So let me take some time to review our 2011 Lake County Year End Shareholders' Report. The Lake County Republican Party worked hard this past year to follow our mission of recruiting qualified candidates, promoting honest election processes, and educating voters. Our City and Town Chairman all worked extremely hard most of 2011 and it paid off on Election Day with Republicans gaining 9 seats countywide!

Congratulations to retiring Munster GOP Chairman George Shinkin for retaining an all Republican council and Clerk-Treasurer even with Councilmen Mike Mellon and Rob Mangus retiring. The democrats came out strong in Munster but lost in the end. Congratulations to Cedar Lake GOP Chairman Greg Wornhoff for attaining an all Republican council and the Clerk-Treasurer position! Greg put together a great team and showed us what working together will achieve. Congratulations to Griffith GOP Chairman Tom Wichlinski on recruiting and promoting Republicans in Griffith! Their efforts paid off with Griffith Republicans winning the Clerk Treasurer seat and 4 out of the 5 council seats. Other Chairmen who had significant successes were Dan Blankenship in Lowell and Schneider, Jim Cuffia in Crown Point, and Nick Gasparovic in Winfield.

Successes are generally measured by the number of Republicans we get elected to office. However, even though 2011 was another banner year for elections, another part of our mission is to promote honest election processes. This has always been a challenge in Lake Co with the tricks that have been played in the past by the democrats. It starts with appointing Republican judges and clerks to work on Election Day so there is oversight to the election process. Our Republican Chairmen in Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago have always had an especially hard time finding workers. I must commend Ray Lopez, Kim Poland and Cherokee Stanton for their outstanding performance in fulfilling that extremely difficult task in their cities.

This year, in an effort to make life easier, we implemented a new process submitting names to the county party and the election board for poll workers. Our first attempt was very successful thanks to Jim Cuffia, Genny Gasparovic, and Traci Poston. We found a couple of areas that we need to improve, but for the most part we were successful!

With the help of Kevin Slaman, we were able to get great speakers for Lincoln Day and Reagan Breakfast. US Congressman and Gubernatorial candidate Mike Pence was our keynote speaker for our Lincoln Day Dinner this year and President Bush's former Chief of Staff Andrew Card spoke at Reagan Breakfast. Through the success of those two major fundraisers we had this year, we were able to assist our candidates with the use of the Victory VoIP phone system. Many candidates and their workers came out to use the system to get their message out, recruit volunteers, and also pick up yard sign locations. Jim Cuffia is to be commended for not only setting up the system hardware, but for also creating many phone scripts that targeted different demographics, and for making sure that if he wasn't able to be at the center, someone was.

We had several state Republican officeholders attend meetings and fundraisers throughout the year. Among them were Attorney General Greg Zoeller, State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, State Auditor Tim Berry and our own State Party Chairman Eric Holcomb.

We educated Lake County residents this past year in an effort to stop a democratic scheme to form another layer of government with the formation of a county conservancy district. With the assistance of Munster Councilmen, Little Calumet River Basin Commission members, and many other community members we were able to expose the "flaws" in the conservancy district plan. Republicans do have a voice in Lake County and we made sure it was heard in order to focus on preventing another flooding disaster rather than assuring a broadening of the "friends and family plan" form of government.

Last year my new year's resolution to all of you was to change the perception that the Republicans in Lake Co were "lovable losers." I think we saw that perception change with the quality and number of candidates that came out to run in 2011, the many successes on Election Day, the success of our fundraisers, and the many positive comments I have gotten from other people across the state. We did that through our newsletters and other email campaigns, editorials, guest columns, press releases, radio spots, phone bank, social media, campaign workshop, and county fair booth!

Thanks to all of you who have assisted in these areas this past year to make our 2011 resolution come true! It takes a lot of funds and volunteers to continue our efforts. Though the economy has been abysmal, many of you have supported our fundraisers. If you like the direction we are going, I ask that you continue to support our fundraisers and even try to sell a couple extra tickets or tables this year. The more money we can raise, the more messages we can get out.

We are constantly changing to improve the party. If you liked what we did last year, hopefully you will continue to support our efforts. Some of our plans for this year include:

• Hold a Train the Trainer course on working the polls

• Implement our Vote Fraud Prevention Plan

• Recruit strong Republicans to serve as Precinct Committeemen

• Hold another Candidate Workshop

• Support candidates who run for a county or state office and work to make the current president a 1 term president!

• Host another successful Lincoln Day Dinner and Reagan Breakfast

• Continue roundtable discussions with Republican elected officials

My New Year's Resolution to you this year is to continue rebranding the Lake Co GOP by building on our successes and formulating new action plans where needed. I cannot meet this resolution alone though. I need all of you to participate by attending your local GOP meetings and assisting your chairmen and supporting our fundraisers.

Thank you for a successful 2011. Now let us, as Shareholders, make 2012 even better so we can continue to Awaken Lake County!

Sincerely yours,
Kim Krull
Chairman
Lake County Republican Party
 

Dan Dernulc Fundraiser You are cordially invited to a fundraiser for Lake County Councilman Dan Dernulc. After knocking off the incumbent council president in 2010, you can bet that the Democrats are gearing up to come after Dan. And whether you live in the 4th District or not, Dan represents all of us on the council. You can be proud as he serves as a watchdog for the taxpayers and calls the Democrats on their profligate ways. So come out, support Dan, and send a message to the Democrats that they are going to have their hands full. Where: Langel's – 2833 Highway Avenue, Highland, IN (923.4900) BTW, Rodney Langel is a strong supporter of Republicans When: Thursday, January 19, 2012 Time: 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Fare: Pizza, Beer/Wine Attire: Casual Cost: $35-individual/$50-couple Make checks payable to Committee to Elect Daniel Edward Dernulc For tickets, contact Dan Buksa at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 219.922.1182. Tickets also available at the door. Authorized by the Committee to Elect Daniel Edward Dernulc We have just received information from the BMV on renewing your low digit R license plate. If you want to keep the plate you currently have, please send an email request to Diane Roumbus at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by January 17th. After that time, any numbers that have not been reserved will be open for assignment. Once you get a confirmation that your request to renew or to obtain a low digit R plate has been sent by the LCRCC to the BMV, you will be able to visit your local BMV branch and notify them of your assigned number. There is an additional charge of $30 plus your registration fee that will be charged. If you are renewing the same low digit R plate number that you had in 2011, the plate can be mailed to you once we have sent the confirmation to the BMV.  Any questions, please contact Diane. Jan. 9 IACT Newly Elected Clerk-Treasurers Workshop Jan. 9-11 IACT Boot Camp for Newly Elected Officials Details and Online Registration  Download a copy of the registration brochure   Munster held their swearing in ceremony for the all Republican council and Clerk Treasurer on Thursday December 29th. The event was held at the Centennial Park social club and the room was packed. Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen administered the oath of office for all. Congratulations to Councilmen John Reed, John Edington, Joseph Simonetto, Dave Nellans, and Andy Koultourides and to Clerk Treasurer Dave Shafer.   On December 19th, State Senator Sue Landske performed the swearing in ceremony for the new all Republican Cedar Lake Council. Congratulations to Councilmen John Foreman, Ralph Miller, Patsy Casassa, and Greg Parker as well as Clerk-Treasurer Amy Sund. On December 28th, State Representative Ed Soliday performed the swearing in ceremony for the Winfield Republican councilmen and clerk-treasurer. Congratulations to Clerk-Treasurer Richard Anderson, and Councilmen David Anderson, Donald Samberg, Paulette Skinner, and Gerald Steiner. IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR EVENT INFORMATION IN THIS NEWSLETTER YOU MUST SUBMIT APPROPRIATE INFORMATION TO This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it BY THE 25TH OF EACH MONTH   Don't forget to check the website frequently for changes and additions in events and news as we update frequently. www.thelakecountygop.com Our Facebooksite has become very popular! If you aren't on Facebook, It's very easy to sign up for free. Forward to a Friend to help grow the LC GOP!  Visit our website!                              Contact Us! It's Time For New Ideas and Time to Work Together Only Together Will We Succeed. * * *