A summary of tonight’s 10th District meeting:
The 10th district committee voted again to remove former Delegate Mark Berg from the Republican party and as the Chairman of the Frederick County Republican Committee. Nine others have also been booted from the party for supporting another candidate in the last election.
Clarke County Chairman Matt Leeds moved to establish a new FCRC without those 10 who have been charged violations of the Republican Party plan, Article One, supporting a candidate against a Republican candidate. Dr. Berg pointed out that none of the people charged violations of the Party Plan have been convicted of anything and none of them have had their due process. Delegate Berg suggested the committee hear the appeals from the 10 people expelled from the party. Secretary Gerry Gunn said there is no due process under the First Amendment because the Republican party is a private organization. Berg argued that no official committee has heard this case. Chairwoman Jo Thoburn argued that the credentials committees at the 10th district convention and at the state convention have the power to expel people from the party and both of those committees have already expelled the 10.
Delegate Mark Berg said one member cannot bring charges to remove the 10 people without it coming before the committee. Berg and the others have asked for a committee to hear the appeal. The Party Plan says the committee must have a vote and 2/3 of the committee votes are necessary to boot a member from the Republican party. Berg says Article One of the Party Plan doesn’t say a member can’t have due process.
Chairman Thorburn and Gerry Gunn argue that 10th district convention and the state conventions credentials committees have ruled against Berg and the others. All agree except for Berg.
With no vote on the appeal, Matt Leeds again reads his motion to appoint a new Frederick County committee minus those ten who are part of the appeal for re-instatement in the party. The motion passes with all voting yes except Delegate Berg. The Frederic county Vice Chair, Rose Foust, will take over the committee, until they have another election for Chairman.
Delegate Berg asked for a vote on the appeal. Secretary Gunn says he’s no longer a member of the committee so he can’t propose a vote on the appeal. Thoburn calls for a motion that says they have already voted on their response to the the appeal. Mark Berg is the only dissenting vote. The committee knocks Berg off the FRCR committee and appoints the Rose Foust as the Chairman of Frederick County Republican Committee.
In other news in the 10th district they moved for nominations for committee positions, with these results.
Andrew Nicholson was voted Vice Chair by acclamation.
Ben Bush was voted Secretary by acclamation.
George Croft voted Treasurer by acclamation.
Once again Barbara Comstock has said no fundraiser in the 10th district this year but she graciously agreed the 10th district could combine a fundraiser with her victory party in November.
The next step for Delegate Berg and the others who have been expelled from the party will be an appeal to the State Central Committee.
63 comments
Well here we are once again and those that read comments here frequently likely already know my opinions of the operational style and effectiveness of the Republican 10th District so agree or disagree with me I won’t bore you with a recitation of this latest action by the 10th district and the SCC in judgement and team building. I would though like to present a different take on this history of actions (perhaps boring you in a different fashion) not from the “inside looking inward” but rather from the “outside” looking inward.
Let’s suppose for a second you are a typical local 10th District Republican voter who diligently turns out every election cycle to place your vote for the Republican federal, state and local candidate that most appeals to your political positions and existing day to day issues. You care little about the party “association”, it’s complex rules of operation and affiliation and even less about Roger’s rules of order procedures and/or voting. In other words a typical working or middle class northern Virginia family struggling to pay the bills and set something aside for future contingencies. Your daily struggle is to stay afloat, kept a residence over your head and try to set something aside to provide for a better life for your children. The Republican party association is very far down on your list of concerns in this struggle. But you believe in America and you vote, as is your duty, every chance you possibly can do so. So here we are with our feet planted firmly in these shoes, how lets that a second to look at these events from this perspective.
Having dutifully participated in a vote for Barbara Comstock upon my long term representative’s recent retirement, after being told by Ms. Comstock and many in the local party organization, what a worthy conservative candidate she was to replace 30 year plus incumbent Frank Wolf. But alas once in the door of the House across the Potomac I find to my surprise that now Rep. Comstock not only consistently votes and supports the Obama legislative agenda (the very one I am struggling to survive) but has as well simply disappeared from my district to focus her efforts (re-election efforts mainly) on a federal worker related voting bloc that is central to her efforts. Whether my assessments are correct or not the blow has been struck that the local Republican party is not really interested in my issues or vote and I have been duped.
Let’s swing for a moment to a local candidate that the base voters have elected into local office not once but twice and who has been removed by the local district not once but twice as well. Summarily booted in effect. Recall whose shoes you are in and look at your surroundings now without the party procedural apparatus to wrap yourself in, the I say, they say and the petty political backbiting on both sides, none of which matters a wit to me the typical district voter. Here is an individual that I like, voted for locally twice and the party keeps kicking him out of office. The boot print landing on the derriere on the way out the door also has been firmly planted collectively on the voter base that supported this individual as well with not a single point of explanation as to why this case is so critical while endless others have been ignored or not deemed significant.
And then there is the recent presidential primary where your local Republican district organization felt so motivated to serve as a protesting focal force for the duly preference voted winner so as to deny the nominee at all possible costs that confirming vote and from your shoes again disenfranchise your winning vote while claiming your support for said candidate was unacceptable. In fact after endlessly preaching to you the need to better “control” the election process via convention based candidate selection, absolutely required in the future (the details of which you may or may not totally understand or grasp), what you see in action via word of mouth and in media coverage is said “absolutely necessary” example of state presidential delegate convention slate your winner’s delegates out of representation by local district supporters of the guy who came in a distant third.
So let’s look at where we are with these actions or if you prefer perceptions (in the end it’s not going to matter significantly) The local Republican district ties itself to what is indistinguishable from a Democratic candidate that represents the base, picks and chooses who is acceptable to remain in office after your winning vote is placed in the ballot box by inconsistently applying judgments that others seem to just skate past while going so far as to remove them from the party altogether and finally informs you your preference presidential candidate vote is unacceptable and needs to be replaced by the third place finisher and attempts to manipulation the process to that end by slating national delegates at a state convention they have constantly reassured you is critical to ensure that your vote be meaningful and effective.
Let’s jump ahead now to the 2017 state elections and (with our voter base shoes still firmly tied) envision ourselves running our finger down the list of ballot candidates available for elected office this cycle and our mind quickly swings back to the list of acts and actions presented to me by my local Republican district over the past several years. For the first time perhaps in my lifetime that Democratic candidate does not seem so outrageous of a selection after all events of the past are taken into account from the local party. One long term Republican base voter swayed or not swayed is not the issue but multiple that by several thousands of pairs of voting shoes and it facilitates yet one more step in transforming the district from a baby blue to an azure hue with the local 10th Republican district not recognizing one blue shade from another. Clueless, ineffective and colorblind time for some serious changes or Democratic midnight blue is close at hand.
Your views on Comstock are spot on. Why should I vote for a republican candidate who has proven herself to be something other than that with her voting record? I shouldn’t, which is why for the first time in my life, I will vote D in the House voting race in November. The sooner the rinos realize we won’t re-elect them; the sooner we will get true conservative representation in Congress.
I know the Thoburns are a lot like the Pratts when it comes to grabbing money from folks, but could someone please explain to me what this grift is about?
Who are the Pratts? I don’t think anyone really knows why Jo Thoburn was insistent that Berg be booted. She kicked him off the committee last month which was no legal according to the Party Plan so she had to let him sit at the big table until she had the full committee vote to boot him.
Although I found Mark Berg to be an “8” on the Bob Marshall Nutball Scale, he deserves better than to be repeatedly kicked out of the sandbox by the cool kids at recess.
Mark Berg is one of the most principled people in politics.
Indeed he is.
That remains to be seen and I would doubt it.
Doubt what?
It remains to be seen if he is out of politics or not.
Sorry, I was responding to Berg being a principled man. Indeed he is.
And now he’s back to being one of the most principled dentists that nobody wants to invite to their field parties.
He’s a physician, not a dentist.
How about one of the most principled people out of politics.
Roberts Rules requires due process in such proceedings and RPV State Central has held this recently.
That point was made several times and ignored each time.
Did anyone point out that no evidence was ever presented against Mark Berg in the 10th District Convention Credentials Committee? Did anyone point out that a finding of another body is NOT evidence?
Bzzzzt. Plenty of evidence was presented, the 19th convention adopted the report. Game Over.
None of what was presented to the Credentials committee is what you could call evidence against Mark Berg for an Article 1 or Article 7 violation. I have seen what was presented to the Credentials Committee. Opinions of GC are not evidence. Things that other people did are not evidence.
The 10th District Convention prevented any discussion of the report and whether they adopted a report is not evidence of anything.
At last night’s meeting they were only focused on an Article 1 violation.
Did they present any evidence or call witnesses?
No, no evidence and no witnesses. They said the 10th district convention credentials committee had already done that.
Oh, that reminds me that the 10th District Credentials Committee bent over backwards to receive the late complaint and gave those challenged less than 24 hours notice in which to mount a defense. This constitutes a lack of notice and therefore another breech of due process required in Roberts Rules. In effect, “you were railroaded before so now we rely on that railroading to say you had your day in court so off with your head.”
Not directed at any individual, public declaration to elucidate and educate.
There is no defense for supporting other than the nominee in the Republican Party.
Wanna support Republicans? This party is for you — want to support someone else than Republicans? Thanks for playing, buh-bye.
This isn’t your parliamentary playground, this isn’t a place for Republican when convenient.
It really doesn’t matter about twisted knickers, or your conscience, or your channeling of rules, of how many episodes of Matlock and Perry Mason you can quote, or how the other guy hurt your delicate sensibilities.
This is a party to elect Republicans, if you want to do otherwise, allow me to help you out the door.
It is not worth tolerating an enemy within, not going to happen, don’t care if you go away mad, just go away… You are no longer welcome, check back in 4 years, perhaps you have matured or learned from your political time out.
And I’m actually mellow about this, there are folks madder than me and they will crush you like a bug if you continue to try to screw up OUR party.
http://media2.giphy.com/media/kOnoObmFUE0k8/200w.gif

Your party in Virginia has open membership. Your party in Virginia has open primaries. Your party in Virginia can be crushed in a single day in November if you keep pissing off the voters. Until your party has a registration standard, there is no republican party in Virginia. Gerrymandered districts only go so far.
The only saving grace this time is because the DNC’s high minded tactics may have managed to screw up their party even more than the GOP.
We gave the voters the nominee they chose. The voters will us, our victory will be Yuge.
And this is one of the reasons why a county of 360,000 has 115 members in their Republican committee. Republicans have made it very clear they don’t want the grassroots, Tea Party, and other groups in their exclusive little club.
Loudoun is a political middle East — until we learn to set aside petty differences and agendas, we will continue to fracture and be fractured into the political Mogadishu.
It’s a Republican party, to elect Republicans. The main reason Loudoun is so FUBAR is because we/they tolerate, celebrate, and embrace Republican “diversity”.
We are so freaking open, most all the Republican has leaked out.
It’s not just Loudoun, it’s all the units, our social electronic digital opinion tattoo culture has supplanted the clear and present need for practical politics — and the result is a party full of ignorant never special snowflakes all over our rightish spectrum.
We are reaping what we’ve sown and are deserving of what we elect.
Loudoun’s Republican party issue is their celebration of diversity? I look at it slightly different to me it’s more along the lines of a “misquote” from Alexandre Dumas’, The Three Musketeers,
“All for NONE and one for ME.”
Republican diversity; like a simmering batch of rebel warlords, independent clerics, and real/imagined city-states with numerous philosophical nomads.
You can see why the elected prefer primaries — just imagine what happens if you had an actual convention of the Loudoun-afflicted.
Due process is the difference between civilization and the barbarians.
Are you saying the Republican party is barbaric? They do not support due process in their private organization. That was repeated over and over last night.
RPV and its Committees are governed by the Party Plan of Organization and Roberts Rules of Order, when not specified in the party plan. If we are to discipline someone for not following the party plan, and we don’t follow the party plan, you tell me who is the enemy from within?
You dance with the one whut brung ya.
Consult YOUR NVATP plan of organization, consult your governing rules, Roberts, Masons, or the other guy. If you have a member who is working against the purpose of YOUR organization, are they not the enemy within???
BTW, what happens when you have a conflict between YOUR NVATP and YOUR GOP, where do YOUR loyalties lie?
A man cannot serve two masters.
I must assume that you are placing the interests of your organization, and your personal agenda ahead of the interests of the GOP in this matter.
Nice logo, needs an elephant.
It seems a bit much to expel someone from the club for 4 years, taking away their right to vote in conventions and Firehouse primaries, when they may, or may not, have supported an Independent for a local office. With no evidence and no witnesses it’s difficult to ascertain what they did. Of course some people, like Mrs. Berg, were never able to present a defense and were promptly dismissed from the club anyway.
This is why it’s self-executing. There is no Star Chamber, no hearings, no tribunals.
You either support the nominee, or you’re not involved in Republican reindeer games.
Want to be clever with semantics, want to be creatively vague, dance on the line?
Consider the risk.
We are barbaric and and full of vermin… Rowrr!!
The GOP supported their due process of waving goodbye to those that don’t support the nominees. Makes perfect sense.
This should really not be that hard to follow.
Precisely, and the barbarians were turned away just after they breached the gate. Civilization marches on.
The information presented to the credentials committee must have persuaded them to make the report they made.
The 10th district decided to accept the report without any discussion (each unit was represented on the credentials committeeI believe) nor debate required.
The adoption of the report is evidence of the acceptance and ratification of the report.
I’m kinda happy with the work done by Beau, Mick and Dick as well as our leadership of Jo, Eve, Puneet, and Mark.
The 10th Convention done good!
The adoption of the report is not evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of anyone and can not be considered as evidence in any other proceeding.
The adoption of the report means ‘Yep, these bozos are out.’
Out means out, no lawyerball, no theatrics, no occupy, no pretend.
There are no proceedings, there are no courtroom histrionics, there is a small group of people who don’t seem to realize that their coup does not have the necessary popular support to succeed.
The credentials committee voted against them, the 10th district convention voted against them, last night the entire committee voted against them and it was only through the compassion of Chairman Benevolent Jo that allowed Mark to speak/ramble/persuade at all. Other chairmen have not been so indulgent.
The 10th District, the responsible grownups, the chairmen of all the units in the 10th, and all the represented Republican groups, last night said ‘enough is enough.’ They voted their conscience.
Frederick County has their party back.
Except it isn’t the party the majority of people in Frederick county wanted.
You’d be surprised. I believe there were quite a few Frederick people in the audience who were pleased with the resolution. Were there any who were not?
So? The majority voted for Berg.
Not last night.
How many people there last night live in Frederick county? One. Mark Berg.
There were more people there from Frederick than any other country — all were opposed to Berg save the reporter.
Yes, Mark said that, it was ignored.
What a bunch of digusting vermin are in the 10th District Republican Committee! But I’m not being very nice to vermin now, am I?
The same Committee who let Beau Correll SKATE when he wanted to violate his VOLUNTARY-OATH, sees fit now to persue their groundless, petty vendetta against Del. Mark Berg.
Why doesn’t the SCC rightfully declare the 10th District Committee to be dysfunctional and remove the tyrant Chairman Jo Thoburn?!
Looking forward to the next SCC meeting when hopefully they’ll SMACK DOWN the 10th District Committee again.
How long will we play ‘wack a mole’ anyway?
Thanks for reporting this, Jeanine.
Disgusting Vermin? Plenty of political sharks and wolverines, but I think only one that would skew vermin.
I wish the SCC would declare the 10th dysfunctional but we keep electing Republicans… It’s what we do.
Remember, we are grateful to Beau and Mick and Dick (and Ken) it was their delegation, and their convention that nominated the best nominee for President since Reagan. It simply would not have happened without them.
“All animals are equal; but some animals are more equal than others.”
This is getting old. I am so tied of all these games.
Didn’t all this end when the county republicans voted Berg back in? But because the 10th district people didn’t like the results, they are reopening old wounds? What happens if the voters decide they have had enough of Big Headed BS and vote for other candidates in November?
So when are the never trumps and GOPe hypocrites going to get their asses kicked to the curb?
Hopefully in November.
Yes, that’s exactly what happened, they’ll never give up trying to get rid of Delegate Berg.
The voters got rid of Delegate Berg, not once but twice electorally in a public election. And then several times as a party.
Rarely do a group of voters get the opportunity to repeatedly expectorate such a loser.
It is becoming happily cathartic and a familiar fixture on the political calendar. Perhaps we should make it into a fundraiser?
Shad planking, Berg appealing??
Only Barbara Comstock can decide what fundraisers the 10th district is allow to have.
She, who must be obeyed.
It really would be a lot less fun if the readers could see the posters giggle.
It’s not just the 10th district who is being snickered at, other districts are also laugh worthy.
No. Apparently Benevolent Jo allowed Mark to ramble and despite the coma-inducing parliamentary gobbledygook, he still had no one who supported him or his twisted logic.
Trump lovers, trump haters, establishment, RINOs, young, old, universally are tired of the garbage — just like Ted Cruz united the national GOP, Mark has united the 10th GOP.
Sometimes the spokesmodel works against the brand.
Yes Ted Cruz United the GOP and everyone else against him.
You would think, but a group of losers decided to ‘appeal’ Mark’s election and this was the result. He’s OUT.
Berg and a few others were not eligible to be voted back in, the penalty for supporting against nominee is harsh, on purpose.
Had Berg and the others not been so politically retarded, there would be no grounds for the appeal — but he/they screwed up again.
Good news, the cancer was cut out, the party now has a chance to heal and recover.