Richard L. (Rich) Anderson, Chair Candidate, Republican Party of Virginia
“Trust.” There are few words in the English language that are more important, or more vital to the interactions between human beings and within human organizations.
That’s why emerging and continuing perceptions about the state of fiscal affairs at the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) are disturbing—and further erode the trust in our state party by Virginia Republicans.
For weeks, I and many of you have heard persistent talk that RPV has “insufficient monetary reserves” to underwrite the cost of the 2020 RPV State Convention, where we will elect a new RPV Chair and our National Committeeman and National Committeewoman.
“Insufficient monetary reserves.” As in broke.
Flat. Busted. Broke.
Talk of our dismal financial situation has seeped into the consciousness of our rank-and-file grassroots members. I know because I have fielded phone calls and emails over the last several weeks from Republicans across Virginia. And dozens of our fellow Republicans shared these same concerns with me on Saturday, June 20th, at both the 10th and 11th Congressional District Republican Conventions. Dozens.
Details are sketchy and I therefore won’t make specific allegations, but people on our RPV State Central Committee and across Virginia tell me that insufficient monetary reserves exist in RPV financial accounts to underwrite the roughly $100,000 cost of conducting an assembled in-person RPV State Convention.
This is devastating to the vital work before us in selecting party leadership for the next four years, transacting essential state party business, renewing and solidifying working and human relationships between hardworking Republican activists across our state, and imbuing our members with the essential energy to return home and reelect President Trump, reelect our three incumbent members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and elect our newly-nominated candidates for the U.S. Senate and House.
The RPV State Convention is crucial, vital, and essential to the success of our party, and it appears that we will now be denied the ability to meet and confer as free and independent citizens of our Constitutional Republic, where we possess God-given rights and freedoms that are guaranteed by the U.S. and Virginia Constitutions.
In recent months, some 2,500-3,000 Virginia Republicans have been certified as unit delegates to the RPV State Convention and each has paid $35.00 to underwrite convention costs. As a result, between $87,500 and $105,000 has been or will be donated to our state party by grassroots Republican delegates to the RPV State Convention. On top of that, multiple donors have made large donations in the form of convention sponsorships.
In the absence of transparency or explanation from RPV, a broad perception now exists that dedicated convention monies have been diverted to other uses, instead of being fenced, protected, and used solely for the purpose intended by donors. And so, our state party again finds itself in dire fiscal straits.
Flat. Busted. Broke.
History is instructive. During the 2019 election cycle in which the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate of Virginia flipped to Democrat control and triggered destructive policy outcome for our Commonwealth, the Democrat Party of Virginia (DPVA) raised $10 million. In contrast, RPV raised $6 million, an insufficient and non-competitive amount that resulted in massive losses at the polls. During the first three-months of 2020 (January 1-March 31), the disparity between both parties is staggering and inexcusable.
| RPV AND DPVA FISCALS, JANUARY 1-MARCH 31, 2020 | |||
| PARTY | RAISED | SPENT | CASH ON HAND, March 31, 2020 |
| DPVA | $545,000.00 | $432,000.00 | $309,000.00 |
| RPV | $29,000.00 | $31,000.00 | $1,500.00 |
| DPVA Advantage Over RPV | $516,000.00 | $401,000.00 | $307,500.00 |
Flat. Busted. Broke.
Many Virginia Republicans have lost trust, faith, and confidence in our state party, and I am deeply disappointed at the significant dysfunction that prevails and has made RPV the brunt of disdain by members of both parties and by newspaper, magazine, television, radio, blog, website, and social media outlets.
Rather than focus on the problem, I have resolved to focus on the fix. As such, I will take these specific actions to remedy our present fiscal calamity if elected as RPV Chair later this year, based on my 30 years of service as a senior military officer managing hundreds of millions of dollars in monetary and other assets:
- With the concurrence of the State Central Committee (SCC), I will direct an audit of all RPV financial accounts over the last two years. It will be deep, searching, and intrusive into every nook and cranny of RPV finances. It will be accomplished in addition to the annual review of RPV financial records and affairs required by the RPV State Party Plan, Article III, Section D, Paragraph H.
- In cases where monies were expended inappropriately, I may well seek restitution on behalf of our party and members.
- I and the SCC will approach every budget and expenditure with one standard: We will write checks from any and every RPV financial account as if we are stroking a personal check from the Anderson family account.
- Team RPV will adhere to the minutest details of our RPV State Party Plan regarding finances, every other guidance issued by RPV and the Republican National Committee, and standard practices of accounting and disclosure.
- We will review current management controls that are in place for financial and other RPV assets, strengthen existing controls, and implement additional controls where necessary.
- Beyond current financial reports, RPV will put in place periodic fiscal reporting to district and unit chairs and grassroots members. This will ensure maximum transparency, visibility, and restoration of trust.
- As RPV Chair, I will work continually to earn and restore the trust and confidence of our members, candidates, voters, and donors in the office of RPV Chair and all other elements of RPV.
- I will never be dissembling or withhold information from our party members who do the hard work at the local level of electing Republicans to federal, state, and local office.
- I will attack with a vengeance the hard work of building large-donor networks at the national level, while concurrently earning the trust of Virginians who comprise our small-donor base.
- I will fence, earmark, and protect monies that flow into RPV for specific purposes and ensure that they are applied only to uses for which donors intend.
- I will establish a close and continuing partnership with our state party’s recently-appointed RPV Finance Chair, who recently assumed his position after a one-year vacancy in the position and is working to restore state party fundraising to competitive levels. I will look to a reinvigorated RPV Finance Committee to reset our fundraising apparatus to ensure that our party has sufficient resources to fight and win again.
- I will pack my suitcase and live on the road to confer with large-dollar donors at any time and at any place in the United States to ensure the fiscal rejuvenation of our party.
To be responsive to Virginia Republicans, I must first be reachable. To keep up with our campaign for RPV Chair:
- Email me at [email protected]
- Call my home at 703-730-1380 or my cell at 703-282-9653
- Friend me on Facebook at www.RichAnderson.com/DelegateRichAnderson
- Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DelRichAnderson
- Sign up for email updates at our campaign website at www.RichAnderson.com
If I am elected as RPV Chair, I will make leadership and management decisions—whether fiscal or in any other area of RPV operations—on the basis of one overriding principle:
It’s about trust…it’s about fighting and winning again.
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Rich Anderson is a native Virginian, grassroots Republican volunteer for the last 12 years, retired 30-year Air Force colonel (1979-2009), former member of the Virginia House of Delegates (2010-2018), and candidate for RPV Chair (2020). He and his wife Ruth, a retired 21-year Air Force lieutenant colonel and former member of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, live in Woodbridge. They have been married for 34 years, are the parents of three children, and have seven grandchildren.
