The Sixth Congressional District Republican Committee met by Zoom on May 28, 2020 – the third meeting in six weeks with each meeting separated only by the fourteen days required for proper notice. We kept meeting because various parliamentary procedures were used to keep us from dealing with issues that the Committee should be addressing.
The primary element on the agenda for May 28 was a resolution to honor former Sixth District Treasurer Al Tucker – recently deceased – for providing solvency, transparency, and clarity to the financial affairs of the District Committee. Congressional State Central Committee representative Jeff Adams made a motion for which we could not get enough votes at a prior meeting to add it to the agenda. (Al died the day after the call and agenda went out.)
The Jennifer Brown caucus did not like the language in Jeff’s original resolution that declared Al’s innocence in the matter of the frivolous complaints filed with the Federal Elections Committee just prior to the 2018 District Convention. Jeff introduced a substitute motion that removed much of the language that the Brown people found objectionable. However, the language he left in was necessary to help bring closure for Al’s wife and children. (The FEC complaints were truly hurtful to Al and his family.)
Craig Storrs’ substitute to Jeff’s motion was voted down by a narrow margin. Then Jeff offered to include several clauses from Craig’s version to his own version. The resolution, with those inclusions, was eventually adopted with no negative votes but a number of abstentions. The final resolution reads (as close as I can get it with all the amendments):
“WHEREAS, Albert S. J. Tucker, III (“Al”), served the Sixth District Republican Committee (the “Committee”) faithfully as its treasurer; and
“WHEREAS, Al died on April 30, 2020; and
“WHEREAS, Al supported the republican party with his vast array of talents and skills after a distinguished career as an audio engineer at the cutting-edge Maryland Sound International in Baltimore working with national, and international performing artists; and
“WHEREAS, Al was a generous friend, always willing to share his good humor and fortune with those around him; and
“WHEREAS, Al was devoted to his family, his faith and the fundamentals of the Republican Party of Virginia; and
“WHEREAS Al’s service to the committee was honest, above reproach, without guile, and worthy of praise; and
“WHEREAS, Al and the Committee were the subject of a complaint to the Federal Election Commission (the “Complaint”); and
“WHEREAS, Al always acted transparently, honorably and in good faith; and
“WHEREAS, tragically, Al did not live to see the final resolution of the Complaint, which this Committee has vigorously contested and which this Committee is confident will show no intentional misconduct by Al and the Committee and no harm to any person or the public weal,
“NOW, THEREFORE, this Committee resolves as follows:
- To thank Al, publicly and without reservation, for his faithful service to the Committee;
- To express the Committee’s gratitude for the life and condolences on the death of Al to his survivors, especially his widow Deborah Klipp Tucker, his children, Albert S. J. Tucker, IV and Rachel Josephine Rudd, and his father, Col. Albert S. J. Tucker, II, U.S.A.F (ret.);
- To publicly repudiate the Complaint; and
- To direct the Secretary of the Committee to convey an appropriately framed copy of this motion to Mrs. Tucker, and to cause it to be published in the official records and on the website of the Committee.”
We very much miss you, Al. Rest in peace.
