The fight for 5th District Chairman has gotten extremely nasty, with the ethics of Jon Berkley seriously being called into question. Jon Berkley and Mark Lloyd are both seeking the 5th District Chairmanship in the upcoming 5th District Convention election that is scheduled for this Saturday, May 17th. The dispute is over approximately 18 pre-filed delegate forms for Mark Lloyd that Jon Berkley disqualified in his position as chairman of Charlotte County.
Jon Berkley
Jon Berkley, as Chairman of Charlotte County, issued the Charlotte County Call that stated that all pre-file forms to attend the 5th District Convention as a delegate (to vote for him or Lloyd) must be submitted to his home by 7pm on March 6th. Hud Marston, a supporter of Mark Lloyd’s, contacted Jon Berkley by phone at 10am on March 6th (phone records verify this phone call) and told him he had pre-file forms he needed to hand deliver to Jon Berkley. Jon Berkley stated that he would not be home that night to receive the pre-file forms, which was in violation of his own issued call, because he was attending a Health Care Forum that evening. Marston offered to drive an hour to Berkley’s place of employment to deliver them that afternoon, but Berkley insisted that it would be better to meet him in the Crawley Forum parking lot at Hampden-Sydney College before the Health Care Forum at 7pm.
Hud Marston testifies that he and his wife arrived at 6:45pm to deliver the forms to Jon Berkley, per Berkley’s request. Former Prince Edward GOP Chairman, Kathy Tran, saw the Marstons in the parking lot before 7pm and stopped to talk to them. She was there when Berkley arrived. Jon Berkley arrived a few minutes after 7pm, took the manila envelope from Mr. Marston, threw it in the front seat of his car and proceeded to the Health Care meeting without stating there were any potential issues. His only comment to Mr. Marston was, “looks like you’ve been busy!”
Four days later Mark Lloyd and Jon Berkley were both speaking at the Danville Tea Party meeting and Mark asked Jon if he had received his Charlotte pre-file forms. According to Mark Lloyd, Jon’s response was something like, “Don’t be so sure those are all your delegates. I’ve looked through them and some of them might be for me!” They both chuckled and nothing more was said.
Charlotte County held their mass meeting on March 13th at 7pm. Jon Berkley confirmed in an email to me via Facebook that two hours before the mass meeting was to begin he personally called and left messages with these pre-filed delegates, telling them that their prefile forms were improperly filed and that unless they showed up to the Mass Meeting they would be disqualified. Of course, only 5 individuals were able to comply on such short notice, especially since most work outside the county.
The Credentialing Committee of the Mass Meeting was NEVER presented with ALL delegate forms for consideration. No motions or votes were taken or considered at the Mass Meeting regarding these questionable delegates. Instead, Jon Berkley stood up at the meeting and unilaterally declared that someone had leaked to the Republican Party of Virginia that the forms were submitted 10 minutes late and that he was bound by General Counsel to discard them or fear having the entire Charlotte delegation disqualified. Chuck Vilushi, who was a member of the nominations committee and had personally collected many of those forms in question stood up and complained that these 18 delegates were being left off and proceeded to read their name for the record, but his comments were readily dismissed and the meeting moved forward.
Chris Shores, who is an elected member to the 5th District Committee, spoke by phone with Berkley about the shenanigans in Charlotte County. Berkley claimed that he did not know why a member of his Republican committee, Mr. Marston, would want to meet him on the night of the prefile deadline to give him a package. Further, Berkley alleged to Chris Shores that he had no idea what was in the manila envelope that Marston handed him, because he never bothered to look inside. Shores challenged him stating, “Do you make it a habit of taking strange envelopes from people in a dark parking lot?” To which Berkley replied, “it could have been a Playboy Magazine or a bomb for all I knew! I just threw it in my car and went to the forum.”
Berkley claims that he didn’t look inside the manila envelope until later, at which time he discovered that he was in possession of pre-file forms – much to his utter shock and amazement. Berkley further claimed to me via Facebook message that he could prove those forms had been given to him after the 7pm deadline and he told Shores that he had a restaurant receipt that was paid at 7:01pm to back up his claim.
Well, there are a number of troubling facts with this story, which cast serious doubt on the integrity and ethics of Jon Berkley:
- Why did Berkley violate his own Charlotte County Call by not being present in his home to receive prefiles for the deadline?
- Why did Berkley not think it was a conflict of interest to be personally receiving and processing delegate forms for his own election?
- Why did Berkley not submit the delegate forms to the Credential Committee of the Charlotte Mass Meeting for them to make a proper ruling based on the facts?
- Why did Berkley refuse to let Marston meet him at his place of business well before the deadline to deliver the prefile forms?
- Why did Berkley suggest that they meet before 7pm to get the pre-file forms and then intentionally arrive late, ensuring he had a restaurant receipt to prove he was late?
- Why does Berkley claim that he had no idea what was in the manila envelope?
- Why did Berkley not look in the manila envelope, especially if he thought it was porn or a bomb?!
- Is Berkley calling former Prince Edward Chairman, Kathy Tran, a liar when she verifies that the Marstons were there before 7pm and waiting for Berkley, who was the one who arrived late?
- Why did Berkley not notify anyone that there were issues with the prefile forms until two hours before the mass meeting?
- Why did Berkley not mention anything to Mark Lloyd about potential problems with the prefile forms when he saw him?
- Why did Berkley unilaterally get to decide who did and didn’t qualify to be a delegate IN HIS OWN ELECTION, never bringing it before the Mass Meeting for credentialing or a vote?
Of course, one can imagine how embarrassing it would be for Mr. Berkley if there were more delegates for his opponent in his own home county where he serves as the Charlotte GOP Chairman. This kind of behavior makes slating look mild by comparison. I wonder if Congressman Hurt would be willing to stand behind Mr. Berkley if he knew the truth?
38 comments
[…] This one has been documented VERY well on The Bull Elephant and Red Nova, here here and here. […]
[…] because they would have voted against Berkley for chairman at the 5th District convention. The story is obnoxiously ridiculous. The Bull Elephant ran it when it happened. Berkley claims that the envelope of forms he received could have contained a playboy magazine or a […]
[…] Radtke reports: […]
[…] According to Jamie Radtke, former Senate candidate and writer for The Bull Elephant: […]
[…] – One of the most disturbing things to us is how Jon Berkley and these same people of his campaign have aggressively tossed out Mark Lloyd’s supporters from the 5th District Convention. In Campbell County, Jon Berkley’s supporters recruited scores of Democrats and anti-Republican third party activists and, led by Eric Cantor’s right-hand man Mike Thomas, slated off (purged) over 100 loyal Republican Lloyd Delegates at the Campbell County Mass Meeting. See http://thebullelephant.com/mike-thomas-snuffing-conservative-votes-help-democrats/. In Charlotte County, Jon Berkley himself throw out 19 qualified Mark Lloyd Delegates – hiding them from the Charlotte Mass Meeting altogether! See http://thebullelephant.com/jon-berkley-playboy-magazine-bomb-knew/. […]
In my long career involving a lot of conflict resolution, I have learned that there are three sides to every story–you side, my side, and the right side. More importantly, I look forward to a day when posts on the Bull Elephant focus on why Republican policies are good, why Democrat policies are bad, not be a breeding ground for self destructive infections, and not a forum for stomping on fellow Republicans.
When you say Republican policies are good, are you talking about the policy of creating and passing the largest tax increase in the history of Virginia?
Or, are you talking about the massive budget increases that the Republicans pass in the Virginia Gen. assembly?
Or perhaps you are talking about the bill Passed in the U.S. House, HR 1406, a Bill to take away overtime pay for the middle class and poor?
Or, perhaps you’re talking about the bill that allows members of Congress to be exempt from insider-trading?
Could you be more specific about the “good” republican policies?
I look forward to a time when there is a political party that focuses on jobs and the economy in America .
I am speaking generally about policies that reflect our creed–less government, more liberty, moral values, and a strong free enterprise system. Now, you raise several specific policies that are certainly up for debate as to whether they are good or bad, or are “Republican.” I am a firm believer in vigorous debates about policy, just don’t make it about the person. Disparaging someone’s character does not advance good policy or the conservative cause.
The first thing is that we need to figure out what “Republican policies” actually are. Personally I think those should include things like rock-solid support of the 2nd amendment, balanced budgets, and lower taxes, but the actual voting records of far too many Republican officeholders tell a different story.
In my personal opinion, addressing the gap between what is promised to Republican voters, and what is actually delivered by the people we put into office, is probably the main reason The Bull Elephant has become as successful as it has. This frustration exists, and it is extremely widespread – I dare say, a sizable majority of Republicans are frustrated in this way. It is natural that, given editorial independence, the diverse set of Republicans who contribute to TBE will naturally express various aspects of this, ahem, “elephant” in the room.
I agree.
Paul, as usual, you are correct. name calling, while making the name caller themself look bad, if in this political situation, makes all Republicans look bad.
It seems to me that people who choose to engage in shenanigans, as Mr Berkley appears to have, disparage their own character. It is disingenuous to place the blame of that disparagement on anyone who truthfully reports on bad behavior.
The key is money. Do you think you will get less Government with bigger budgets and more spending?
How?
I agree we shouldn’t stomp on fellow Republicans. And that’s why, when it happens, it needs to be exposed. Which is more negative and damaging? To commit voter fraud? Or to expose it? To sweep it under the rug and never mention it because it’s “negative” is to, through silence, be complicit. “Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” – Bonhoeffer
Voter Fraud! A criminal act! Really? That is a powerful, perhaps even slanderous, accusation that should not be made unless you have evidence to support that charge. In the Charlotte County case, we have a tragic error that led to some people not becoming delegates through their own actions. If as Republicans we believe in individual responsibility, then we must also recognize that Hud had two weeks to deliver the pre-file forms and that the responsibility is on the filer, not the County Chairman, to submit their paperwork in accordance with the published rules. It is common knowledge that, if you wait until the last minute to do something, you run the risk of being too late. It’s all very unfortunate, but criminal? I don’t think so.
Their own Actions? Really?!?
The sequence of event as reported puts the onus squarely on Berkley. He is the one that chose to set the deadline and delivery location for a time and place when he would not be available. He then arrived late to a meeting place that he set. Did he do this deliberately?… it sure looks that way when not only did he refuse an offer to meet earlier at his place of employment but he also happened to stop and get food so that he had a time and date stamped receipt which he is now using as evidence that the pre-file forms were not delivered on time to him.
And that doesn’t even address the impropriety of him handling this matter at all when he is one of the people running for the seat. You know what they say about foxes and henhouses.
We have “Republicans” using Democrats to take over party control in Campbell and we have “Republicans” unilaterally disqualifying delegates who are for thei opponents…these issues both sound like Democrat tactics…if I wanted to vote for Democrats I would…not Republicans acting like Democrats…if this does not get corrected at Saturdays 5th district meeting, I will be officially done with the Republican party….why be part of a party that wants to be Democrats? The Libertarian party may have a whole lot of new members come Sunday.
More proof that the current mass meeting / convention system is corrupt and corrupting and stinks like a dead fish.
Yet another piece of pure hearsay presented by this venerable website. Did you even try to contact Mr. Berkley for his side of the story? It doesn’t seem like any of the contributors, save Mr. Albertson, is interested in the facts; they seem to be lashing out their opponents that represent the people who didn’t vote for them in previous election cycles.
You stay classy, Bull Elephant.
She mentions a Facebook message from him. Presumably he is responding to some inquiry of hers, and not offering an unsolicited defense of his actions. In any case, it certainly isn’t necessary for her to fill her story with quotes from Mr. Berkley to be valid – as if he’s inherently more honest than all the folks already mentioned, whose accounts corroborate each other. Also, Mr. Berkley obviously has the freedom to defend himself right here – everyone knows the comments often pique more interest that the actual blog post.
The comments section is hardly a place to mount a defense. Additionally, if Ms. Radtke has the Facebook messages, she can screen shot them and post them with the column. That’s how evidence works, no?
Individuals referenced in our stories are not only entitled, but also encouraged, to post here and correct the record if we have made any errors or omissions.
So, because this venue is not “good enough,” Mr. Berkley is going to offer no defense at all? That’s as plausible as…as nonchalantly accepting an envelope bomb and tossing it into your front passenger seat…
Mr. Berkley has repeatedly given his side of the story which is that he was at the healthcare forum which violated his own call and that he indeed was late meeting the delegate hopeful thus his 7:01pm receipt for food. What other information from the other side is needed?
It really is just that simple.
It’s in the article Jim. You should actually read it.
We seek integrity and transparency in our legislators, yet we hear antics like this among the rank and file. We need to hold our GOP leaders to a high standard. Hard to invite people into the Republican Party with this type of stuff going on.
Is honesty a part of the Republican Creed?
Playboy and a bomb, these are the first things that popped in his head?
Hahaha, you got it!
Wow!!! It’s breathtaking how brazenly he will lie – almost as if he’s flaunting it!!!
Nobody reads the print version of Playboy any more. He knew it couldn’t have been that. Maybe hustler or penthouse though.
Oh, I didn’t realize anybody ever “read” Playboy. Before tattoo’s, I kinda liked the pics myself, I didn’t think about reading it?
You’re not gay are you?
Ha, Ha, Jk….
However, if any “straight” man thought there was a Playboy magazine inside, he would have opened it immediately to look at the centerfold. Now if he thought there mite be a WMD inside, why even accept the package?
Now, since he accepted the package thinking there mite be a Playboy magazine inside, and did not open it, is this dude in the wrong Party? Just say’in’
It just doesn’t add up …..unless??????
Nope not gay. sorry, you will have to get your logs jammed elsewhere. I agree with your anal-ysis though.
JK= Just kidding! Ha, ha, ha
Wow. First the Dems being brought out to slate off conservatives in VA Beach and Campbell, and now this. A candidate tossing out his opponents pre-files. Simply shameful. I hope he doesn’t get away with this at Saturday’s Convention!
This kind of fraud is criminal. I hope they get sn attorney and let a judge sort this man out.
Virginia politics needs more virtuous tea party people to come in and clean up the corrupt swamp.
Damn right!!