Critics are lining up against one of Ohio's longest-serving, most-powerful political bosses.

Summit County Republican Chairman Alex Arshinkoff, a man President Bush has called the most effective party chairman in America, was removed from his seat on the county board of elections last month by Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. She cited concerns that employees in Akron were being harassed, intimidated and threatened.

Arshinkoff challenged her decision to the Ohio Supreme Court, for which depositions are to begin this week.

Within his party, Arshinkoff faces a power struggle with a Republican state senator who wants him dethroned as county GOP chairman.

"I think that people are just fed up," said state Sen. Kevin Coughlin, whose ouster effort is dubbed the New Summit County Republicans. "Everyone's got their own reason for letting him go, whether it's how he treats people, how he spends the money, or his losing record of 10 wins and 67 losses over the last six years."

Coughlin, who lives in the Akron suburb of Cuyahoga Falls, said he thinks enough new central committee members were elected last week to push Arshinkoff out for good.

Brunner said she also based her decision to remove Arshinkoff on evidence that he was running his party operation out of elections-board offices.

Also, three local judges signed affidavits saying that Arshinkoff interfered with their official duties.

"I really did not want to lose the opportunity to have this board function in a more civil and professional manner," Brunner said. "When you visit there, it feels kind of like a rubber band pulled tight."

Arshinkoff, who took charge of the county party in 1978 at the age of 23, defends his record and his approach. He said he has never been accused or convicted of a crime or found to have broken an ethics or elections law in three decades of service.

"Do I kick ass sometimes to make sure things get done? You're damn right," Arshinkoff said in a telephone interview. Referring to his party, he said: "When you don't have the (backing of the local) paper, and you don't have the (voter) numbers, you have to."

Coughlin accuses Arshinkoff of exploiting his position with the party to steer business to his lobbying firm and to pay for a car and other personal perks.

"He's got about $600,000 that he budgets for loosely defined operational overhead, which includes a Cadillac Escalade and three meals a day, a bloated staff, and his pay," Coughlin said. "We want a chairman who's interested in winning elections and not feathering his own nest."

Arshinkoff calls Coughlin "truth-challenged."

He said he makes $72,000 a year as party chairman, and he and his wife, Karen, have often taken on personal debt to make the contributions to the party that are required of central committee members.

Arshinkoff also noted that the win-loss record Coughlin assigns him neglects the party's influence outside the county. For example, Coughlin counts state Auditor Mary Taylor of the Summit County suburb of Green, whom Arshinkoff recruited and groomed, in the "loss" column because she did not win her Democrat-heavy home county on her way to statewide victory in 2006.

Arshinkoff has built a small county party into a fundraising dynamo that has given millions of dollars to candidates. In 2000, Arshinkoff's fundraising machine gave $2.8 million to elect then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush president.

Arshinkoff's demands that donors give to the party rather than directly to candidates is both the source of the county party's might and the heart of criticism of it. Most county party chairmen no longer require such loyalty.

Arshinkoff said the attacks by Coughlin and Brunner are politically motivated.

Coughlin aspires to be Ohio's next governor and is using his attacks to build a statewide reputation among Republicans, Arshinkoff said.

As for Brunner, undercutting Summit County's fundraising prowess for Republicans would benefit her and the Democratic Party, Arshinkoff argued.

"Would it perhaps be in her interest not to have us donating $1 million to statewide Republican candidates in 2010?" Arshinkoff said.

Coughlin did not deny having political aspirations, but fighting Arshinkoff won't necessarily benefit his career, he said.

"The safe thing for me to do would have been to stay on the sidelines with my eyes shut and my mouth shut to Alex," Coughlin said. "Whether or not it's a smart political move on my part, it really doesn't matter to me anymore. This guy's conduct has to stop."

Brunner said prudence, not politics, motivated her decision. "It might have been easier to keep him on the board, politically," she said. "But I think the way the board was operating, it wasn't serving the best interests of the voters."

"Do I kick ass sometimes to make sure things get done? You're damn right."

Alex Arshinkoff
Summit County GOP chief