Tazewell GOP Committee Dissolved
On Sunday afternoon the 9th District Republican Committee held a special meeting to discuss the events of the Tazewell County GOP Convention from back in March. I attended as a voting member in my capacity as Chairman of the Smyth County GOP. The meeting lasted about 3 hours. Going into the meeting I was really torn on what the proper decision should be. On one hand the Tazewell GOP Convention clearly had problems, On the other hand is it proper for the District Committee to intervene in a local county party’s affairs?
There was emotional testimony from many who felt disenfranchised by the convention and felt that the existing Tazewell GOP under the leadership of Pat Martin was not up to par. Many wore stickers saying “Tazewell County GOP Lockout Victim.” The videos circulated on YouTube were played for all to see. The woman in the video gave her version of events which didn’t differ much from what was depicted in the video.
In the end the definition of “functioning” as used in Article IV, Section D, (e) in the RPV plan was the debate. That section states:
Whenever the District Committee shall determine that a Unit Committee, or its Chairman, has
failed to function as such, the District Committee shall appoint a new Committee, or a new
Chairman, as the case may be. A Committee thus created shall perform their duties provided in
the State Party Plan until their successors are elected at a Mass Meeting or Convention called
for that purpose.
In the end the it was decided that the existing Tazewell GOP was not “functioning” in the spirit of the Republican Party. It could not be denied that the Tazewell GOP did have elected leadership and was meeting, but the majority of voting members thought that it was not “functioning” as a committee should. I forgot to record the exact vote for dissolving the committee, but it was overwhelming of like 20-2 if I recall. A new Tazewell GOP Committee was elected by the 9th District Committee. I believed the new committee desired to hold a new mass meeting or convention to get the Tazewell GOP back on track.
This was a very sad event. The GOP should not be fighting each other and it was unfortunate that it had to come down to this. We as the GOP need to work together and not against each other and those interested in the political process. We cannot lock people out of a public meeting, deny them to right to observe, and make it overly complicated for people to participate.
A sad event indeed.
April 7th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Your memory of the vote count is correct.
The final analysis was that a mass meeting or convention which was orchestrated solely on the predicate of delivering 100% of Tazewell’s delegates to the State Convention for a single candidate is NOT indicative of a party that is functioning as a responsible Republican committee. Regardless of which candidate that unit’s leaders wished to promote.
Hugo Chavez would have been proud of Ms. Martin’s efforts, and Jimmy Carter probably would have certified the election, but that is not the way a Republican Unit should operate.
April 7th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
I agree Alton. Stacking the deck in favor of one candidate over another is not the way a party should operate. Irrespective of any other prior events that may or may not have occurred in Tazewell, the convention clearly proved that the Tazewell GOP was not functioning as the way a party should.