Dragging A Local GOP Unit Into Moral and Ideological Bankruptcy: Deny Parents The Vote
When did the GOP become the Party of Alienable? OPINION
You have by now heard all the lame fear-driven allegations of the NO side to the School Board referendum and perhaps how easily they are refuted. The lie that the method of selecting the members equates to SOL scores; taxing authority magically endowed on an elected board when it is not possible under the State Constitution, Cultural Marxism (outlined in the last post) will be brought in with elections when they are already here, big money will politicize elections when the No side is injecting far more big money than the Yes side as well as a PAC to prevent your vote, appointees protected kids from viruses and opened schools when they allowed unvaccinated illegals into the system and failed to notify the public, the approval of a Leftist/Marxist Equity board in Hanover, the failure to push back against outside influence on the name of LDHS, the spending of taxpayers money to immortalize transgenderism in new school architecture by altering bathroom designs, the list is long.
The final death rattle of this misguided campaign is a slogan picked up from a mom running for the school board in an adjacent county. When you have no objective facts, you go for the subjective sloganeering. Pathetic.
Where does this unfortunate campaign of scary stories leave us? With egg on our collective Republican faces.
Glen Youngkin gained the governorship on one issue- parental involvement in the public schools, which we all know to be the Left in the selection and presentation of curriculum. He defeated Terry McAuliffe, the Democrat, on this very question. Yet, the local Republican unit, under the leadership of the chairman, has made McAuliffe’s position that parents have no business in their kid’s education the defining point of the local GOP. The woman who first made this issue what it is, formed a Christian academy to get her girls out of the public schools (good move) because they are so for the Left. Hanover is not a Democrat-controlled county- it has 6 Republican Supervisors, most of whom support the method of seating board members that got us here. They claim you aren’t bright enough to protect our schools from the onslaught of porn and race-baiting books to gender-bending ideologies that are demonstrably being used to condition students on their test scores.
The Republican Creed has these articles:
That fiscal responsibility and budgetary restraints must be exercised at all levels of government
The NO to Parents Involvement side contradicts the first article on its face as it is not for all individuals availing themselves of the stated virtues but only to individuals selected by and shielded by Supervisors in a process that is not open or transparent.
The fiscal end is that the School Board controls 40% of the budget, which is your money, and they do not answer to anyone. They also get the perk of patronage in receiving full medical benefits on your dime for a part-time position. They have no restraints. The vote builds in a restraint- accountability directly to the citizens of Hanover.
The NO campaign squarely contradicts the Party's Creed in these important articles.
Let’s turn to the local Republican unit’s mission statement:
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
All of these are thrown under the ‘NO’ bus. Let’s unpack it one by one.
The principles are in the Creed but not limited to it. Republican principles include preserving the Founding Documents as they were intended. The 1st Amendment guarantees free speech- Voting is the highest expression of free speech. Yet the local chair will not allow dissenting Republicans to speak during meetings, and he commandeers the meetings for his own personal agendas- his failed senate bid and now this issue. He tried to prevent John McGuire from addressing the Unit after the 10th District Senate Primary. I heard him. NOTE: it says principles rather than personalities.
Rather than invest the money raised for seeking and equipping candidates to win office, our chairman has raided the unit treasury for $10k to fund an anti-vote campaign on his own say while allotting $500 bucks to a viable candidate, Yael Levine R that is challenging the only Democrat elected in Hanover! He would rather stop parents from running for school board in direct opposition to Youngkin than support a viable Republican to win a seat we haven’t held in a long time if ever!
Ditto.
He is not assisting citizens; he is obstructing them from exercising the fundamental right to consent on how they choose to be governed! Let the rank and file work it out at the polls! He is making the same mistake of mission creep and interfering downstream that Good made in interfering in the 10th Senate Primary. I predict the same result.
I addressed this above. He prefers “keep it small, keep it all” to getting Republicans elected. This is a grotesquely incompetent way to run a unit.
What does the RPV Pary Plan say? Does it endow the position of Chairman with the powers of feudal lords to make arbitrary decisions to stray outside of our mission? No. Under Article IV the chair is given no such powers to define local policy or agendas- he is to facilitate the work of the rank and file in pursuit of fulfilling our Creed and Mission.
No- to use their favorite word, it does not. The plan empowers the rank and file and uses “grassroots.” Dyer claimed to be a grassroots candidate (10TH Senate District Primary) but he used the executive committee to circumvent debate among the rank and file, shutting down any grassroots voice that doesn’t tow his line.
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." And “The Unit Committee is the backbone of the entire party structure…”
SCROLL DOWN FOR THE LIMITATIONS ON THE POSITION OF UNIT CHAIR.
What are we telling people in the demographic we need through these canards, red herrings, and slogans? We are telling them we will use them as a scapegoat if they get the vote. We are telling them voting is scary and brings terrible consequences, and they should prefer apathy. We are telling them we don’t trust them even though they voted for Republicans in Hanover in overwhelming numbers. We are telling them they have no business over how their tax dollars are spent and not to think about accountability. We are telling them they have no business in running the schools. We are telling them exactly what the Left says every day. We are telling them we are incoherent and the party of Chicken Little.
This is what it looks like when personalities are elevated over principles and it ain’t pretty. The supporters have rejected principles enshrined in the Republican Creed and their mission statement and portrayed an inalienable right as the as mere party ideology- “only Democrats support elected School Boards” - that is also a lie. George Washington summed it up this way some 240 years ago:
It seems the trend of allowing RPV unit chairmen to assume the role of feudal lords with unlimited powers and scope has become the norm. The point here is nothing in our creed, mission statement, or RPV docs gives super-powers to a chair. They are not office holders, kings or queens, or Popes. They are there to moderate and facilitate the grassroots but that is far from the trend in Hanover and other counties in Virginia. More to come on them.
Five & Dime VA/HCC is an opinion blog employing satire, commentary, and facts to entertain and convey my opinions on religious, cultural, and political issues.
I expect you to know the difference.
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." And “The Unit Committee is the backbone of the entire party structure…”
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:
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.”
The RPV “Party Plan” sets out only 4 “Duties” for Unit Chairs:
· “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 temporary meeting chair is elected).
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. Guess what? The same servant role applies to Congressional District Chairmen and even the RPV Chairman.
Read the RPV’s Party Plan and “Guide to Unit Chairs” and try to prove me wrong!
Wise up people! The Unit members are in charge. Elect a new Chair at your spring Mass meeting and District convention if the current one(s) act like they have the authority to rule and reign over you.
RPV’s documents that layout the roles and duties:
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
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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 purposes 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.