The Dayton Daily News is reporting that the Republican Women of Warren County’s “Trump Train” fundraiser train rides, which had been set for October 5, were cancelled after the railroad which would have operated the trains, the Lebanon, Mason & Monroe Railroad, cited a conflict with the event in regard to the railroad’s non-profit status. The Daily News reports that LM&M released a statement saying that they railroad “decided to disassociate ourselves from this event due to our 501c(3) status” which prohibits it being “connected to an event supporting any political candidate or politician.” The railroad, the statement says, is not affiliated with any political party.
The Republican Women of Warren County, however, states in a Facebook post that “certain local organizations” involved in the “Trump Train” event decided not to take part in the event after they were “subject to a great deal of negative attention” and had been “threatened/harassed over (their) involvement in the Trump Train event.” The group called the event a family-friendly event with music, entertainment, and train rides. “All of these events will no longer happen due to the harassing and threatening behavior of certain individuals,” the statement said.
The “Trump Train” events, which would have operated near Cincinnati, would have had the capacity for up to 300 passengers per trip. A Cincinnati Enquirer report stated that the Warren County Democratic Party chair denounced any alleged boycott threats which would have caused the train rides to be cancelled and stated that the group had nothing to do with the situation.
The Lebanon, Mason & Monroe Railroad is operated by Cincinnati Scenic Railroad, which also operates the Ohio Rail Experience.
Steve Foster –
” Its also possible the county politics played a hidden role in the cancellation. ”
Steve, Warren might be the most conservation non-rural county in America. Rumor holds that the local chapter of the John Birch Society was run out of there for being a leftist organization. 🙂
If I was a betting man, I’d guess the LM&M was afraid of vandalism or other sorts of violence commonly perpetrated by groups like Antifa.
Dear Mr. Landey,
Please accept my apology. I felt hurt by the implication that all Democrats are Fascists, and I over-reacted. No, I do not want you banned from this forum. I hope we can all tone down the rhetoric.
WOW Bob McGuire made sense for once !! You don’t mess with your IRS tax status !!
@Joe Kurland – with this diatribe, you are on full display as the one that wants to remove free speech. He stated NOTHING hateful. You chose to be offended. Others, with maturity, chose to move on. People that do not like a hamburger, for instance, do not order one. Those that espouse control, want it removed. Same with a legally obtained firearm. Same with Talk Radio. Those that seek, and have historically sought these types of control, are very famous (or infamous). Among them are Chairman Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Pol-Pot, and the list goes on. For you to desire one’s Constitutional Rights be removed because you are “offended”, goes against the grain of this nation. I served 26 years in the Army Rangers, to keep the rights available to ALL. 3 of my children also served to maintain these rights.
You are the type of individual, with your thought process, that wants to ban free speech. I stand firmly for him, you, and any citizen to utilize that Constitutional Right. I swore that oath numerous times, upon enlistment, and re-enlistment. I stand firm with this today. I may not like something, especially your version, but you have that Right. It is a sad day indeed, when an individual, such as you, demands that people should be silenced.
I hope the editors choose to ignore the request from you, to try and remove a Constitutional Right. Heaven help this country if people with a mindset like yours ever take control.
There is a long history of political trains, and speaking off the back platform.
I think if the railroad were willing to work with democratic groups, perhaps even making a few phone calls to express that willingness, then it would be clear it is not taking a partisan stand.
In fact, canceling a train – or refusing one – strikes me as taking a stand, particularly given the history and expectation of railroads as common carriers.
Of course, us in the peanut gallery might not know the real story here.
Not sure how renting out your train to any group would endanger their non profit status but in today’s political climate of stop Trump at any cost , I am not surprised. Anything that can be construed as Trump support is attacked and vilified . A sad time for our country. The opposition should remember what goes around comes around.
Some years ago , back when I had religion and was on the board of trustees of my church, a local political candidate came to us and asked if he could rent our parish hall for a political fund raising event. We needed the money but after discussing the situation with the IRS and among ourselves we decided to decline so as not to endanger our 501c3 status. The situation is tricky and depends on a number of factors but we just didn’t think it was a good idea even disregarding the nonprofit status. Jjust the publicity might give the wrong impression. I think the railroad made the right decision here. They may operate on trackage leased from the county, city or state and if the wrong candidate/party wins there could be problems down in time.
It appears that labeling it as the “Trump Train” was what made them say “no”. They should win a legal challenge since they are no different that any other vendor hired by any political party but it would probably result in more legal fees than what they would make on the charter. Its also possible the county politics played a hidden role in the cancellation. The left could have called for boycotting them.
They will now have to turn down any political organization after this. Could be that’s not a problem for them.
The other factor that hasn’t been mentioned is their decision could result in a backlash from those on the right that ends up costing them as much as a boycott by the left.
Maybe a lot of anti-Trumpers running the railroad. Sad commentary of where we are. The railroad is selling a service not advocating for Trump. Does that conflict with the 501(c)3 status?
Mr. Ron Salters: You may wish to check out this web site. The LM&M is a tourist railroad about four miles long that operates west out of Lebanon, Ohio. It is family friendly. The rail and right of way belong to the City of Lebanon.
https://lebanonrr.com/history
From the LM&M Railroad website:
September 10, 2019
Regarding the event organized by the Republican Women of Warren County:
The Republican Women of Warren County contacted The LM&M Railroad about renting our location and one of our trains for an event. This event was to be paid for, and hosted by, the Republican Women of Warren County. There was to be no connection to LM&M Railroad beyond being the event location and the train charter. After the Republican Women of Warren County’s marketing announced the event as a ‘Trump Train’, and after much consideration by our management team, LM&M Railroad decided to disassociate ourselves from this event due to our 501c(3) status.
Because of this status, and as outlined by the IRS, The LM&M Railroad cannot be connected to an event supporting ANY political candidate or politician. The LM&M Railroad is not affiliated with any political party. Instead, we are dedicated to serving our community by providing family friendly train events focused on historic Warren County.
Any communication we have received regarding this event has been forwarded to The Republican Women of Warren County.
“Mom! 99 is blowing for 16th Street. Dad will be home soon.”
To the editor: I have sometimes agreed with Charles Landey and sometimes disagreed. I have learned from his posts and been able to consider viewpoints I had not thought of as a result. I have been offended by some of his past statements but never so much as to want him banned from this forum until today. However, after today’s hate speech rant, I urge you to ban him from the Trains Newswire comments.
Charles, Kenneth: The vast majority of democrats are very reasonable people, certainly not “fascists” or “communists.” If you need to spout your extreme political viewpoints, do it somewhere else. TRAINS is not the place.
Fascism is what the Democrats practice, Mark!
Good for the LM&M, why risk your 501 status. CHARLES- you should go back back and read what fascism is.
DOUG – You may have noticed the subject of the blog was politics.
ALL – i’m not an extremist. I’m a 1960’s liberal. I’m not aware of any position I hold that that’s the least bit different from my two political heroes, Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey, both Democrats. Would anyone call either one of them an extremist?
I hope Trains mag. will block the political, biased, unfactual, and barely RR related opinions, and stick to facts and pure RR opinions, without the elementary school name calling.
Mark. I have read hundreds of books about fascism thank you.
I never heard of the LM&M RR, but it seems to me that if a RR runs a chartered train for a political event, it is not necessarily supporting that event. It’s a business matter- similar to Amtrak running a chartered train for a political candidate.
This president is not a person who fosters unity he thrives on divisiveness typical of a person with an antisocial character disorder.
The railroad is not sponsoring this event. They are stretching the definition of “non profit” to where they can embarrass the group. Lawyers win: free speech loses.
Thanks for sharing, Trains. I hope non-profits keep away from politics like they are supposed to.
ERICH – The latest out of the “Democrat” (actually Fascist) Party is wanting to revoke the nonprofit status of so-called “hate” groups. The real definition of a “hate” group is anyone who doesn’t agree with the Democrat (actually Fascist) party. These people are lower than vermin. They wouldn’t know Free Speech, Free Thought, or Free Expression if a million Americans spent a million hours each explaining it to them.
We should be a country tolerant of different viewpoints regardless of what they are. It is sad to see such a display from a small percentage of people that would rather not have or support a free election in our country that might run against the result they wanted. It is a stark reminder of what we face if we do not remain firmly in support of our Constitution and Electoral procedures and processes. It’s very sad some missed that lesson in primary school and want this to be a country always of “my way or the highway” with no compromise and the anger of a petulant child if they do not get their way.