Hello Saline County!

As I’m sure you all know by now, things have been a bit of a mess for the last two months. I’ve hoped over the last several weeks that there would be an opportunity to resolve our county’s issues with the handful of people directly involved, but unfortunately it looks like that’s not going to happen. I know there’s been a lot said about me and other members of our committee, and I’ve stayed quiet about it until now because I believed that was best for the Saline County Committee. However, it’s time to address this situation openly.

I, Frank Curtis, have been the Chair of the Saline County Republican Committee since April. After our chairman resigned earlier this year, Jennifer Lancaster, who was 1st vice chair, took over as chair for approximately 75 days. I am reminding you of this timeline because it sounds like I’m being blamed for issues that have been ongoing in the committee for years, yet I have only been the chair since April.

The current conflict started the day after Saline County’s July meeting. I got into an argument with Jennifer Lancaster about something that had happened at that meeting. During that conversation, I called Jennifer a narcissist, and she understandably got very upset with me. What is less understandable is that she decided the only remedy for this was to remove me and the rest of the Patriot leadership from the Saline County Executive Committee. I have since apologized for my words, but have heard nothing in response.

Since that text conversation with Jennifer, she has been collaborating with Stephanie Duke to remove me, the Grays, and two others. Instead of talking to us about what she didn’t like about our behavior, she held a meeting, to which she invited most of the Saline County Committee – but not us. Her stated goal at that meeting was to take charge of the committee with her husband Clint, and Stephanie Duke. In that meeting, we were demonized and accused of wrongdoings. Most of the allegations made were false, and may have been based on assumptions and rumors. Nevertheless, we did try, in listening to the audio of that meeting, to identify any valid things we might be doing wrong so that we can do a better job of serving Saline County Republicans, which is what we’ve been trying to do since we joined the committee.

Stephanie Duke is currently tied to a charge involving bribery and coercion of duly elected and unopposed JP Patriot candidate Stephanie Johnson. She attempted to force Stephanie Johnson to get a doctor’s note saying she is mentally ill, and to drop out of her race.

We have made several attempts to meet with Jennifer so we can clarify her objections and correct any misunderstandings. She was scheduled to come to an executive meeting on July 8, then canceled. We then scheduled a town hall for the whole committee, hoping that we’d be able to discuss people’s grievances and work things out in a way that everyone could feel good about. We also sent two invitations through 3rd parties for a private meeting with Jennifer (because she hasn’t been responding to any of us directly). One invitation was ignored and the other was turned down.

Before our town hall, Jennifer held a Zoom meeting to discuss getting rid of us, and on that Zoom call she threatened to dissolve the whole Saline County Committee unless we resigned or were removed from our positions. She doesn’t have the ability to do that, but from this incident, it sounds like the only outcome Jennifer will accept is getting rid of us. She’s not interested in coaching us or leading us, she just wants us gone. A week later at the town hall meeting that Scott and I sponsored, Jennifer came just long enough to give her own speech about how bad we are. Her speech was again full of inaccuracies, but she didn’t stay to discuss them. On August 2, Jennifer’s husband Clint was on the Dave Elswick radio show, on which he called us circus animals.

All this time, the Grays and I have refrained from publicly defending ourselves, with the exception that Scott put out a website responding to specific allegations made against himself, his wife, his daughter, and his 10-year-old son. We can see that the best thing for the Patriot movement is to have reconciliation, and we hoped that by largely standing down we could give Jennifer the opportunity to come to the table and make peace without losing face. However, she has made it clear that she will not speak to us, and that the only outcome she will accept is our removal. She’s been willing to smear our characters behind our backs in order to make this happen.

I believe Jennifer has blocked me on her phone, so I can’t reach out to her. Last week I sent her a second apology in an attempt to reconcile. I have received no response, and it seems like she did not receive it.

Despite everything, our doors are still open if Jennifer wants to talk. If we’re truly hurting Saline County and the patriot movement with our behavior, we want to know so we can fix that. But it’s hard to respond meaningfully to allegations that are made behind our backs, when we haven’t had a chance to separate out fact from fiction.

We do at this point have to publicly defend ourselves, because Jennifer has been privately working to turn the committee against us, and we have to counter her narrative with the truth.

Sorry for the huge disruption this situation has caused, and I hope we can find a way to move forward.

Frank Curtis, Saline County Republican Committee Chair

501-766-1111