The Hamilton County Republican Party should be smiling ear-to-ear.  The party controls most all the elective offices in the county.  Hamilton County is likely the most Republican county in the State of Indiana, possibly one of the most Republican counties in the nation.

That should set the stage for a celebratory annual event, the Lincoln Day Dinner, set for April 13th.   There’s one fact, however, that may throw a damper on the festivities.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness will not be attending the Lincoln Day Dinner.  Fishers City Council President John Weingardt will also be elsewhere during the dinner.  I haven’t asked everyone, but I haven’t found a Fishers elected official that plans to attend.

So, the top elected officials of the fastest growing city in the county will not be present for the biggest party bash of the year.  What’s going on?

There are still bad feelings over the handling of the vacancy for the party chairmanship when long-time party chief Pete Emigh resigned last year.  Emigh appointed a number of people to fill vacant precinct positions.  Those precinct officials were fired by Laura Cambell, who became acting chair (she had been county party vice chair before Emigh left).  The Emigh appointees were believed to be supporters of Fishers City Councilman and county party treasurer Pete Peterson.

One of Emigh’s appointees was Fadness.  He appealed to the state party, objecting to his firing as a precinct official.  The precinct people vote on the new county chair.

The Indiana State Republican Party ruled in favor of Fadness and the other precinct appointees by Emigh and they were allowed to vote in a caucus that elected Peterson as Hamilton County Republican Party Chairman.  But, the votes were coded so party officials knew how many votes came from Emigh appointees.  The late appointees by Emigh provided the margin of victory.  Without the Emigh appointee votes, Laura Campbell would have been elected chair.

Laura Campbell appealed the vote and the state party ruled in her favor, installing her as county party chair, until a new election can be held next year after precinct level officials are elected in the May 3rd primary election.

There are still bad feelings in Fishers over this mess.  Many of the appointees in question were people in Fishers, many Peterson supporters.

But that’s not what irked some people in Fishers the most.  Those supporting Campbell brought up items from Pete Peterson’s past.  Peterson has always been up-front about his past, but those brushes with the law happened many years ago when he was undergoing some difficult times personally.  Many of Peterson’s supporters remain angry that those backing Campbell dredged up some old news about Peterson to undermine his campaign for party chairman.

It should be noted that Pete Peterson has overcome those personal issues he faced a long time ago and has had no problems in many years.

When Governor Pence delivers the Lincoln Day address to the party faithful in Carmel April 13th, I suspect many top Fishers officials will be missing.  The fissure in the Hamilton County Republican Party remains deep.

This split does not have to be permanent.  There are ways to heal this trouble.  But time is running out.  Republicans state-wide depend on Hamilton County to get-out the GOP voters in the November general election.  If that doesn’t happen, the important state-wide races, such as Governor and US Senate, will be in jeopardy for the Indiana Republican Party.

Will Governor Pence strike the right tone and begin the healing process for Hamilton County Republicans?  Time will tell.