Alex Arshinkoff, chairman in perpetuity

NOW THAT the Summit County Republican Party's inner circle has again elected Alex Arshinkoff as chairman in perpetuity, isn't it time to concede that his opponents represent a powerless faction that will remain that way until it finds a leader who will do more than simply dream about kicking him out? The party grows older with a shrinking number (10 pct.?) of registered voters, few elected officials outside of the judiciary and , according to Arshinkoff's own accounts, an increasingly hard time balancing its books. Although his critics have shed an ocean of tears over the state of the party, they have shown once again that they are so politically inept that they couldn't even field a candidate to oppose him this time. So from now on, any talk of deposing him is a non-story. Fact is, there's nobody else around who wants the job.