The definition of a con is someone who cheats or uses tricks to accomplish their mission. It seems that is what we have going on for the Henrico GOP Mass Meeting on Monday, March 24th. I have known Delegate Jimmie Massie for a long time – before he was even an elected official. He and I have always gotten along splendidly and he has put forward some solid legislation, but it appears that he is on the wrong side when it comes to slating off conservatives who want to attend the Republican Convention and vote for their preferred nominee. Furthermore, it appears that he has no compunction about using con game tactics to achieve his goal.
Delegate Massie sent out an email tonight to his supporters asking them to attend the GOP Mass Meeting on Monday, March 24th, because there are some people who “want to take away your voice in party elections by eliminating primaries. Now is the time to fight back.”
This level of deception is really egregious on two levels:
- NOBODY is suggesting that primaries be eliminated. To make such an outrageous claim is absurd and intentionally misleading. Eric Cantor’s people know this full well because they have had direct conversations with Ken Cuccinelli and others about it and the response has always been consistent – we absolutely do NOT want to eliminate primaries! Both nomination methods have their advantages and disadvantages when selecting Republican nominees. In fact, even I tend to vacillate between my nomination preference. What conservatives DO support is the idea that all nomination methods are left on the table.
- Massie and others are making people think they are coming to protect their voice, while they are actually asking people to come vote to TAKE AWAY THE VOICE OF OTHERS. This is the most egregious part of his email because he is pulling the ultimate con by tricking his own supporters. He is making his supporters believe that they are coming to vote on primaries versus conventions. Worse yet, he is making them think they are coming to protect their voice in elections. In reality, Jimmie Massie is actually asking his supporters to come vote to strip away the rights of conservatives to vote in the upcoming Republican Convention. Shameful…
As a Republican Party we have always strongly opposed voter fraud and voter deception. It seems outrageous to me that we have Republicans calling and emailing their supporters to ask them to come vote for/against a primary versus convention – when they are ACTUALLY voting to remove the voting rights of hundreds of properly filed grassroots activists who only desire to cast their vote for their preferred candidate in the upcoming Conventions that are already scheduled.
So, if you are attending the Henrico Mass Meeting on Monday, March 24th, make sure you know what you are actually voting for and don’t get suckered by the con game. It would be really sad if you thought you were voting to protect your voice and voting rights, when you were actually voting to disenfranchise hundreds of other voters in your county.
I have made calls to all my supporters in Henrico and strongly encouraged them to attend the Mass Meeting to make sure their vote is not taken away (and my statement is actually true!). We need everyone there to block this power play by the Establishment.
You do not need to be a current member of the Henrico Republican Club to attend the Mass Meeting. All registered voters in Henrico County are free to attend and vote. Of course, we don’t want you there if you are a Democrat!
The mass meeting is this Monday evening at the Henrico County Government Center, located at 4301 East Parham Road, Henrico, VA.
And as Jimmie Massie said, “Please arrive between 6:00-6:30pm in order to properly register for the meeting.”
UPDATE: Senator Bill Stanley, who is part of the Senate Republican Leadership, has just issued a statement (March 23, @11:10pm) on Facebook against this abhorrent slating practice that Delegate Massie is proposing to his supporters- relatively soon after our blog post here. He joins a long list of other elected and party officials like RPV Chairman Pat Mullins, Congressman Scott Rigell, Ed Gillespie, Shak Hill and others who oppose slating. Senator Stanley really doesn’t mince words…. 🙂
UPDATE 3/24/14 11:40pm: I had a conversation with Delegate Jimmie Massie after the Henrico GOP Mass Meeting was over tonight. He shared with me that he was not happy with the language of his email. It had been drafted by someone else and sent out without his careful review. He stated he would have altered the language to make it clear he was not proposing slating. So…there you have it. I’ve known Jimmie for a long time, so I will give him a mulligan on this one. Thanks for clarifying, Jimmie.
