Tonight at 7:30 pm, the Loudoun County Republican Committee will hold a meeting. One of the items being addressed, charging Constitutional Officer candidates an exorbitant amount, nearly triple of any other candidate, to run for office.[read_more]
Apparently, this creative move by LCRC leadership is reflective of its membership being at or near an all time low and the bank account is apparently a bit short as well. So, who better to fund it than candidates running for office. Of course, its not necessarily the candidate’s money–its those who contribute and fund their campaigns, for the most part US! And, great idea LCRC–suck all of the money from the candidate’s coffers so they have little to campaign with. Genius.
I expect a few fireworks will fly tonight from the Constitutional Officer candidates and frankly, candidates should not, regardless of what office they are running for, have to fund the LCRC in this manner and certainly, not on a drastically scaled yet unbalanced level.
LCRC needs to get their act together, increase membership and build their bank account. We all know that at a state level, the RPV is all but bankrupt because Mullins departure was about two terms too late–he did absolutely no fundraising leaving Whitbeck with a super tough [fundraising] task. But, it looks like past or perhaps current LCRC leadership followed Mullins like little puppies and, for lack of other words, has driven the committee into the ground.
Whats the current membership–maybe 130? Sad.
Come watch the meeting, should be good when this issue comes up.
Thu Feb 5, 2015 7:30pm to 9pm EST
Loudoun County Government Center,
1 Harrison Street Southeast
Leesburg, VA 20175
9 comments
Wow…..what a negative article. You really covered everyone in one short article: LCRC, committee leadership, Pat Mullins. I don’t see the benefit of attacking people in our party who are working hard to try to improve our chances of winning in November. It would seem difficult to judge the thought process and motives behind it all without participating in the discussion.
We cannot charge people to be delegates to the convention. Some will make donations, but many won’t. We need filing fees to pay for the process (average around $15,000). This is much less expensive than it would have been to hold a party canvass at the suggested eight locations. LCRC is trying to come out of the convention with some funds to actually help our candidates. Candidates raise money much more easily than a committee can. That said,we DO have fundraisers during the year. We use the proceeds to campaign. Winning in November costs money.
An additional cost this year would be opening a Victory Office. We usually piggy back and use a candidate’s office as our VO, but it seems there won’t be one this year. The candidates like VOs because it’s a central place from which volunteers can knock doors, make phone calls, etc. it also is a central spot for district chairmen to pick up signs for voters in their districts. We estimate the office alone would cost about $15,000 open and operate. It is not necessary to have one, but it certainly helps our candidates.
As far as amounts, Ryan addressed that below. In talking to a few electeds prior to the meeting, we realized that even though it was at 4%, it was a disproportionate amount to the other races. It was a big number. We do not want to hurt our candidates, so we worked with them to come to an agreeable number. That was what was passed last night.
Was the process perfect? No. We are imperfect people, so there will always be mistakes. But I do believe that the intentions of both the LCRC leadership and our candidates/officials are genuinely good. We all want the same thing and we will continue to work together (in our imperfect human way) to get our candidates elected in November.
Fireworks didn’t fly last night, people spoke respectfully and the committee voted. We could not hold any process without charging filing fees. That is just the reality of our finances right now. Finding that sweet spot where we aren’t technically fundraising off the fees – but giving the committee enough money to hold the conventions and be able to support our candidates – is elusive. I respected everyone’s opinion, but am glad the fees came down. Moving forward let’s spend our money wisely, continue to raise money and build the committee and do the best we can to support every office in the general.
Anyone that wants to help, come on down! Many hands make light work and I look forward to seeing people fully engaged.
The Clarke County Republican Committee has chosen a Party Canvass (Firehouse Primary) as the nominating process for our local leaders. It is scheduled for May 9.
ClarkeGOP does not charge membership fees, admission fees to ClarkeGOP events or fees to file as a candidate.
We do not believe there should be a poll tax to participate in politics.
Where do you get your money from?
Just donations … and we have enough funds to take us through the rest of this year.
Do these local committees still have members?
Are we trying to discourage people from running? It’s ridiculous that our Constitutional officers have to pay so much more. I will be voting against this.
BTW who did Volpe endorse for Chairman of the BoS if you know?
Bryan, the fees were all based on 4% of the minimum salary of the office being sought. Percentage wise, every race is the same.