4:37 PM Sandy’s proposal makes it to the Party Plan Committee, and we’ll see a version of an amendment to be voted on at the December meeting.
And that’s it…that’s all of our business. Thanks for reading.
4:32 PM Kyle McDaniel’s transparency task force resolution passes unanimously, establishing a Communications Best Practices task force. Now on to Sandy’s resolution on opening up the election of at-large delegates.
4:23 PM It seems Mark Berg has worn out his welcome at State Central, and many folks look to this as an opportunity to finally end the endless series of controversies. The 10th District Committee’s banishment of Berg was upheld by a vote of 51-21.
4:19 PM Mark Berg is being accused of a violation of Article I, such that he is barred from participation in Party actions for a period of 4 years. This arises from his failure to disavow a write-in campaign urging people to vote for Berg. He was found to have violated Article I by the 10th District Committee, and we’re being asked to overturn that appeal.
4:01 PM First appeal asking for the 10th District Committee’s disposition of the Frederick County Committee to be overturned was defeated soundly.
3:34 PM Hearing presentations regarding the continuing, festering controversy around the Frederick County matter.
3:27 PM Berg’s second appeal on General Counsel rulings also sails through, after Marston agrees to reissue the opinion at issue with slightly adjusted wording.
3:25 PM We’ve moved on to the Frederick County/Mark Berg/10th District appeals. The first one passed without opposition. It was an appeal of a General Counsel ruling which Chris Marston, the RPV General Counsel, conceded was mistaken.
Next up is Mark Berg making a presentation in support of his appeal regarding interpretation of Article I qualifications.
Having dragged on this long, Berg’s appeal is being heard by a somewhat smaller meeting; some members or their proxies have left.
3:25 PM We’ve moved on to the Frederick County/Mark Berg/10th District appeals. The first one passed without opposition. It was an appeal of a General Counsel ruling which Chris Marston, the RPV General Counsel, conceded was mistaken.
Next up is Mark Berg making a presentation in support of his appeal regarding interpretation of Article I qualifications.
Having dragged on this long, Berg’s appeal is being heard by a somewhat smaller meeting; some members or their proxies have left.
3:20 PM We’ve moved on to the Frederick County/Mark Berg/10th District appeals. The first one passed without opposition. It was an appeal of a General Counsel ruling which Chris Marston, the RPV General Counsel, conceded was mistaken.
Next up is Mark Berg making a presentation in support of his appeal regarding interpretation of Article I qualifications.
Having dragged on this long, Berg’s appeal is being heard by a somewhat smaller meeting; some members or their proxies have left.
3:15 PM Pat McSweeney, on behalf of John Whitbeck, is offering a resolution honoring the lifetime of service by former Lt. Governor John Hager on the occasion of his 80th birthday.
3:10 PM My take: our friend Paul Prados raises some good and genuine concerns, and Dennis Free correctly pointed out that overturning the mass meeting is a serious thing not to be taken lightly.
I don’t think this has been taken lightly. I stand with Morton Blackwell: when we’ve got evidence that the mass meeting itself was corrupted by no attempt to filter out non-Republicans, and that non-Republicans were recruited to participate, we have a responsibility to ensure such efforts aren’t rewarded. If we do otherwise, we’re just inviting more of it in the future.
Alas, the motion to overturn the 7th District’s disposition of the question was passed on a roll call vote (45 votes in favor). This means the original mass meeting was upheld.
This underscores the broader point: conservatives have to work that much harder to get their people out at mass meetings.
2:57 PM McSweeney responds to Prados that he’s only seeing the list of anticipated participants, not actual participants. On the list of actual participants, there were at least 51 non-Republicans, more than the margin of his opponent Jean Gannon’s victory.
Sandy Bourne makes a motion to shut off debate, which was voted down by large majority on a voice vote.
Morton Blackwell rises to speak. He says that having over 50 Democrats and other opponents of Republicans participating in a mass meeting is a huge problem that cannot be allowed to stand.
2:50 PM 11th District Chairman Paul Prados says he’s disturbed by the lack of clarity in the presentations. He says that while he understands McSweeney’s point about not being able to get the list of people to challenge, based on his examination of the facts, the challengeable votes would not have changed the outcome, so he will not support overturning the mass meeting.
2:47 PM Motion to postpone fails. Debate on Powhatan resumes.
2:41 PM First District Chairman Eric Herr has moved to table the Powhatan appeal until after the election, bringing it up at our December meeting.
2:29 PM This is a dynamic we have seen in a number or localities over the years. When the Republican Party is really the only game in town, and when they operate the nominating processes for local officials, then the Party committee becomes a target for influence from outside the Party. Fauquier is a great example of this, where members of the committee in the past have broadcast to the public that anyone (including “Democrats, Progressives, Independents, Libertarians”) could participate in the election of the committee and its chairman.
2:23 PM Pat McSweeney giving his side of the argument now. Talks about how there were vocal supporters of Democrat candidates, admitted Democrats, staff members and contributors for Democrats totaling over 4 dozen who were allowed to participate in the mass meeting, with no reasonable opportunity for people who didn’t like that idea to challenge it.
2:16 PM Obviously the break was longer than 5 minutes. We’ve resumed business, and now both sides are presenting arguments about the Powhatan mass meeting appeal. If I understand correctly, one of the fundamental issues here is the alleged failure of the credentials committee in that meeting to examine the qualifications of the participants. Incumbent Powhatan Chairman Pat McSweeney has documented that several dozen of the participants were not qualified. Mike Thomas argues that the time for making those challenges was at the mass meeting itself, and in the absence of such challenges, the window closes.
I’m not wholly familiar with the facts yet, but I have to take issue with Mike’s argument. If the mass meeting has a ton of unqualified people participating, it is susceptible to invalidation. One cannot say that a mass meeting’s failure to enforce the Party’s qualifications (these are not optional) is OK when it can be demonstrated that a large proportion of those voting at the mass meeting aren’t qualified to have done so.
1:39 PM We’re in recess for 5 minutes before proceeding to the Powhatan mass meeting appeal.
1:35 PM Voting breaking down along traditional lines, with only a handful of moves from the everyday breakdown. The vote is 41-40 for a primary. Thanks, Ron.
1:34 PM 5th District Chairman Lynn Tucker, and Del. Jackson Miller (R-Prince William), both honor their word, voting convention.
1:27 PM Unclear from the speeches how this is going to turn out. We’ll be proceeding to the vote shortly.
1:20 PM Only about 10 minutes of debate left.
1:16 PM Clara Belle Wheeler, a representative from the 5th District who also sits on the State Board of Elections, disregards the compromise from last year, and speaks strongly in favor of primaries. Makes a more compelling case for alternatives like firehouse primaries.
1:15 PM Doc Troxel makes a really compelling argument regarding maintaining our integrity, and the voters’ trust in us, by sticking to the deal. Earlier, Bob Watson, my colleague from the First District, made the very relevant argument that military voters actually can now participate in conventions more easily than they do in a primary.
1:08 PM More back and forth, with typical pro-convention/pro-primary arguments.
1:03 PM Our new Secretary Jill Cook argues primaries allow for military participation. Andrew Nicholson makes the point that primaries fleece local taxpayers. He’s followed by Ben Dessart, who says that, “If you’re for a convention, you’re silencing the future generation.”
12:57 PM Ron Hedlund reiterates that he likes conventions, just not the people who would run this run. Says he’s going to take the Fellowship road less traveled, drawing on Gov. Pence’s reference to the Robert Frost poem. Ron is followed by Chip Muir, speaking in favor of the compromise. Positive notes about party unity, and stopping constant fighting over process.
12:54 PM Debate is being conducted at a high level…very little in the way of rhetorical cheap shots. Very respectful. Sandy Liddy Bourne, a State Central rep from the 8th District, made the point that a Senate race next year would make a convention that much more difficult. I think that presumes a little too much.
12:32 PM I made my motion: “Mr. Chairman, I move to adhere to the understanding this body reached in June 2015, and we choose a Convention, and adopt the call as circulated, for the 2017 nomination for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General.” Second District Chairman Dennis Free makes a substitute motion to adopt a primary. Now into the debate.
12:03 PM The proposal, reflected in the draft Official Call for the convention, envisions a convention at the John Paul Jones Arena on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. When Findlay concludes his presentation, your humble correspondent will make the motion to adopt the draft call to hold a 2017 nominating convention.
12:01 PM The projection on attendance is 12,000-15,000. This, of course, envisions a Trump victory obviating the need for nomination of a Senate candidate to replace Tim Kaine.
11:58 AM We’re now moving on to the main event, which is prefaced by a presentation being delivered by executive director John Findlay giving an overview of the convention proposal that is on the agenda.
11:49 AM The body is discussing the terms of debate on the convention vs. primary issue. Debate will be limited to 1.5 hours total, with each speaker limited to 2 minutes, alternating between speakers on each side of the question.
We’re also discussing terms for the debates on appeals.
11:45 AM Back from executive session. 11th District Chairman Paul Prados asked that portion of the chairman’s report delivered during executive session be made non-confidential. His motion was defeated.
The executive director is delivering the remainder of the chairman’s report, and announces an initiative to reform the contest and appeals process. In the last three years, appeals and contests have BY FAR taken more time for the party apparatus to deal with than any other single type of work. The initiative is being handled by a committee of 10 State Central members appointed by the chairman to evaluate ideas for reform.
11:29 AM Still in executive session.
10:56 AM Running through other business, and now going into executive session to discuss finances. We have another guest speaker coming, 7th District Rep. Dave Brat, who will address us after executive session.
10:55 AM Next speaker is Republican National Committeewoman Cynthia Dunbar. Cynthia talks about how, in her orientation as a new RNC member, she discovered the consent decree under which RNC is prohibited from fighting voter fraud. Dunbar promises to do whatever possible to get RNC out from under those restrictions, which she described as having been agreed to surreptitiously by the General Counsel and without the approval of the national committee itself.
10:51 AM Pence makes a well-received joke about being brief, because he’s seen the very long agenda in front of the Committee. Pence closes with a very moving exhortation for us all to work to maintain and extend the exceptionalism of America.
10:44 AM Pence promises lower marginal tax rates across the board. Gets huge applause. Talks about a Trump moratorium on new regulations and red tape, and rolling back unconstitutional executive orders issued by Barack Obama. Promises the Trump administration will end the war on coal. Says the most important issue of the election is the “course and destiny of the Supreme Court over the next 40 years.”
10:44 AM Pence promises lower marginal tax rates across the board. Gets huge applause. Talks about a Trump moratorium on new regulations and red tape, and rolling back unconstitutional executive orders issued by Barack Obama. Promises the Trump administration will end the war on coal. Says the most important issue of the election is the “course and destiny of the Supreme Court over the next 40 years.”
10:40 AM Pence arrives to raucous cheers and applause. Tells the assembled party leaders that the road to the White House runs straight through Virginia, and that when they win, he and his running mate will have Morton Blackwell’s rules in the West Wing.
Pence is on his way to a rally later today in Loudoun County.
10:35 AM In a surprise move, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, our vice presidential nominee, has apparently entered the building!
10:30 AM Henrico Sheriff Mike Wade, nominee for Congress in the 4th District, is a guest speaker. After redistricting, the 4th is a difficult district for Republicans, but Wade is explaining that it is a winnable race against state Sen. Don McEachin (D-Richmond).
10:22 AM Lots of people gathered in the guest section who are here to see to the debate of various appeals. Most of these folks are interested in the outcome of a series of appeals arising out of controversies in Frederick County and the 10th Congressional District, and one arising out of the Powhatan County mass meeting in the 7th Congressional District.
10:11 AM The gavel has come down. First Vice Chairman Mike Thomas is presiding, as RPV Chairman John Whitbeck is attending a sick child. Our prayers are with him.
10:27 AM Mike Thomas announces he will recuse himself from the role of chairman during the hearing of the Powhatan appeal, as he was a participant in the underlying dispute, and he wished to not give any impression of unfairness. Western Regional Vice Chairman Wendell Walker will take the gavel during that debate. Mike didn’t have to do that, so he is to be applauded for showing great leadership on this issue.
10:22 AM Lots of people gathered in the guest section who are here to see to the debate of various appeals. Most of these folks are interested in the outcome of a series of appeals arising out of controversies in Frederick County and the 10th Congressional District, and one arising out of the Powhatan County mass meeting in the 7th Congressional District.
10:11 AM The gavel has come down. First Vice Chairman Mike Thomas is presiding, as RPV Chairman John Whitbeck is attending a sick child. Our prayers are with him.
