Since there are a number of important local races going on throughout the state, I’m going to spend some time focusing ones that I think are worth discussing. The first one is Joe Kotoch, who is running for Rocky River City Council in Ward 1.

Why did I being with this race? Because not only is Joe a bright guy and a solid Republican, but this one race is a microcosm of the epic struggle between good and evil that exists in the contemptuous Cuyahoga County Republican Party.

This seat happens to be the same that was once occupied by corrupt Cuyahoga County GOP Chairman Robert Frost, until his wife made him move to a wealthy part of Lakewood. Frost was appointed to the seat, and once he left, Frost’s hand-picked successor, Tom Hunt, was voted to replace him. Hunt just happens to be a former law partner of Frost’s, and its quite obvious that Robert assured him that he would snuff out any Republican opposition that might pop up.

But Joe is quickly proving that Robert Frost’s back door super powers aren’t as strong as Frost may think. There are plenty of credible rumors that Robert Frost has personally threatened Joe, and has told him that the issue of this campaign is “regardlessness of whether you win or lose, you are burning bridges.”

Hunt is not a bad person. But he has become, willingly or not, part of the cronyism which dominates the Cuyahoga County GOP. And a victory of a principled conservative, such as Joe Kotoch, would be a major defeat for the Frost machine and would be a first step towards much needed change in the Cuyahoga County Republican Party.

Kotoch has had some success, and has plenty of volunteers who have signed up for his campaign because they are fed up with the RINO status quo. But they are certainly facing an uphill fight.

I’ll talk more about this campaign as we get closer to election day. For more information, please visit http://www.joekotoch.com/.