Entire Missoula County Republican Central Committee Resigns

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - On Monday, October 30, KGVO News received this information sent by Kathy Whitman, Secretary of the Missoula County Republican Committee:

‘October 30, 2023

Entire Missoula Republican Central Committee Resigns

Dear Fellow Republicans and supporters:

Effective immediately, the entire Executive Board of the Missoula County Republican Central Committee has resigned.  While we will no longer be working with central committee, we will be joining some of you in other projects so we wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your generous support over these past nine years.  With you, the work our team has done for the Republican Party in Missoula and Montana has been significant and the results speak for themselves:

• Last election cycle we were able to recruit Republican candidates to run in every single one of the 17 legislative races and more than half of the county races (which we’ve done the past three election cycles).
• Because of our amazingly talented team and your help, we raised over $50,000 last year!
• We elected the first Republican woman to serve in the legislature from Missoula (Kathy Whitman).
• Because of your support we have trained many candidates for both legislative and municipal elections, and
• We elected more Republicans from Missoula County than at any time in the previous 25 years.

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We have been extremely blessed to have put together a group of outstanding volunteers who have worked tirelessly to get out the vote for each election. register more conservative voters than at any previous time in Missoula County and knock thousands and thousands of doors for each and every election.

Please know how honored we have been to work with all of you.  We are grateful for your support and your commitment, but mostly for your friendship.  Many of you in our group of dedicated volunteers have become lifelong friends, and we are beyond grateful to know you and to have you on our team.  We are excited about some new projects, so watch your emails for updates.

Lastly, we want to thank our many supporters, donors, and families who have contributed in so many ways to making our collective political goals a reality over the past nine years.  We have had tremendous support in the Missoula Community as well as from family and friends we don't even know.....and we intend to work tirelessly to maintain that support in upcoming projects.

When we started this journey nine years ago, I remember walking in my first parade with a T Shirt that said 'This is What a Republican Looks Like'.  Someone stopped me along the route and said 'you mean there are Republicans in Missoula?'.  ......Because of all of you, and your hard work and dedication......they don't say that anymore.

Thank you everyone..... for all you've done and for what we will do together in the future!’

Vondene, Chairman

Cameo Flood, Vice Chairman

Sonny Capece, Vice Chairman

Grace Siloti, Treasurer

Kathy Whitman, Secretary

Tori Fort, Finance Director

Keith Baer, State Committeeman

Thelma Baker, State Committeewoman

Alice Tully, Congressional Committeewoman

Kopetski Complimented the Committee for its Work in Recent Elections

Resigning Chair Vondene Kopetski spoke to KGVO on Monday and complimented the committee on its work for Republicans in Missoula County.

“We had made significant inroads over the last nine years,” began Kopetski. “We were able to find a Republican to run in every single one of the 17 legislative races for the last three elections. We had gotten a significant number for the demographic of Missoula County, and we had gotten several Republicans elected, however a couple of them had termed out. We had the great honor of getting the first Republican woman elected from Missoula County, I think in 30 years and that was representative Kathy Whitman.”

Whitman was the Secretary of the Missoula Committee who also resigned according to the letter.

Kopetski said the State Committee will handle the election of a new Missoula Central Committee.

“They should come in now to Missoula and they should run an election the way elections should be run,” she said. “They will take nominations from the floor, and they will notify all current precinct captains. People that are eligible to vote will come and vote if they choose to, and they will elect the new officers and follow the rules. That's what they ought to do.”

State Republican Party Director Kaltschmidt Provided Comment

KGVO News immediately reached out to Montana’s State Republican Chairman Don Kaltschmidt for a comment and received the following statement:

‘We are working closely with the Montana Republican Party Rules Committee to ensure a proper process is followed to organize and elect new leadership for the Missoula County Republican Central Committee. The rule of law and our rules will be followed,’ Chairman Kaltschmidt said.