You can’t blame John Whitbeck for everything.
I mean, you can try – but a close look at how the Republican Party of Virginia works makes such perpetual attacks on the Chairman look somewhat ridiculous.
In Virginia, the Republican Party is governed by an elected State Central Committee. The SCC decides, according to the party plan, whether or not we’ll have primaries or conventions, while The General Assembly decides whether or not there will be party registration and “closed” primaries.
The Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia’s job, is to execute the will of the SCC.
Since moving to Virginia, I have listened to endless griping about the RPV Chairman. In most cases, their consternation appears utterly misplaced. The Chairmanship is an executive position. Like a CEO or a President, the Chairman does not determine the rules or the organizations overall direction. His job is to advise and faithfully execute the will of “The Party” which is determined by the members of the State Central Committee.
A Chairman should be judged by how effectively he executes the direction handed down to him by the SCC.
The State Central Committee bares some of the responsibility for the vibrancy and success of the Republican Party.
According to The Party Plan, the State Central Committee has six specific duties:
- The State Central Committee shall formulate and provide for the execution of such policies, plans and measures as it may deem conducive to the best interest of the Party and in conformity with the State Party Plan.
- It shall determine whether candidates for statewide public office shall be nominated by Convention, Party Canvass, or Primary.
- It shall call all regular and special State Conventions and make arrangements therefore, including the basis of representation, the time and the place.
- It shall have general supervision of all statewide campaigns. Neither the State Party nor the State Central Committee, however, shall be responsible for the financing of, or any financial obligation resulting from, such campaign, except to the extent that any such obligations may be approved and assumed in writing, in advance, by the State Central Committee.
- It shall prescribe such additional duties of the State officers and shall appoint special State Central subcommittees as it deems appropriate.
- Whenever the State Central Committee shall determine that a District or a Legislative District Chairman has failed to function as such, then the State Chairman shall appoint a new Chairman to perform the duties provided in the State Party Plan until a successor is duly elected by the applicable Committee.
According to The Party Plan, the Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia is responsible for the following:
- The State Chairman shall be Chairmen of the State Central Committee and of its Executive Committee.
- He shall issue calls for State Conventions and Party Canvasses, and shall preside until a temporary organization is effected.
- He shall be responsible for sending a copy of the proposed annual budget to all members of the Committee no less than three weeks prior to the meeting at which it will be considered and adopted.
- He shall convene the State Central Committee when the needs of the Party so demand, but in no event less than once during each four month period and he shall preside at the meetings of the committee. He shall be responsible for sending written notice of the call for a State Central Committee meeting to all members of the Committee and to Unit Chairmen, which shall include the agenda for the meeting.
- He shall issue, upon request, to Unit Chairmen and Unit Committeemen a commission signed by him and countersigned by the State Secretary, after notification of their elections as such.
- He shall be responsible for the operation of State Headquarters, including hiring such personnel as he may deem necessary. He may appoint any personnel as may be required from time to time with such duties as he may prescribe. In no case shall the total salaries of the employed personnel exceed the total amount for the salaries as set out in the budget adopted by the State Central Committee.
- He shall, acting in the name of the Party not less than ninety days prior to the end of the fiscal year, engage a firm of certified public accountants to perform an annual independent review of the Party’s financial records and affairs as of the end of the fiscal year and to report the results of such review to the Executive Committee and to the State Central Committee.
In truth, the Republican Party of Virginia is a very small operation and it isn’t all that powerful. RPV is an instrument for getting Republicans elected. That’s about it. RPV should be focused on getting local committees and candidates quality data, easily organized and sorted. Local Republican candidates shouldn’t have to wait an eternity to get targeted lists helpful for going door to door.
The real power in the Republican Party is found in our local committees. If Republicans are losing elections, it is worth asking ourselves just how hard our local committees are working. How much money are they raising? Are they putting politicians in front of the voters? Does the local committee make sure to have enthusiastic and informed volunteers working at the polls? Are Republicans being sought after, encouraged, and groomed to run for local or statewide office? If not, why not?
What kind of fundraisers are our local committees involved in? Do we have just one snazzy Reagan Dinner where wealthy Republicans get to eat steak and listen to their Congressmen crow? Or are there fundraisers and events for the average Republican? In fact, how effectively are our committees engaging with the average Republican in their area?
I would imagine that in most counties in Virginia, our local Republican committees are practically invisible. Committees may look more like book clubs or fight clubs, but only to the few who actually know these committees exist.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the local units and committees had more of a presence in their communities? How many local committees volunteer in their communities? How many young people attend committee meetings and are young people encouraged to attend?
Are committees meeting because committees are supposed to meet, or are committees meeting for a reason? What exactly is being accomplished? Why should people attend their local GOP committee meetings?
These are simply some things to think about before we begin to blame all our problems on one Chairman, who is neither omnipotent nor omnipresent. Maybe instead of looking at a party chairman as a tool for our factional battles, we could use him to help support increased efforts at the local level.
For those who believe that the State Party is some swanky elitist organization, I’d encourage you to take a trip to Richmond and see their offices. See how few people work in that building. Maybe then you’ll see that the impression that the RPV is a big organization that accomplishes little is backwards. RPV is a tiny organization that accomplishes a great deal.
99.99% of the people participating in the Republican Party of Virginia are doing so through their local units and committees. If we need to do better as a Party, that’s where we need to start.
30 comments
I don’t normally read the comments, but I am so glad that I did this time around.
The wizard of Oz from Hanover has come out from behind the curtain of hiding and has graced us with her presence, although multiple identities and anonymously, the meanness and anger and tone belie the true person. This same person that gripes and complains about most everything that goes on within Republican circles, but does not have the time to actually get off the bench and get out on the field and get involved, to try to change things. This same person did not attend her local Hanover Mass Meeting to help support one of the people running for that Chairmanship. Also did not sign up to be a delegate for the 1st District Convention or the State District Convention or attend either one. How do I know that she did not attend these events, because I did and asked if she was there? The reason that she cannot attend, must be because she is too busy burning up the electronic media with the lies and innuendo that that she is so famous for. All the while she stays at home, concocting more and more conspiracies from the Contrails, while she is giving out orders to her minions and puppets to do her dirty work for her all over the place, to combat those same concocted conspiracies. Or berating those that made the effort and took the time to actually get involved in the process and get elected as Delegates to go to Cleveland. Those same Delegates tried to get a number of different rules changed that would have help disperse the power towards the people. But that is to direct and obvious, for anyone that actually watched the Rules Committee meetings, that were on C-Span and still and been watched now. They could then determine what really happened and what the real intent was, instead of the vast concocted-ness of power that everyone seems to have but her. I am also glad to see that she has learn ed how to use the shift key on a keyboard, so that she does not have to type in all caps while claiming that she has eyes issues, but somehow cannot afford to purchase some reading glasses.
Where oh where will the Wizard of Oz show up next? And which character will she use this time? Stay tuned, I am sure we will find out.
Why were you having a breakfast meeting Saturday morning in Goochland with RPV Chairman Whitbeck, State Central Committee members Susan Lascolette and Dewey McDonnell and 7th District Chairman Ben Slone?
The meeting was apparently so stressful Dewey McDonnell had a massive heart attack and had to go by ambulance to the hospital where he underwent heart surgery.
Why wasn’t SCC committee member Ron Hedlund informed of this litte meeting and invited? Hmmm? Are you trying to subterfuge Ron Hedlund, too?
Why is it you are always circling the drain when bad things are being flushed? Like good and admirable people’s reputations who are trying to save our republic?
Think about it.
Oh please Mark YOU FB like a GIRL. I’ve read that tripe you post. A State Central Committee member has no business conducting themselves like that.
Yep, she sure is ANGRY. The ranting is almost sick enough to need medical attention. I couldn’t imagine going through life this unhappy.
Well Reagan George and the Conservative Fellowship did a pretty good job blaming RPV Chairman John Whitbeck Saturday at their “Conclave” held in Goochland for not purchasing a contract with a vendor for a statewide voter database to Get out the Vote. You should have been there, Steven. Full Disclosure: Reagan George is a stockholder in Rvotes- licensed by a Middle Resolution Pac board member in Virginia so Bob Bailie can control all the candidates, nominees, and Republican elected officials in the Commonwealth down to Dogcatchers, School Boards, Sheriffs and Commonwealth’s Attorneys for their School Choice, Article V Convention of States Agenda, and whatever crazy idea they have next week. Apparently John Whitbeck is the only person holding out to prevent one man from controlling the entire GOP slate in Virginia. Golly Gee Gomer why would Whitbeck do that?
Yours is an incomplete and dishonest characterization. Reagan George was simply lamenting that a large effort regarding data was completed, but yet no action on the recommendations (or evidently any communication at all) was undertaken. Of course, this was in the context of Whitbeck actually being one of the requestors of that body of work as well. Finally, your assertions regarding Middle Resolution are unfounded and alarmist. Have you ASKED Whitbeck if this is why there’s been no movement, or are you only projecting your argument and fears onto him? Of course, we’d all know whether your fear-mongering had actual credibility if you weren’t cowering behind a fake username. For shame.
http://www.vpap.org/donors/1236-robert-w-bailie/?page=3&end_year=all&start_year=all
Spend an hour on this site and respond.
Dishonest deflection. I ask again:
Have you ASKED Whitbeck if this is why there’s been no movement, or are you only projecting your argument and fears onto him?
Mother Goose knows exactly how the party works.
The Tea Party, apparently, does not. Spend some time educating yourself and the Richmond Tea Party. You are way out of your league here buddy.
And there we have it, right on cue. I think we indirectly have our answer.
But here’s yet another opportunity to answer the very clear and simple question:
Have you ASKED Whitbeck if this is why there’s been no movement, or are you only projecting your argument and fears onto him?
I guess I *am* out of my league….I can have a discussion without lying and making unfounded assertions. You should consider getting into my league….perhaps you could sleep better at night and require fewer showers.
Eric:
Invest some time in Congressman Dave Brat’s FEC report.
Middle Resolution Board member Nancy Smith is running Dave Brat’s re-election campaign. Note expenditures to RVotes LLC.
then note $20,000 expenditure to pay for a 2 year Rvotes License. Nancy Smith owns that license, too.
Chris Ashby is Middle Resolution’s attorney and Dave Brat’s attorney?
that’s cozy!
and you believe the RPV should use Rvotes as the sole vendor of voter information in Virginia? Here’s your SIGN.
http://www.fec.gov/fecviewer/CandCmteTransaction.do
Oh look, a new anonymous idiot coming along to ALSO not answer the question.
Guess what, idiot #2….the non-rVotes vendor is i360, which is a Koch Brothers/Americans for Prosperity entity. Do you want the evil Koch corporation controlling all the elections in VA??? ERMAGHERD!!!!1!1Z!!
i can assure you when the TEACHERS in the 7th District discover that Congressman David Brat’s campaign is being financed, operated, and influenced by the Middle Resolution Pac and their Charter School and School Choice Agenda’s run by Kris Allen they will be voting for the DEMOCRAT.
Oh goodie. More cowardly anonymous posters.
Not more, Eric. It’s the same one, who has now been warned about her sock puppetry.
The Mechanicsville Tea Party cracked that nut in 2011 when they defeated some supervisors keeping that gravy train going in Hanover County. Good for them.
Now the question you should ask yourself if you really know the inside of the Party Machinations is why a Middle Resolution Pac board member is running the campaign of a Congressman and serving on the State Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia at the same time.
Ask Mr. Whitbeck that question, Steven and Eric. Instead of using this blog like a twitter feed of the Kardashians, actually look at questions.
http://www.vpap.org/committees/151225/yes-hanover-bonds/
The developers and contractors in Hanover County donate to Middle Resolution Pac and then the bonds paid for by county taxpayers keep the county buildings in perpetual construction. See how that works?
lol @ creating multiple fake accounts to post anonymously. So sad. But at least taking the time to create more accounts gives you less time to be dishonest, so I’ll take it. Please contact me offline so we can establish a mutually-agreeable rate for that space I occupy in your head. It seems unfair that I take up all that space for free.
You are the reason this website is a POS and legitimate people call it the [email protected] Elephant.
Go to Blue Virignia buddy- that’s who runs the State of Virginia.
Thank you for the compliment that you are too obtuse to realize you offered.
No way you spent time reviewing $1.8 million in donations to figure out how those campaign donations to Republican elected officials translated to the Article V and School Choice votes in Virginia’s General Assembly.
Shame on You!
I wanted to be there, but i couldn’t get up and around Saturday. I was pissed. I’m glad you guys had a fascinating meeting though.
You missed the Salt and Light Patron announce to God as his witness in a church fellowship hall on River Road ” I am an Islamophobe and a Homophobe.”
He forgot it was a Tea Party meeting and he wasn’t in his Salt and Light meeting in Mechanicsville.
Guess that label of the “Christian Taliban” the Democrats call the Conservative Fellowship is spot on. You had to be there. The Republicans will never win another statewide or Federal election in Virginia.
I think we were at two different meetings.
Kim, please do two things: first, stick to one screen name. We don’t tolerate sock puppets. Second, please make an effort to understand what you’re talking about when you’re referring to the Conservative Fellowship. From your telling, it’s some vast cabal with its tentacles into everything you apparently don’t like. In reality, it’s just the pro-convention caucus on the RPV State Central Committee, made up of a wide variety of conservatives (libertarian to traditional Republican to avid Trumpsters). The organization, such as it is, had nothing to do with the meeting you reference.
Oooo…Kim who? I need to tell the folks that gathered this past weekend, as we don’t need such seething contempt infecting the group.
What are you? like A Kardashian? Shred your man card.
Free Speech doesn’t exist in the Tea Party, not on this blog- certainly not the Henrico Tea Party- no sir, no one can speak without being approved by the Dictator who runs that op.
This kind of childish 5th grade commentary is why People have no respect for the Bull Elephant. What’s a Georgetown Law graduate doing researching IP addresses of commentors all night long and building his secret list of perceived enemies to his mission who comment in opposition to the propaganda machine of the “Fellowship? ” Playing “Gotcha?” Well the outing works both ways.
Don’t you people have jobs and real lives?
Congrats….that was nearly coherent. But please keep trying…we know you can do it!
That was a Middle Resolution propaganda tour on Saturday run by John Adams for AG campaign staffers Chris Shores and Daniel Bradshaw. purpose: to mine volunteers from a room of approximately 130 grassroots activists.
The funny thing I observed- many of the attendees couldn’t tell the women working the sign in table who their state delegates or state senators were. Real political operatives? Did they not vote in 2015 when all the state reps were on the Ballot or do they really just not know?
The Fellowship and this blog are obviously part of the Middle Resolution Pac machine. I sat there ALL DAY and concluded that the Tea Party was DEAD in Virginia. It has been co-opted by the Conservative Fellowship and the Middle Resolution whose agendas are not at all Conservative. It is about Control. As two team leaders stated in a breakout session, “We plan to take control of the party in 2018.” Good luck.
For those like Steven who weren’t there it was a campaign rally for John Adams for AG because Daniel Bradshaw immediately went to work mining volunteers from the group to serve as county chairs. Goochland Supervisor Ken Peterson announced he was running for State Senator.
I missed the memo that Tom Garret had defeated Jane Dittmar and his senate seat was now open.
Peterson is clearly a Middle Resolution backed candidate. Reagan George President of Winning Information Networks, LLC pretty much threw Chairman Whitbeck under the bus about not choosing Middle Resolution Pac Rvotes as the preferred vendor for voter information in Virginia’s RPV.
MIddle Resolution Board member Kris Allen of the Virginia Education Coalition, LLC was there signing up support for Charter Schools and School Choice. Travis Witt was there with his Virginia First Campaign- Salt and Light is a project supported by Middle Resolution founders and donors.
Rick Boyer and Chris Shores announced their efforts to take over the Party by 2018 by gaining control of the 4th and 9th Congressional Districts. Mining hunt clubs, gun groups, homeschoolers, and churches to take over county GOP committees. Let that strategy sink in.
Shores and Boyer stated to me when asked they support Closed Primaries and Party Registration.
Chris Walker State Director for Convention of States spoke out loudly for that insane agenda in light of Justice Scalia’s death and the uncertainty of November’s POTUS election and the future of the Supreme Court appointments Everyone in VA knows the Con Con is the Founder of Middle Resolution’s pet project along with Michael Farris, President of Patrick Henry College and legal counsel for homeschool defense league.
Am I missing something? It was like a Middle Resolution Convention.
Oh yes I left out the “shout outs’ for Criminal Justice Reform also a pet project of the Middle Resolution.
…and you wonder why people are apathetic about elections? There was not consensus by all in that room. That’s the problem with attempting to mine silos. You might get the Homeschoolers who pay dues to Farris’ Legal Defense fund in favor of the Con Con, but there was definitely vocal opposition to it in the room Saturday. And then there was the obnoxious element of the Cleveland Convention left over #NeverTrump holdouts. Cruzers of course. How can they still be in the Republican Party?
Wait until the independent voters the Republican candidates desperately need to win in 2017 find out about their agenda for Uranium Mining in Virginia. Who will get our Uranium? Iran or North Korea? What if the aquifer our drinking water comes from is polluted? You don’t get a “do over.” Those people who oppose Dominion’s Pipe Line will have something to say about this issue.
No one who drinks well water in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed is voting for that GOP platform.
I’m Steve Adler and I own rVotes. Please don’t let the facts get in the way of the truth. Neither Reagan George, Nancy Smith, Middle Resolution, or anyone is a stockholder, nor has any financial interest in rVotes. Period. I am the sole owner of rVotes, LLC. While I did get a bit rich building the Left’s VAN (NGPVAN), I have NOT with rVotes. It’s simply there to offer a better system for Republicans. It has less traction in the marketplace than it should because it offers so much power and control to the client. rVotes has no rights to touch our client’s data. i360 and the RNC’s systems control and own the data that candidates and volunteers collect. The politics of politics is very cut throat. The people in Virginia that advocate for rVotes have never made a penny on doing so. It is based on their understanding that rVotes is the best system out there while at the same time, it offers the most client control of the priceless data it collects. I have no internal political agenda other than to help Conservatives fight against the very system I built for the Left. It’s really that simple. Thanks, Steve.