Republican mass meetings and conventions are governed by an official document (the “Call”) for each meeting, a document that assures the integrity of the process and deters bias or unfairness. The Temporary Credentials Committee for the 10th District Convention arrogated to itself powers to conduct “trials” appealing to powers that were not authorized or supported by the Call for this Convention.
The tricks observed in the committee stem from a split in the Frederick County Republican Committee (FCRC). To understand this split it is necessary to go back a year to the Republican primary of June 2015. Chris Collins, a former Supervisor, challenged a sitting Republican Delegate, Mark Berg, who was very popular with gun rights advocates and other conservatives. Collins pretended to have strong conservative values but ran a dirty campaign in which he publicly solicited the votes of Democrats in the Republican primary and made scurrilous assertions about Dr. Berg in mailers. Financial data published later revealed that most, perhaps all of the other Supervisors helped fund the Collins campaign (buying Democrat votes is not cheap). Collins’ quid pro quo to the supervisors was his opposition to the Dillon Rule, an anti-corruption policy adopted by many states (local newspapers blew this issue). This position is anathema to gun rights advocates since the Dillon Rule prevents capricious local gun ordinances.
The leadership faction of the FCRC which we will call the CRC faction (for Colf, Robbins, Collins) also included most sitting Supervisors. [Aside: every supervisor supported Collins but all the districts they represented went for Berg.] This CRC faction tried to keep secret the conspiracy with the Democrats to rig the primary, but they failed to consider the puerile glee of the Democrats who eventually bragged over the internet about their credit for “knocking off” the Republican incumbent Berg. The CRC faction also failed to support the Republican candidate for Sheriff, resulting in victory for a Democrat running as an independent. As the perfidy of the FCRC leadership leaked out after the primary, loyal Republicans in the county began to do a slow burn which eventually boiled over in the rebellion of March 2016.
The shrinking FCRC couldn’t get a quorum to the meeting to set rules for the March Mass Meeting thus leaving all decisions up to the meeting itself. This quorum problem occurred frequently due in no small measure to throwing out active members (they were deemed to have resigned). At the mass meeting Jill Colf ran the credentials committee as usual and did her workmanlike job of suppressing the vote (a principle that hardly comports with Republican values). By estimates of some observers she disqualified scores of qualified voters in the interest of doctrinal purity, many of them older voters who could not understand why they were turned away.
Imagine the CRC faction’s surprise when their hand-picked candidate for meeting chairman lost the first vote. Robbins huddled with Colf and she appeared to reassure him that they had the votes. Robbins then announced that not everyone had voted and a revote was called for with both sides working the crowd. The second vote was larger but the defeat of the CRC candidate was more decisive. In panic mode the CRC offered up former Supervisor Collins who was defeated even more soundly. After Shawn Graber was finally elected as chair, the behavior of the CRC faction degenerated into a Colf Collins meltdown. The aisles were filled with CRC adherents trying to escape further embarrassment while the CRC hard-liners comprised a disorderly gathering in front of the stage shouting spurious objections to delay the meeting. Many participants thrown out by the CRC crowd were reinstated by the new majority.
Chairman Graber was soft-spoken and calm as usual until Jill Colf with the backing of Collins made a false 911 call which brought almost all of the Sheriff’s department (seven cars) to quell the “riot” Jill had described over the phone (both Colf and Collins are mentioned in the bizarre Sheriff’s report of the incident — they ultimately found a very orderly crowd and did not have to rescue Jill after all). Shawn ignored the attempts of the CRC mob to stop the vote and moved the meeting outside. This gave those embarrassed by the antics of Colf and Collins a chance to escape quietly before the Deputies arrived. The final orderly secret ballot elected Mark Berg the new Chair of FCRC by the largest total of the night.
But it still wasn’t over. With help from some highly placed players in the Republican Party of Virginia, the CRC faction withheld FCRC records and funds and use of the FCRC website from the new Chair (so he had to reconstruct the delegate list to certify it to the 10th District). Then the losers appealed to throw out the February election and restore control of the FCRC to the corrupt CRC faction. They (apparently Jill) also planted false stories in the press blaming the rebels for the bad behavior of the CRC faction
That brings us to the kangaroo court I witnessed on April 8.
The convention call of January 8 2016 establishes the “Qualifications for Participation” as follows:
“All legal and qualified voters, regardless of race, religion, color, national origin or sex, under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, who are in accord with principles of the Republican Party and who if requested express in open meeting orally or in writing as may be required, their intent to support all of its nominees for public office in the ensuing election, may participate as members of the Republican Party of Virginia in its Mass Meetings, Conventions or Primaries in their respective districts. Each delegate must present a valid, non-expired photo identification issued by the Commonwealth of Virginia, one of its political subdivisions, or the United States.” [paragraph 5 of the Call for the Tenth District Convention]
In spite of this, the Temporary Credentials Committee appointed themselves judge jury and executioner for PAST misdeeds (real or imagined) of the delegates who were blackballed by Jill and her cronies (amazingly Jill and these cronies are now members of this temporary committee).
As you can see the only two things a credential inquiry can request are an expression of future intent and a photo ID. This bogus committee did not ask for either – they accepted “charges” of past sins from failed FCRC Chairman Robbins (the R in CRC), put the defendants on trial under rules based on no authority whatever and “adjudicated” the charges in secret. These sour-grapes expressions of opinion far exceeded their authority under the call. They have no value for determining qualification for participation and these slanders should be set aside and expunged from any record of the Convention. The rule they adopted was null and void since it directly contradicted the call.
There were a few members of the committee who tried to be fair but were clearly outvoted – others bought into the cover-up after the facts came out on April 8th.
Late-breaking news: we now have the transcript of the illegal 911 call of March 8 – a third participant in this transcript has been identified as Gerry Gunn, 10th District Secretary and Chair of the rogue temporary credentials committee described above. This appears clearly to be a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail plus fines under Virginia law (plus possible bar association sanctions against attorneys Collins and Gunn).
If any attempt is made to accept this slanderous report, delegates should stand as one and shout POINT OF ORDER. This highly privileged action should stop the chair from any other action until the point of order is resolved. The point of order is simple: the report is out of order because it exceeds the authority granted in the Call. If the Chair rules that any other action is in order, object to the ruling, demand a vote and vote against the ruling. If in doubt demand a clarification – also privileged (don’t be bashful or they will roll you).
Next move that the Temporary Credentials Committee be dismissed and that any report they submitted be set aside as contrary to the Call. Finally demand a permanent Credentials Committee who will permit any questioned participant to assert their intent to support Republican nominees in the ensuing election (as provided in the Call) and thereby grant them automatic credentials.
In my own opinion most of the members of the temporary credentials committee should be censured for malfeasance, but my opinions don’t belong in the record of the Convention any more than theirs do.
Finally, try to be charitable to officers and candidates of the 10th District. Most of these people are doing their best and are not well positioned to resist pressure from higher up the food chain.
Transcript of the Call by Jill Colf
to the Frederick County 911 System
March 8, 2016
911:
Frederick County 911
Colf:
Hi, my name is Jill Colf. I am the Credentials Chair[1] of the Frederick County Republican Committee Mass Meeting that’s being conducted at Millbrook High School currently. Um, we’ve had some difficulty with some of the uh, people that have sort of taken over this meeting. I’ve just been told by the, um, the custodian that uh, we had this building until 9 o’Clock. It’s past 9 o’Clock. She uh, attempted to tell the people that are on stage that, uh, it has to shut down. They ignored her. Uh, as Credentials Chair, I am required to get up on stage[2] to a hostile group and tell them that their meeting, finished or not, has got to end now. And I am not at all comfortable going up[3] without, uh, uh, some sort of police presence. We just sent our security home.
911:
OK, how many people are there?
Colf: [addressing someone near her at the meeting]
Umm, how many people are still here? Eighty to a hundred?
Female voice:
[unintelligible]
Colf:
About ninety to a hundred. Most of them, uh, not friendly toward me.
911:
All right, where are you at right now?
Colf:
I am in the, uh, lobby of the, uh, main entrance of, uh, Millbrook High School by the auditorium.
Colf: [addressing someone near her at the meeting]
Gerry?
Male voice: [apparently addressing Jill Colf]
[unintelligible] They have to come to our meeting [apparently referring to the Sheriff deputies].
Colf: [Apparently responding to the male]
I’m calling the Sheriff’s department right now to have them help me get them out[4] , but I’m not going up there alone without somebody. No way, they are insane.
Colf:
That was, um, that was our Delegate Chris Collins that just came out and announced that we have to shut this down now . . .
911:
OK.
Colf:
…because they’re out of control.[5]
911:
And is . . . . OK. So he . . . . So, are you going to meet them in the lobby?
Colf:
I’ll be in the lobby. I have to [unintelligible] there. Ha, ha. There are some people that are getting out with . . .
911:
All right. What was your name again?
Colf:
My name is Jill Colf. C as in Charlie, O-L-F as in Frank.
911:
OK
Colf:
Um, currently exiting now while she, uh, has a chance[6] is Ellen Murphy.
911:
OK, what’s your phone number . . .
Colf: [addressing someone near her at the meeting]
I need them recording.
911:
. . . in case we need to call you?
Colf:
It is 540 . . .
911:
Um, hmm.
Colf:
. . . 532,[redacted by TBE editors].
911:
OK. All right. So, you’ll meet the deputies in the lobby?
Colf:
Yes, ma’am. I’ll be wearing, uh, all black with pink blazer.
Male voice:
[unintelligible]
911:
OK.
Colf: [apparently responding to the male]
Calling the Sheriff’s department.
Male voice:
[unintelligible]
Colf: [apparently responding to the male again]
I don’t care what they are doing. They’re, it’s past nine O’clock.[7] They’re hostile.
911:
How many would you say are being hostile?
Male voice:
[unintelligible]
Colf:
Um, I would say, at this point, with all the normal people coming are hostile, 80 percent? 70 percent?
911: [apparently, a different 911 operator answering another call][8]
Sheriff’s department.
Gerry Gunn:
Uh, yeah, there’s . . .
Male voice:
80%
Colf:
About 80%
911:
OK.
Male voice:
[unintelligible]
Colf: [apparently responding to the male]
I know.
911:
All righty, we’ll go ahead and have someone meet you in the lobby there. OK?
Colf:
OK.
911:
All right.
Colf:
I really appreciate that.
911:
And you’re in the main lobby?
Colf: [addressing someone near her at the meeting]
Um, this is the main lobby, isn’t it? This is the main lobby?
Gerry Gunn:
Yes
Colf:
By the auditorium?
Gerry Gunn:
By the auditorium
Colf:
Yeah. Yes ma’am.
911:
OK. We’ll go ahead and send them out there.
Colf:
Thank you so much.
911:
OK.
Colf:
Um, hmm.
911:
Bye bye.
[1]No, Jill is not the Credentials Committee Chair at that point.
[2]No, the Credentials Chair does not get up on stage. The meeting is run by the Chairman of the Mass Meeting. He does not relinquish the Chair to anyone else.
[3]Don’t go up. You have no authority to do that.
[4]It is not Jill Colf’s job to clear out the auditorium.
[5]So, Delegate Chris Collins said that “they’re out of control?”
[6]Has a chance??
[7]It does not matter how peaceful the Mass Meeting particpants are, “It is past nine o’clock.”
[8]Yes, there were other 911 calls, much more important.
