Commonsense Reforms to Our Party Structure

Congratulations are in order to RPV Chairman Jack Wilson for putting on a successful Advance in the face of adversity. Attendance was good, the venue was a good spot to have the events, and many good ideas were traded back and forth among Republicans from all over the Commonwealth.

During the Advance I had the privilege of serving on an afternoon panel with former Governor Bob McDonnell, Henrico Chairman Bryan Horn and Ambassador John Moore. Many folks have asked me to put out my talking points from the panel which essentially were a list of reforms the Party structure needs to make, based on my experience as RPV Chairman and as a voting member of the Republican National Committee.

For what its worth, I hope these are helpful and I hope they can be put into action. They are all necessary if we are going to get back to winning Some of these are hard to hear I know, but it’s time for truth. If nothing else, I hope these will spark a robust discussion on reforming our Party.

The Position of RPV Chairman Needs Serious Reform

It is no longer workable to have a part-time, volunteer Chairman. There simply is too much to do and not enough hours in the days, weeks, months, years to do it. During my time as Chairman I essentially had to spend the vast majority of my time fundraising, doing communications and focusing on the now. Virginia has an election ever year, and an important one occurs each time. The Chairman must have the time to be able to run the Party while also thinking about the future. You cannot do that as part-time Chairman.

Many state parties have full-time Chairman, including blue states like Connecticut, California, etc. Virginia is a big enough and important enough state. I would never have accepted payment for being Chairman, but going forward we should hire the Chairman for a competitive rate of pay and have him or her devote their full time.

We also need to reform how the Chairman is elected. Why in the world do we require an unpaid volunteer to run state-wide during a Presidential election year? Think about it. You are essentially asking an unpaid volunteer to run around Virginia gathering delegates in the most important election cycle there is. Add to that their having to support themselves and their family because they are currently unpaid, spend time with their spouse and their children and do the daily job of being Chairman, this notion becomes more and more absurd.

Most states elect their chairman through their version of the State Central Committee. It’s time we move to a system where the Chairman is like a CEO of a multi-million dollar organization, elected by the shareholders’ representatives with the purpose of doing a full-time job running the party. What we are doing now is tremendously inefficient and it’s holding us back from having better leadership at the top.

The Party is Weak Because of our Campaign Finance System

Contrary to what most people think, the RPV Chairman and indeed the Party are not the main decision-makers for much of anything anymore when it comes to campaigns. We have become a campaign-based Party because of the campaign finance system.

What I mean by this is we have unlimited donations to state and local candidates. This means there is absolutely no incentive to give money to the state party when you can donate directly to the candidate. This reduces the Party to basically a cheaper alternative for mail. Campaigns have no incentive to work with the RPV to make it stronger.

We Need to Stop Being Obsessed with Process

Since 2012 we have been fighting the never-ending battle we impose upon ourself over process. What I mean by that is we have become obsessed with nominating conventions, mass meetings, etc. We spend endless hours debating the call, manipulating our party’s rules to further the nomination of our chosen candidates and catering to a small group of activists rather than bringing our message to the public at-large.

What happened this year in the 6th District was a tragedy. We tore ourselves apart to nominate a candidate for Congress and elect a chair, and the battle has still to this day not ended. Sound familiar? That’s because it happens every year somewhere in Virginia Republican politics. The 6th District is just another example.

In my experience 90% of our “unity” problems have more to do with people feeling like they were cheated in a party process than anything else. Think about it. When was the last time you recall us having a hard time unifying after a robust policy debate in a nomination process? Doesn’t happen very often. It’s usually left over hard feelings about the process.

The Unit System Needs Rebuilding

Ask yourself, if you were trying to get your friend to get involved with the Republican Party would you convince them by taking them to your local Unit meeting? If the answer is no then your Unit needs to be revamped.

Members of the Unit Committee are supposed to be representatives of their precinct to the governing body of the locality. We need to get back to where it means something special to be a part of the Unit Committee. If that means they get larger or smaller then so be it.

Now this problem is not true everywhere. In Norfolk for example, they went from 15 people to 60 in a few short months. But the vast majority of Units are declining in membership, having meetings that are boring and unproductive and are losing their ability to recruit volunteers.

We Need to Strengthen and Find a Purpose for the VFRW, YR’s and CR’s

Since their inception, our allies in the VFRW, Young Republicans and College Republicans have been a very critical part of our success in winning elections. But recently I noticed there has been a rapid decline in membership and participation in these groups. While it is not universal, as there are several chapters that are doing very well, the vast majority of groups are declining.

I think there is a simple answer for this and it is two-fold. First, the RPV needs to take the importance of these allied organizations very seriously and work to strengthen them as they would a Unit committee.

Second, we need to define a purpose for these organizations, preferably a singular purpose designed to help us win elections. Ideas can vary as to what that purpose should be but here are a few ideas.

The VFRW could focus on recruiting, training and supporting conservative women to run for elected office and party leadership positions. We are losing suburban women right now and that needs to be reversed or we will continue to lose elections state-wide and in suburbs. Who better than the VFRW to be the catalyst for more women running for office in the Republican Party?

The Young Republicans could become a machine for voter registration. I tried selling the importance of registering more voters in Virginia to the RNC during my time and Chairman Wilson has made it a top priority. Can you imagine if we had an entire organization who focused their mission on this singular critical issue?

The College Republicans could be singularly focused on combating the blowout of Republican candidates on college campuses. This was a major factor in 2017 and could be a major factor in every state-wide election now that Democrats have figured out a formula for success.

These would no doubt be monumental reforms but they are all necessary to get back to winning elections. Merry Christmas Virginia Republicans!

Regards,
John Whitbeck

Commonsense Reforms to Our Party Structure

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