Minnehaha County GOP voters at odds with party leadership - again

R. Shawn Tornow gets vote of no confidence as party chairman

Trouble is afoot in the Minnehaha County GOP.

The Minnehaha County Republican Party, during a biennial meeting Saturday morning in Sioux Falls, approved a resolution of no confidence in county GOP Chairman R. Shawn Tornow.

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Elected chairman in January amid discord between former party leadership and low-level volunteers worried they were being boxed out of party operations, Tornow now faces the same criticisms.

Of the 55 party members casting votes, 28 favored the resolution, stemming from consternation in the organization about Tornow allegedly making unilateral decisions, selectively sharing information with party members, including meeting dates and times, according to testimony provided at the morning meeting.

“It’s tyrannical. You have to give blood and your first-born to be in their little circle,” said Kathleen Puttmann, a county precinct committeewoman who motioned for the vote of no confidence. “They’re literally imploding us from the inside.”

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