it’s approved by the committee. And to ensure access to any financial records to try to make presentations easily digestible.”
During the meeting, Precinct Captain Mirna Eads said the party has $151.84 in its account as of May 1.
One member asked Kunath what he would do as treasurer to try and reunite the party.
“It seems that there’s one sticking point that we did discuss here, which was access to financial records and making sure that any receipts or any information about purchases, expenditures are clear,” Kunath said. “So, I’m going to emphasize having clarity throughout the financial process as much as possible to anyone who’s there. So, at the very least, we can remove that from the issues and concern amongst the membership.”
During the meeting, a written notice was also submitted for the removal of Zinkhon.
Precinct Captain Dwight Hornsby submitted the notice. Once the meeting concluded, registered parliamentarian Byron Baxter, whom Zinkhon hired for help with the parliamentary procedure during the meeting, said Hornsby’s notice was written incorrectly.
Precinct captain Kim Zimmerman rewrote and signed the notice and shared it with LINK nky.
“I give previous notice of a motion to be made at the next meeting to remove the chairman of the party,” Zimmerman’s notice said.
Zinkhon confirmed after the meeting that she had been “served” and the removal would appear on the next Campbell County Republican Party meeting agenda but did not state when that meeting would be held.
Here is a timeline of CCRP events since February:
March 2: Campbell County Republicans to vote on the removal of chair and treasurer in April.
April 14: Campbell County Republican Party votes to remove leaders; chair claims meetings are invalid.
April 25: Campbell County Republican Party chair removal won’t stand, state GOP says.
May 18: Campbell County Republican Party chair asks nine party members to resign.
June 22: Campbell County meetings to vote out chair; treasurer ruled invalid.
July 19: The first Campbell County Republican Party meeting of the year was scheduled.
