RPV’s ‘loyal traditional Republicans’ paved the way to today’s GOP

By Lynn R. Mitchell

After several years of newcomers to the Republican Party as well as the media slinging the word “establishment” around in a derogatory way, perhaps it is time for them to understand who the people are who worked to build the “big tent.” They include the Young Republicans from the 1960s who paved the way in a Democratic Commonwealth and helped build the modern Republican Party of Virginia.

I received comments from a friend who was a Young Republican during the 1960s era.  She doesn’t want her name used because of the negativity of today’s social media, and said for me to just refer to her as a deep-thinking old lady who received a political education along with historical facts during her active GOP years. She is like a walking encyclopedia on the Virginia GOP and I never tire of hearing her stories.

She wrote her thoughts on the current grassroots and leadership’s obsession with “the establishment.” Here are her words:

I have been doing a lot of thinking and sort of reassessing the facts relating to how we are referred to — “establishment.” I heard Jeb Bush refer to his elected father and brother as establishment. Well, I think that people who have run for and held office would especially fit this category. However, I don’t think that any of us who have so much “skin in the game” and nothing but memories of lots and lots of work, tenacity, and self-sacrifice to build a viable organization could be called anything but loyal Republicans who vote in EVERY election for the nominee.

Now we have the tea party, Libertarians, evangelicals, and other religious groups. We don’t fit into any of those categories.

Delegates’ endorsements suggest passive support for convention lawsuit

Three Virginia House of Delegates members — Dickie Bell, Rob Bell, and Ben Cline — appear to have passively endorsed a lawsuit that was brought against the 24th Senate District (represented by State Senator Emmett Hanger) by endorsing the re-election of the tea party-leaning GOP chairman who voted for the lawsuit. The endorsement was announced in an email distributed on Friday.

The lawsuit, changing the statute to require a convention, thus removing the incumbents’ choice of re-election nomination (primary, firehouse primary, caucus, etc), was struck down by the courts in 2015 but is now under appeal.

If the delegates like the idea of having only conventions and doing away with primaries for the state party, perhaps they should step to the plate and write a bill to have it passed in the General Assembly instead of tacitly supporting renegade groups like the 24th legislative committee, and allowing them to tie up the Republican Party with lawsuits.

More precisely, why are the three delegates supporting Staunton Chairman Matt Fitzgerald, who voted to move the lawsuit forward and runs with Waynesboro Chairman Ken Adams who spearheaded the entire thing that was backed by anonymous consultants and financiers from other areas of the Commonwealth? This lawsuit, filed in the tumultuous 6th Congressional District represented by Bob Goodlatte, may hurt future elections and the Republican Party. By always requiring conventions, there would be no primaries, thus disenfranchising other voters such as military members, the elderly, families with small children, long distances to travel, and employees who cannot get a day off work. (Absentee ballots are not allowed for conventions but are allowed for primaries.)

Fitzgerald was also part of an anti-Goodlatte group who secretly met to plan the hijacking of the hours-long, hostile 6th District meeting in December. Yet he received the endorsement of not only the delegates but others. See the Fitzgerald endorsement email here.

For those who wish to participate in the mass meeting to be held on February 18 at 7:00pm at the Staunton Public Library, a prefile form is being required and must be received by February 15. The Staunton Republican Committee website has not been updated since March 2015 but the information was found at the 6th District website.

Russ Moulton: ‘Why I can’t endorse John Whitbeck’

By Lynn R. Mitchell

An email written by anti-establishment Conservative Fellowship leader Russ Moulton (who holds no position within the Republican Party) has been making the rounds in Virginia the past month, a stunning rebuke of his former support of John Whitbeck who announced last summer that he would be running for reelection as chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.

Moulton’s original email was picked up and forwarded by Susan Stimpson who agreed with him and forwarded it to others with her own thoughts:

Dear fellow Conservative,
I wanted to make sure you saw this email I received from long-time conservative leader Russ Moulton.

The actions of the current Virginia Republican Party Chairman should concern every Republican across the state. This is about a pattern of behavior. Like most politicians — John Whitbeck said one thing when he ran for party chairman and then once elected, abandoned his promises to us.

Quite simply, Virginia Republicans can’t trust John Whitbeck any more.

After reading the email below, ask yourself if this is the leadership Republicans should depend on to deliver a Republican victory in Virginia in 2016.

Sincerely,
Susan Stimpson

For those who missed it the first go round, here is the email from Russ Moulton that was originally sent out on November 14, 2015, with the subject line, “Why I can’t endorse John Whitbeck for re-election.”

‘First they came for the volunteers, and I did not speak out’

By Lynn R. Mitchell

The current spiraling down of the Republican Party in Virginia began seven years ago in pockets throughout the state. A number of those who had been purged from GOP committees raised red flags of warning, mostly to no avail. The downward spiral continued including taking over the majority of State Central Committee who changed the already-decided primary to a closed convention. That calculated move squeezed out Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling who was expected to be the next governor of Virginia, and then put in candidates who lost because they were considered too uber-conservative for the general electorate.

Goldberg: If GOP purists sit out 2016, they could be cause of Hillary in White House

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Bernie Goldberg made a couple of observations in his latest column (see End the GOP civil war; sign the pledge). After explaining that some Republican candidates showed up in Iowa, he noted an accurate comment from NJ Governor Chris Christie:

As reported in the New York Times, [Chris Christie] “cautioned against requiring a candidate to pass conservative litmus tests.”

“If that’s the standard we hold each other to as a party we will never win another national election,” he told the conservative crowd.

That’s just the kind of thing that riles true-blue conservatives. But he’s right.

Goldberg went on to explain the futility and folly of that kind of thinking: