Republican party official resigns from GOP, citing disdain over Trump impeachment process

Ed Adams was just 5 years old when he enthusiastically watched Richard Nixon win the 1968 presidential election.

In 1984, he proudly cast his first presidential vote for Ronald Reagan.

And, even well into adulthood, he remembers spending countless hours campaigning for Republican Sen. Todd Young.

That's why his resignation from the Republican party last week was an action that he says was not taken lightly.

Adams, a local precinct committeeman for the 18-02 precinct in the Irvington neighborhood of Marion County, has resigned from the position, to which he says he was appointed after running unopposed in 2016.

"After watching the impeachment process transpire, it has become patently obvious that nothing remains of the party I knew and faithfully served," Adams wrote in his resignation letter. "It has become the party of Donald Trump with cultish enthusiasm."

Adams is cutting himself off from the party and from his duties as a precinct committeeman, a hyper-local, loyal position for party enthusiasts that generally includes organizing get-out-the-vote efforts and advocating for the party. He said it's something he has resisted for a long time.

"I really wanted to be one of the last guys hanging around with the janitorial mop and bucket to clean up the mess when it's all done," he said, referring to Trump. "Because at some point Trump will be done. He'll be gone. But the question is, what's left? But right now I just don't see anything left."

Adams' sentiments are not those of many in the party who feel strongly that the impeachment process was politically motivated and without merit.

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But for Adams, the impeachment trial over the past few weeks has "amply demonstrated" that there's nothing left of the Republican party he once knew. He pointed to the unwillingness of Republican Senators to call witnesses to the trial, and the actions of House Republicans whom he says have "repeatedly insulated Trump at every turn."

"For the life of me I don't understand why people don't want the truth," he said. "American people deserve the truth -- and why are you enabling the hiding of truth?"

But Adams' disillusionment extends even to the local GOP party, arguing that the Marion County party has historically not had a grassroots effort while the state GOP party has become a "propaganda shill" for Trump.

"It's a Democratic county now and so it gets harder to get people enthused and involved -- and that's expected -- but they just gave up," he said. "And when you give up, what do you expect? Yeah, you're going to lose, and you're going to lose big."

His letter also insists that the state party has refused to take action against Attorney General Curtis Hill, who faces sexual assault accusations. The state's three top Republican leaders, however, have previously called on Hill to resign.

Marion County GOP Chairwoman Cindy Kirchhoffer said she does not know Adams very well, but is disappointed in the decision and will reach out to him to encourage him to reconsider.

"We're doing great things here in Marion County — well not just in Marion County, in the state," she said, noting excitement for the recent Republican conference this past weekend.

But she noted that things are very divisive right now for both parties.

"It comes from national politics," she said. "And it just really doesn't feel like that at the local level, but people are so caught up in the state of our nation."

Adams said in his letter that he still has the utmost respect for Kirchhoffer, who is Marion County's relatively new chair, and City-County Councilor Michael-Paul Hart, who also serves as the chair for the Warren Township GOP.

"I have made no secret of my views, but I have never been treated by either of you with anything but the utmost respect and I am most grateful for that," he wrote in his letter. "This is also not a reflection on Marion County Republicans who I believe are committed to core Republican principles."

Adams wrote that he prays that one day "the party is restored to sanity," in which case he will return.

"I am a Republican at heart with the party of Lincoln and Reagan — that's my party," he said. "What we have today is the party of Donald Trump, and that is not my party."

Call IndyStar reporter Amelia Pak-Harvey at 317-444-6175 or email her at apakharvey@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmeliaPakHarvey.