On Saturday the 10th District credentialing committee refused to allow former Delegate Mark Berg and his wife to be delegates at next week’s Tenth District convention. He and his wife were charged with having violated Section 1 of the Republican Party plan. Â Mark Berg is currently Chairman of the Frederick County Republican Party and is a former General Assembly delegate representing the area. Â This may the first time a sitting party unit chair, who is also a former Delegate, has been disenfranchised from voting in his own district.
Eight of the nine Frederick Republicans charged with violating the party plan were found guilty of that offense and will not be permitted to vote at the convention next week. Â In addition to Dr. and Mrs. Berg they are,
Ken HunterJay MartsDana NewcombDelores StottlemyerJoshua StottlemyerMichael Stottlemyer
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This year will be a monumental turning point in our nation’s history with everything riding on the out come of fall elections. Will we keep the Presidency out of the hands of socialists? Will we even be able to hang on to control of the House and Senate? It would be very nice if the powers that be in the 10th District and at the SCC could keep that in mind in the rulings they are making that keep separations in party unity alive. If they want to see some success in the fall, they might consider applying a little forbearance and good will to all now.
The Virginia Republican State Party and it’s 10th District can be pretty much summed up in a quote from I believe George Washington Carver “Where there is no vision, there is no hope”.
look at all the money the party will save by not holding their gatherings at the homestead. A pup tent will look like a massive arena, and cheap too.
APPEAL of Disqualification
Dear 10th District Chairman:
I respectfully request that the disqualification submitted by the Frederick County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney and past Chairmen of the Frederick County Republican Committee (FCRC), Andy Robbins, on March 8, 2016, be cast aside. I have attempted to outline several reasons.
Lack of fair & equitable application of rules.
Other members seem to have committed similar violations yet no action is taken.
Candidate Chris Collis invited Democrats to participate in the Republican Primary
He had a fund raiser with Democrat supporter former Sen. Russ Potts.
He refused to provide his endorsement and would not allow Republican Beau Correll to use his name in support of a campaign for Winchester City Commonwealths Attorney.
A similar incident happened with Republican Sheriff Les Taylor in Winchester City with no adverse action being taken, to my knowledge.
FCRC member, Cheryl Schwartz, openly supported Democrat Mary Daniels against Del. Dave LaRock with no adverse action taken.
Abuse of Power.
There rules provide too much authority in the hands of one person and can lead to abuse. This unilateral action was not accompanied by a vote of the Executive or full Committee on whether to proceed.
During his tenure as Chairman he has been hostile to “TEA Party†conservatives and generally unwilling to allow elections or appoint of these members to subcommittees. His disqualification action has the perception of a TEA Party Purge & Personal Vendetta, as I and Dody Stottlemyer both ran against him in 2014 and are TEA Party Leaders.
Are there any limits to the GOP loyalty oath?
I could not vote for the Republican nominee, and instead encouraged the write-in vote of a sitting Republican Delegate.
Candidate Chris Collins use of ugly campaign smear tactics, lies and personal attacks against a personal friend of mine, Delegate Mark Berg. He sent tens of thousands of mailers to the residents of Frederick County, my family, friends and neighbors, accusing this Christian man and fellow Republican of being the “Champion… of sex offenders…, “.. won’t protect abused childrenâ€.
Aww, come on, Jay. It’s not fair to ask for fairness.
Not sure why I bother. For many years I have bought into the theme of “fixing the GOP from within” rather than other options. They have now provided me with a minimum of four years to consider other options.!!!
The message seems to be they do not want to grow the party, they want to shrink it, starting with you and the others. Our tent will soon be minuscule.
I wonder if Jill Colf will be allowed in, after calling 911 to stop a fictitious ‘chaotic’ gathering? Isn’t that a crime?
I don’t think this is “purity,” or “conformity,” other than the requirement that inferior bodies (the District Committee) honor the decisions of the superior body (the State Central Committee). If memory serves, Berg was ejected because he failed to disavow a write-in campaign against a GOP nominee. In a state without party registration, this is necessary and appropriate.
I was not aware of the requirement that all Republicans must disavow write-in campaigns. Thanks for letting us know! Are there rules for when and where we must do this prior to every election?
I’m not endorsing the decision of the SCC, just explaining it. As for the Tenth District Committee, it has no choice but to honor the ruling of the SCC.
Not really. They make them up as they go along. All of this was dealt with in the Mass Meeting of March 8. Everyone was reinstated by vote of the Mass Meeting as stated in the bylaws. The establishment was outnumbered. They thought they had it covered. Many people showed up that were tired of what the FCRC had been doing and they voted their displeasure. The establishment lost and the people won. They were surprised that the people used their own rules to beat them overwhelmingly. They were so spooked that they called the county police for what reason is a mystery. There was no chaos as the police were there for show. There are rules against that, also, but no one is applying those rules to the establishment. They lost, the people won. in a sane world that would have been the end. They are sore losers. That’s the story. And it is the only way to bring sanity back to the political process. The people must vote.
So basically we have no choice of who we want elected its all controlled by the Republicans. I will leave the party before I give up the right to vote for who I choose. This is exactly why when they call for donations anymore they don’t and won’t get them!
Let me try again: the Tenth District was obliged by the Party Plan to honor the decision of the SCC. This has nothing to do with having a “choice of who we want elected.” And by joining the party — a private organization — you agree to abide by its rules. If you can’t do that, by all means, leave.
Yes, that’s the choice that many of us have made. Soon our party tent will be minuscule. We will be able to have meetings in phone booths.
Good point, and because there are no longer any phone booths . . .
Did SCC boot 9 people from Frederick County Republican committee? Wow. I wonder how many they have booted from other districts?
Political Parties are NOT private organizations – they are semi-public institutions authorized by the state to carry out certain public activities and responsibilities. Therefore, the state has some say in how they work, and what rules and policies are used to regulate these activities. And in Virginia, most recently in Campbell County, the state spoke loudly against activity similar to what is currently going on in Frederick County
Next up will be all you traitors who voted for that non-republican, Trump. They have your records, so there is no denial allowed. The purge will continue until only pure republicans are left.
There aren’t any pure Republicans.
Mark Berg led the fight to stop the Medicaid expansion which was stopped. That made him a lot of enemies. He refused to “play ball” with the RINO’s and that earned him more enemies. Those enemies have taken over the leadership of the 10th. Conformity is required. My question for Jeanne is which one of the nine was pardoned?
Brenda Stottlemyer was pardoned and will be allowed to attend the 10th district convention next weekend.
I don’t get this. Why all the sour grapes against Berg. He didn’t have anything to do with write in campaign and the Republican nominee handly won. What is the point of driving the divide further? What ever happened to unity? Why hasn’t Bill Bolling and countless others who helped Cucinelli lose been kicked out of the Republican party? If we’re going to purge those who haven’t been “pure enough” lets at least be consistent instead of selectively choosing who to enforce excessive “rules” against. Isn’t that the job of the Obama justice department?
I can’t answer that other than to say the Establishment Republicans hate Mark Berg.
And there it is in a nutshell. They do not like him because he exposes their raw need to control people, places, and events.