RPV RULES RANKLE THE RANK AND FILE
Is the Party Plan counterproductive in certain situations? Is getting a straight answer from RPV difficult at times? I'll explore this concern here and in the following posts. OPINION
Hope everyone is having a great summer! The Five and Dime is ready to start stirring the pot after a little time off!
Many people are disgusted with the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) and the Party Plan rules, which enable abuse in many of our local committees. Committee Members from several counties in the Five and Dime have expressed the sentiment that RPV Rules create problems and work against the Rank and File. This blog will be the first of several to look at what seems to be a fairly wide spread and growing perception.
RPV’s Rules should protect the regular party members (i.e., the “grassroots”) and set out clear and understandable processes to conduct committee business fairly and equitably. The truth is the Rules are full of loopholes that are easily exploited.
THE PROBLEM
People join the local committee believing republicanism will help their counties, state, and country, only to discover the local committee is plagued with personal agendas, and leave, likely never to return.
The Party Rules fostered recent events that resulted in severe problems for the Prince Edward County Republican Committee (PECRC) in pursuit of the ideals of the party's claim to represent. Here are examples members felt are counterproductive to the advance of the Republican Party in local committees:
Paid Campaign Consultants running committees.
Campaign staff in any form holding leadership positions in any committee is an odious and apparent conflict of interest. Committee leadership must be able to be seen and act unbiasedly. RPV’s Rules allow, perhaps encourage, this distortion of local committees.
The District 10 Senate and District 59 House primary races are illustrative.
Bonnie & Clyde Strategies, a paid campaign consultant group, was heavily involved with candidates in both primaries. According to sources, they charge up to $40k to run a campaign and work a convention for a candidate. Diana and her husband, Chris Shores, were consultants to Senate 10 candidate Duane Adams and received $15,000 compensation, according to VPAP. Bonnie and Clyde also represent Jr. Congressman Bob Good, who spends much of his time machine building in his district (more on this shortly). His FEC filing shows $7,000/month to Bonnie & Clyde LLC.
Diana Shores also held the vice chair seat of the Prince Edward Co.of which a portion is in Senate District 10. Members claim she typically sets the committee’s meeting agenda and that candidate Duane Adams of Louisa and his surrogates were invited to speak at party meetings, but the other three candidates received no such invitations.
Delayed Elections Are Played Elections
During the February 2023 meeting of PECRC, chairman John Marsden resigned, and Diana Shores became the temporary chairwoman. Members were said to have pressured Shores to call an election on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, to fill the seat and claim Shores called the committee “toxic” and would not schedule another committee meeting for three months due to her campaign consulting business obligations.
The Plan fails to require a new election to fill the chairman position to be held quickly, such as within 30 or 60 days of resignation, stating a vacancy “shall be filled after notice of such intent has been included in the call of the meeting.” (RPV Party Plan, Article VI, Section C. 4.). RPV’s Rules failed the PECRC here by not requiring a prompt election for a replacement and leaving the committee in the hands of a paid consultant working a campaign that affects the district where the Committee operates.
According to witnesses, Shores stated she didn’t want to be the chair but ran and won 25 to 15, hustling up former members who hadn’t served in years and insisting these people were qualified to vote. All had missed more than three business meetings, a violation of RPV Rules Article VII, Section D, which state: “A member of an Official Committee other than an ex-officio member automatically loses his committee position if he is absent three (3) consecutive meetings without representation by a person holding a proxy;”
The Party Regulars Resign.
Thirteen or so people, half the regular members, resigned from the committee over this- people that volunteered to make a difference and saw the gross conflict of interest and self-serving agendas in action. Several complained about their disenfranchisement by Shores’ leadership and perceived conflicts of interest, given her status as a hired consultant. Claims of reprisals by Shores against those questioning her conduct circulated in the committee. Whether accurate or not, alienating half your active members is not the way to advance the cause of the Republican Party in a Purple State.
PECRC, like other committees, in being coopted by divisive interests, is now operating at reduced effectiveness and strength. Good people leave because they didn’t sign up for drama, in-fighting, and cronyism. Alienating committee members to the point of quitting in frustration is a strategy I have seen myself. “Keep it small, keep it all” is a well-known war cry of self-appointed bosses in RPV.
Members will have to wait until the committee holds a mass meeting to challenge Shores, but the shake-out keeps it small and, therefore, easier to keep it all.
Stay tuned; more to come. As these posts will show, PECRC is not alone or new in these shenanigans, and that observation raises serious questions about how RPV is led and structured. Has the time for a ‘Reformation’ come? Let’s find out.
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