July 18, 2012 To: Leadership & Members of the DCRP This letter is in response to some questions and

concerns stemming from accusations and innuendos that have been put forth on a local internet blog. For the record, I became involved in campaigns in 2010 and was elected to Chairman of the Douglas County Republican Party in 2011. After my election, I did a search to find the most effective county or state party in the country. I wanted to find out how and why they were successful and duplicate it at the DCRP. The search led me to the Wisconsin Republican Party. For those who dont know, in 2010 Wisconsin flipped the State Legislature to Republican, flipped the State Senate to Republican, defeated Russ Feingold in the U.S. Senate, gained two U.S. Congressional seats and they elected Scott Walker to Governor. For icing on the cake, the Chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, Reince Priebus, was elected Chairman of the RNC. After conversations with the Executive Director and his staff at the Wisconsin Republican Party it became very apparent: Wisconsin gets it! They understood the opportunity and found a way to get Republicans to work together. Reince does a great job of keeping the lines of communication open with all the different groups. I am working hard to do the same thing in Douglas County. With this in mind, the DCRP leadership has made a concerted effort to encourage new people to get involved in the process. We are making progress! DCRP Central Committee meetings are having overflow attendance and the DCRP County Convention had to be moved to a larger venue to accommodate over 300 people. While we are seeing many new faces, young and old, this success has brought new challenges. There are some who are uncomfortable with the energy and enthusiasm of the new people getting involved. Its time to come together and fight the good fight. We need to deliver the Electoral Vote for the 2nd District and elect Mitt Romney President. We need to elect Deb Fischer and gain a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate. And, we need to re-elect Congressman Lee Terry to maintain a strong majority in the U.S. Congress. Lets get it done in 2012! Sincerely,

Scott Petersen, Chairman Douglas County Republican Party

P.O. Box 45913 Omaha, NE 68145 Phone (402) 330-8133 www.dcrponline.com

A partial list of criticisms from the blog: #1) Peterson is a Ron Paul guy SLP: As far as I know, someone made a huge leap based on a statement from a DCRP Newsletter. I wrote: It's our job to deliver the Electoral Vote from the 2nd District for President. I did not mention Mitt Romney in the statement, therefore, Im a Ron Paul guy. Seriously? The most important thing we can do is elect Mitt Romney as our next President. We need to work hard to send Governor Heineman to the National Convention with unanimous support. #2) he has reportedly recruited candidates against incumbent Republicans (Congressman Terry) SLP: Nonsense and on the contrary, I worked to discourage people from challenging Congressman Terry. Lee Terry has a great campaign team and we will be working hard with them to re-elect our Congressman and maintain our Conservative Republican leadership in the 2nd District. #3) Peterson has not submitted a Treasurers report to the county central committee SLP: Evidently, this is from someone who has not attended a DCRP Central Committee meeting. We project the financial reports on the big screen and take pride in being open and honest about financial position of the DCRP. Also, when I was elected to Chairman, the DCRP was $45,000 in debt. Now, we are getting close to break-even thanks to many people for their personal and financial support. #4) the party office closed its doors one does not exist now SLP: Yes (and No). I was elected to Chairman on January 25, 2011. Elephant Remembers was on February 5, 2011. I put the hotel charges on my credit card with the expectation to get reimbursed from the proceeds. What I learned was that the DCRP owed many months in past rent and was facing eviction. We reluctantly made the decision to close the office to get the financial situation under control. SLP: And No. We have opened a new headquarters for this years general election. On June 26th, we had an Open House for the new DCRP Campaign Center on 13530 Discovery Drive. Many thanks to all who volunteered their time and money to make that happen! #5) he has not had an Executive Director on Staff SLP: Correct. After sacrificing personally, professionally and financially, Patrick Bonnett had to resign and get back to making a living. He continues to volunteer his time to help the DCRP. Going forward, I think it would be prudent to change our model and move to a combination of a part-time office staff member to handle the administrative duties and a part-time executive director to focus on fundraising and finance.

There is another criticism that I would like to address. I talk about problems at the DCRP and our progress in fixing them. A few have criticized this as blaming Nancy McCabe and Patrick Bonnett. I watched Nancy and Patrick pour their heart and soul into the Douglas County Republican Party. They still do. If there is any blame, it should be directed to those of us who did not pitch in to help solve the problems. When I ran for chairman, I promised to put forth the time and energy necessary to improve the effectiveness of the Douglas County Republican Party. We are making progress in the key areas of communication, organization and fundraising. Please call me if you have any questions or concerns regarding my performance. SLP