What Would Yo-Yo Ma Say?...

"Well that's No Way to Promote Unity within the Party"...

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The Staunton NewsLeader reports that the Augusta County Republican Committee will be selecting a new Chairman this week. It also reports that new Chairman will be selected by the new committee that was formed from a list of people who stayed after the original mass meeting and excludes many prior ACRC members.

"On Saturday, Shirley said that a new chairman will be elected based on a procedure outlined in the county committee's bylaws. When a chairman resigns, the bylaws require the group's executive committee to meet and establish a meeting date for the larger committee to elect a new chairman, he said."

"At Thursday's meeting, Shirley said nominations for the position will be taken from the floor. Only committee members will be eligible to vote and be nominated for the position, he said."

This procedure of selecting a new Chairman to the Augusta County Republican Committee in effect ignores and disregards the majority of the votes that were cast by those Republicans who attended the mass meeting back in April. The resulting argument was that the original mass meeting was closed abruptly and not by correct procedure, but this occured after the voters had made their clear choice for Chairman and they chose Dr. Roller over Kurt Michael by a vote of 141 to 103...

"However, when temporary Chairman Jim Bailey adjourned the meeting without a vote, Michael said the meeting was invalid and held another election. Though Michael won this second election easily, a majority of mass meeting voters had left the premises at the time of the second vote."

The present and "New" ACRC committee is made up of the people who stayed for the second meeting and excludes numerous prior members of the ACRC committee. The "New" executive committee was selected by members from the "Second" list and thus ignores approximately 3\4's of the original Augusta County Republican membership...

"Shirley said the committee's membership list includes the people who stayed for the second half of the April 10 mass meeting and some additional people who were added during a May meeting. Because Larry Roller is no longer a member of the committee, he cannot be nominated for the chairmanship, he said."

By selecting a new Chairman in this manner the new ACRC committee ignores and disregards the majority of the prior ACRC Republican membership that they claim they are reaching out to for "Party Unity". This entire episode has gone on for way to long and Republican members working towards a common goal would have and should have found a solution that included all members involved. The RPV Republican Party of Virginia should have called for another Augusta County Republican mass meeting that could have been conducted by a third party entity to ensure fairness to all involved and the voters could have elected a Chairman by the people's vote.

"After the state party ruled in favor of Michael in May, Roller said he might appeal to the legal system."

When asked about further legal action I replied that I do not feel this conflict belongs in the courts and should have not been presented to the court system in the past. The Republican Party of Virginia needs to bring both "extremes" together and provide a solution that includes the entire Republican membership of Augusta County. Otherwise having a select few, made up from a list that excluded the majority of the membership, calling for "Party Unity" carries little weight...