Bedford mass meeting keeps chairman

This is Suzanne Obenshain, candidate for national committeewoman. Oops — that’s not Suzanne.  Ahh — Dolores Switzer was going to speak on Suzanne’s behalf but had stepped outside so 6th Congressional District Chairman Wendell Walker stepped in to represent Suzanne.

Joe Whited, military veteran and pragmatic candidate for congress (5th District).

Trixie Averill filled her 45 seconds of speaking time with her longtime participation in the party she loves.

Saturday’s Bedford GOP mass meeting took place at Brookhill Wesleyan Church in Forest outside Lynchburg where participants spent hours inside on a gorgeous Virginia spring day. There was no internet so, unable to live-blog, I resorted to live updates on Facebook using my phone. Interestingly, a sign at the door said no recording was allowed.

The showdown for chairman was between long-time Republican Lee Walker who was instrumental in getting several supervisors elected last fall, and far right incumbent Nate Boyer who has a flair for turning out his church and others for these events. (For background on the candidates, see Lee Walker for chair of Bedford Republicans.)

After the mass meeting, irregularities began to come to light that I will elaborate on shortly. On a personal note, I would just like to say that the meeting being held in a church sanctuary was uncomfortable. Politics is a dirty business so it did not feel right to be in the Lord’s house for such an event.

The meeting’s temporary chairman was new State Senator David Suetterlein. Remarks from speakers running for public office and various grassroots leadership positions began addressing the crowd including 6th Congressional District Chairman Wendell Walker, and former 6th District Chairman Trixie Averill who spoke about running for State Central Committee, 6th District Committee, and national delegate.

Lee Walker for chair of Bedford Republicans

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Bedford County’s mass meeting has long-time Republican Lee Walker challenging incumbent chairman Nate Boyer at Brookhill Wesleyan Church in Forest today at the 12:30 meeting.

Boyer, who has been at the center of controversy for years, set the mass meeting date to take place during school spring vacation making it impossible for teachers and residents who traveled out of town to attend. During mass meetings there are no proxies. Many want new leadership because of those tactics that exclude all except the die-hard party activists.

Even as Boyer tries to shrink the tent, Republicans like Walker are running for leadership in order to once again make the party inclusive under a big tent. Politics, they say, is all about addition, not subtraction.

The Lynchburg News & Advance wrote on Saturday (see GOP split surfaces in Bedford GOP mass meeting Saturday):