Hanover Republican Ryan Martin Seeks Chairmanship Of County Unit
Lifelong Hanoverian Steps Up To Lead Republican Unit For A New Generation OPINION
Ryan Martin has thrown his hat in the ring for the position of chairman of the Hanover Republican Committee. Ryan and I connected the other day and talked about how he would approach the job and his vision for the future of the Republican Party in Hanover. Here is what I learned from our conversation.
The Basics:
Ryan has lived in Hanover all his life and graduated from Atlee High School, class of 2005. He is married to Ally, who teaches preschool, and they have three children, ages 5, 6, and 8.
Ryan earned a Business Management degree from Virginia Tech in 2009 and is the Vice President and General Manager of Accumark and Benchmark, with over 300 employees and an annual budget of approximately 35 million dollars. These two businesses are in the underground utility locating industry.
The COVID mask madness inflicted on his child during COVID-19 turned him to politics, and he ended up serving as the Vice Chair of the Pamunkey Regional Library Board. He has focused attention on sexually inappropriate materials being introduced into the hands of children through the library system. He worked with parents and taxpayers to change the makeup of the Library Board.
Our conversation ranged over a number of issues, and what follows is not word for word but the gist of what was said:
I asked Ryan, why are you interested in serving as Chairman of the Hanover Republican Party?
Our Party must unite to preserve our character as a conservative county. Too many young working families in our county are not engaged in the process of deciding how our county grows. The surrounding counties, such as Henrico, have turned Blue because the Republican Party has largely ignored their demographic, and they have turned to the Party willing to embrace them. It’s not too late for us to turn this around in Hanover and encourage younger generations to understand what we represent and become involved as Republicans.
Our unit is getting more grey every day. How would you make the party attractive to the younger demographic and encourage participation?
Our local unit is divided by the chairman’s personal leanings. The meetings ramble and often become rancorous, sometimes embarrassingly so. If I had brought in friends to recent meetings, they would have seen things that would turn them off immediately, walk out, and never return.
The last few years have created too much conflict within our party/committee, and this infighting is a distraction from the work of defeating the destructive ideology of the Progressive Left.
I have a good working relationship with the vast majority of Hanover’s elected officials and our School Board Members. If I am elected, my goal is to refocus the committee members to work with our elected officials to increase our membership with younger parents, identify and develop strong potential conservative candidates, especially among parents with school-age children, and support their run for office.
Thank you, Ryan.
Here are the objections to Ryan’s candidacy from the current chair’s camp. I’ll address each.
Ryan doesn’t have any experience. Neither did Jack Dyer. Dyer has divided the committee over non-essential preferences and biases and used them to further his views and political ambitions- a recipe for division. This is far from the role outlined in the Republican Party Plan for a chairman (see below). I believe the loss of the Ashland District to the Democrats was wholly winnable, and his heavy-handed chairmanship style violated every article of our Unit’s statement of purpose. Dyer has never learned the art of politics or finding common ground with differing opinions. It is his way or the highway. We lost the Ashland Magisterial District as a result.
The Purpose of the Hanover County Republican Committee
Promote and promulgate the principles of the Republican Party.
Seek out and encourage qualified candidates to run for public office.
Elect Republican candidates to public office.
Assist generally the citizens composing the districts served by the County Committee.
Assist elected Republican officials in the execution of their responsibilities.
Ryan’s attendance is spotty. Until Jack Dyer decided he wanted to be chairman, his prior attendance was rare and unknown a year prior. Our meetings are boring; the committee at large is treated as an audience rather than as fellow Republicans who are more than capable of understanding complex issues and offering strategic ideas and solutions.
The chair position in the Party Plan is framed as a neutral facilitator (see below) to advance the political aspirations of the rank and file. The position is currently used to advance the chair's personal agendas and ambitions. The committee has become a rubber stamp for decisions made in a star chamber-like executive committee run by the chairman, defeating the intent for the “grassroots” to run their own committee.
The Party Plan does not demand or even recommend an executive committee. At best, it is redundant; at worst, it makes the committee an audience to their right to participate in self-governance. Many agree that the current incarnation has been abused and used as a soap box and even as an election committee for the current chair’s personal political ambitions.
Our meetings often descend into an episode of Jerry Springer with attempts to excommunicate members or enact fatwas against elected Republicans because they ran afoul of the chair. Karenism plagues discussions with angry outbursts from the Chair devotees. No debate on policy or issues is allowed. Speakers must have the same opinion as the chair to address the committee.
This is a total misuse of the position and warps the unit's growth into competing factions. Nobody wants to join an organization at war with itself, and angry outbursts from elderly women are repellent to younger visitors.
You can come out on Thursday, February 29th, to vote for Ryan Martin at the Courthouse Administration Building between 6-8 pm. You do not need to be a member of the Republican Committee to vote. You have an opportunity to influence the direction of the Republican Party right here in Hanover by merely taking the time and showing up. Our ability to self-govern has been significantly eroded in the last decade, but here is an opportunity for direct participation with an immediate result. Take it!
Five and Dime is an opinion blog. I employ satire, commentary, and fact to entertain and convey my opinions on religious, cultural, and political issues.
I expect you to know the difference.
Party Plan Background:
County/city republican committees are the grassroots foundation of the party.
The RPV calls them “Unit Committees” and says, “The Unit Committee serves an extremely important role in the operation of the Party. After all, it is the Unit Committee that conducts the affairs of the Party closest to the "grassroots." 1 And “The Unit Committee is the backbone of the entire party structure…” 2
It’s clear from RPV’s documents that it is the Unit Committee members who are charged with making the decisions for their county/city, and the Unit’s Chairman serves the members by carrying out their directives. In fact, the Chair has little power or authority to do anything on his/her own. Let’s take a look at what the RPV’s Party Plan rules say.
The members of the Unit Committee are responsible for: 3
a. Calling regular Unit meetings, including setting the date and time.
b. Calling all special meetings to elect delegates to conventions.
c. Determining how candidates will be nominated for local offices.
d. Cooperating with other RPV Committees for elections and fund-raising.
The RPV requires Chairman to follow their Committees’ directives. For example, the RPV presses home the Chair’s service role, as follows:
“The chair, acting at the direction of the unit committee, issues the "call" for each mass meeting, canvass and convention. Note that the Unit Committee makes the determination of how nominations and other elections are to take place; the chair's role is ministerial in carrying out the committee's wishes and therefore, the chair must not act unilaterally for the committee.” 4
The RPV “Party Plan” sets out only 4 “Duties” for Unit Chairs: 5
“The Unit Chairman shall be the Chairman of the Unit Committee.” (duh)
Issues Calls (announcements) for all the special meetings set by the Committee.
Issues Calls for regular Unit meetings (at least quarterly) set by the Committee.
Provides a time and place for candidates to file for a primary election.
The RPV’s “Guide for Unit Chairs” also says Chairs are to make recommendations to the Circuit Court for city/county electoral board appointments and start mass meetings and conventions (until a temporary meeting chair is elected). 6
It’s clear that the RPV rules have Unit Chairs as servants of their Committees with very limited power or decision-making authority of their own. The same servant role applies to Congressional District Chairmen and the RPV Chairman.
Read the RPV’s Party Plan and “Guide to Unit Chairs” and you will see this is the case and far from what we currently have.
The Bottom Line: The Unit members are in charge. Elect a new Chair at your spring Mass meeting and District convention if the current one(s) act as if they have the authority to rule and reign over you.
RPV’s documents that lay out the roles and duties:
1 “Guide to Unit Chairs”, bottom of page 5, the first paragraph of V. UNIT COMMITTEE.
2 “Guide to Unit Chairs”, very top of page 5.
3 RPV’s (Party Plan) “Plan of Organization”, page 12.
4 “Guide to Unit Chairs”, page 6, first paragraph.
5 RPV’s (Party Plan) “Plan of Organization”, page 12.
6 “Guide to Unit Chairs”, pages 6 and 7.
RPV’s “Plan of Organization” (AKA the “Party Plan”)
ARTICLE VI: County and City Committee, SECTION D, starting on page 12.
https://virginia.gop/assets/uploads/2023/05/Party-Plan-Amended-April-21-2023.pdf
RPV’s “Guide for Unit Chairs” See pages 5 – 8.
https://virginia.gop/assets/uploads/2021/12/Guide-for-Unit-Chairs-1.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also in the Party Plan
ARTICLE VII Official Committees – General
SECTION J. Ethical Conduct 1. Voting members of official committees shall exercise their best efforts to conduct the business of the Party in good faith, with reasonable care, skill, and diligence.
PREAMBLE
The Republican Party of Virginia is a free association organized for the purpose of promoting the principles and achieving the objectives of the Republican Party, electing duly nominated or designated Republican candidates to public office, and performing official actions within the Commonwealth of Virginia, consistent with these purposes.