Rockingham GOP calls mass meeting for faux convention

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Waste of time? (See Primary, or convention in 24th Senate District? and ‘First they came for the volunteers, and I did not speak out’).

As Chairman of the Rockingham County Republican Committee of the Republican Party, and pursuant to the Plan of Organization of the Republican Party of Virginia and as recommended and directed by the Committee, I, Donna Moser, do hereby issue this call for a Mass Meeting to be held at the Spotswood High School, 368 Blazer Dr., Penn Laird, VA 22846, starting at 7:00 pm local time, March 30, 2015, for the purpose of electing up to 495 Delegates and an equal number of Alternates to the 24th Senate District Convention, to be held on April 25, 2015 at the East Rockingham High School, 250 Eagle Rock Road Elkton, VA  22827 beginning at 10:00 AM, for the purposes of  nominating a Republican candidate for the office of Senator to be voted for in the General Election on November 3, 2015.   Each unit is entitled to one (1) Delegate Vote per 200 Republican votes for Governor and President at their last election, so that the Rockingham County Republican Committee is entitled to 99 Delegate Votes.

‘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.

RPV in Crisis: Now what’s going on in Campbell County?

By Lynn R. Mitchell

If a group in Campbell County who call themselves the Independent Conservatives is considered by RPV counsel to be the equivalent of the Democratic Party and banned from participating in the party for five years, why wouldn’t the same apply to anyone in the tea party, Libertarian party, and all other outside organizations?

By blocking these voters from participation for five years, it presents an ingenious way to ban potentially thousands of volunteers and donors from the Republican Party of Virginia which, by the way, is more than $200,000 in debt.

RPV continues to be in crisis.

Garren Shipley has left as RPV communications director

Garren Shipley, Jeff Schapiro (RTD)

By Lynn R. Mitchell

Grace. That’s the way to describe Garren Shipley’s untimely departure from the Republican Party of Virginia. Communications Director extraordinaire, Garren has been a helpful and informational member of RPV throughout the years, coming on board while I was still on state central committee, and remaining for almost three years after I left. He was organized and prompt with media “technical advisories” concerning RPV events, always timely in notifying of upcoming media opportunities and helpful in providing updates and follow-up leading to the event.

Oh — and he always answered my emails. Always.  Anyone who has had trouble communicating with communications people understands what I’m saying.

Ousted Chair Jon Berkley’s overwhelming support from 5th Congressional District leadership

By Lynn R. Mitchell

On Saturday, January 24, 2015, the Virginia Republican State Central Committee took a secret vote to remove 5th Congressional District Chairman Jon Berkley for being a “non-functioning” chairman despite the fact the vote was an illegal maneuver and not in compliance with the Party Plan.

Interestingly, Berkley had the support of most in leadership in the 5th District but their requests for him to remain were overruled by those from outside the District. (That sounds very much like an overreaching federal government.)

Chairman Berkley has served for less than a year. During that tumultuous time when he has continually been challenged and undermined by those who lost the election that put him in the position, he took a District with $45 in its account and over $800 in outstanding bills and, by holding fundraisers and working steadily the past nine months, now has $10,000 in the District’s checking account. But that’s not all he has accomplished. In a post on Facebook, he noted his District also gave Congressman Robert Hurt over 60% of the vote for the first time ever and had more polls manned than any District in the state.

It is interesting the first point of business for newly-appointed State Chairman John Whitbeck was the illegal removal of a district chair and, even though he was shown the error in the maneuvering, he refused to correct the issue. This occurred immediately after 1st Congressional District Chairman Eric Herr declared on Facebook that he promised to form a third party is either Jeb Bush or Mitt Romney won the 2016 Republican nomination for president (see Herr threatens to form 3rd party if Jeb or Mitt get 2016 nod).

The following endorsements are from 5th Congressional District leadership. For more background about this issue, see RPV in Crisis: How is a chairman ‘non-functioning’ when he raises $10,000 for a bankrupt unit? and  Doom for Virginia Republicans by Bill Wheaton.