If the grassroots wants a chance to have their voice heard as to who will be the next GOP congressional candidate they better hit the road this December 12th. The unit chairs of the 5th District Republicans will be meeting on Saturday December 12th in Appomattox at 2 PM to vote on a convention versus primary to decide the candidate to oppose Tom Perriello next November. If you care you need to take time out of your schedule to attend this meeting to voice your opinion as to how you want this person chosen.
There is a small group of people, those in power, who would prefer a primary because it would give the candidate they support a much better chance of winning. These people support State Senator Robert Hurt who is perceived by many on the grassroots level to be a moderate. This perception is based on the Hurt’s questionable voting record in the State Senate. In a primary the Senator will have a percentage of votes locked in, maybe as high as 30%. This would mean that the rest of the votes could very possibly be split among the six other conservative challengers giving Hurt a sure win. Besides being more favorable to one candidate, an open primary’s vote can be diluted by Democrats who are likely to vote for the weaker candidate. This has been known to happen in the past and would be sure to happen in a 5th district race. Another reason a primary is not in the best interest of the grassroots and the party is the expense. More money will be spent by the candidates and the party in a primary battle, money better spent in opposition to Perriello in the summer and fall.
On the other hand a convention allows for an undiluted vote by those of us who are really interested in electing a nominee who represents our true conservative views. Any Republican can participate in a convention if they wish all they have to do is apply to be a delegate; information on applying can be obtained from your local committee on how to proceed with this process. It certainly takes a little more effort then just voting in a primary but the added effort means that those who are truly interested and informed will be the ones making the decisions. Another plus for a convention is that the winning candidate needs to achieve 50% plus one vote to win, balloting continues until this happens. This obviously would give a better chance for the candidates that the grassroots perceive as being more conservative. Even though the field is large, as it narrows candidates that drop out can throw their support behind someone of like thought giving that person a better chance of winning.
I suggest that anyone who is interested in having the candidate that best represents the district should attend the December 12th GOP District meeting and voice their opinion. Hopefully they will listen.
19 Comments
I’ll be there Bill! Thanks for the info…
I will be there also.
Excellent! My wife and I will attend so we can express our views supporting a convention if given a chance. I was assuming we couldn’t attend.
Thanks BRG. Your post gives me hope.
Now, where in Appomatox is it going to be?
I just found out from my county chair that the location has not been decided yet.
Which candidate has the best online presence?
I sure hope the not-Hurt candidates are rallying their supporters as well to make a presence at this meeting or they will not have a chance in the primary (for reasons stated above). I was told by a county chair that non-voters will not be able to speak or voice an opinion and we may be asked to leave the room during the vote. We might need to rally before the meeting. What are others hearing?
Blue ridge guy,
I don’t think you have ever been to a convention in the fifth district,especially one where a congressional candidate was going to be nominated. You are just taking talking points that you are being told not personal experience.
Why not ask those who went to the Landrith/Ruff convention about how people’s constitutional rights were violated and trampled by some of the same people involved in this year’s process. They were willing to do it then, have made no apologies since and intend to do it again. Ask them about how such dirty inside dealing was done that more than a third of the people there that day never supported the winning candidate. Over and over voice votes were taken and when people asked for a real vote, they were never recognized. The delegates went and had to go through hours and hours of violations of their rights. The political hacks took over the convention and on the way there destroyed almost half of the organizations in the district. That is what a convention brings you.
It denies our active duty service people the right to vote. There are more of the than there are D’s who might vote. Do you support denying our people who put their lives at risk every day ? I don’t. I
Money in a primary is spent getting ten or twenty times as many people to vote than any convention will have as delegates. In a convention it is spent internally dividing Republicans against one another. Why do you want to do that ?
A primary involves the real grassroots not just those who are willing to put up with a bunch of possible foolishness at a local mass meeting taking hours on end and then requires them to take a day off and travel maybe two hours plus to again put up with parliamentary procedure tricks tried by every campaign. Just use the example of the JATP. I would bet that 80% would vote in a primary but fewer than 10% go to a convention. Do you want to deny 70% of your own people ?
A primary involves the greatest number in the process, not the smallest. That brings victory not the place where a few rule the roost.
If you want the conservatives to be united after the nomination and make Perriello a one term congressman, it is a primary that reaches out that will make it happen, not a dirty,divisive internal battle that a convention brings.
Your comments indicate you would prefer to have a convention that would have a lot of back room dealing making to arrive at a winner by a very few rather than the voice of ten or twenty times as many people. That is sad and I for one and many others who were there in 1996 want no more of our rights violated.
Aren’t you just really supporting a convention because you think that is the only way for your candidate to win ?
You make very valid points. I have heard of the crap that was pulled at the 96 convention and would hope that that would not be allowed to happen again.
I still believe that a primary will serve someone like Hurt more then the others. To answer your question I do believe it will benefit the person I support but the same can be said for the 4 other candidates who have not been in politics. You can bet that with the exception of Hurt all the other candidates want a convention.
Thanks for this post Not blue ridge guy. The 96 convention sounded like a nightmare.
But, (there’s always a but) consider the following:
Past crappy conventions to not necessarily predict future crappy conventions. There was no Tea Party movement in 96. My experience was the 09 state convention and it was good.
Since this is a political party, I don’t believe anyone’s US constitutional rights were violated. I suppose a party could choose a candidate by winning a bingo game if so inclined.
I don’t want a primary to end up like the last Presidential primary. McCain won, in my opinion, because the Huckabee/Romney/Thompson vote was split.
I agree we will divide bitterly in a convention (we did over the AG race this year) but we are grown ups and will come back together to defeat the common enemy(right?).
Guess who’s name appeared under the title “Virginia’s Least Wanted” A Candidate running for Congress in the 5th by the name of Robert “Bob” Hurt. A couple years ago Del Bob Hurt jumped from the GOP and voted with Democrats to give Virginian’s the largest tax increase in Virginia History. I can’t support anyone that voted for Mark Warner’s historic tax increase. Oh BTW the following year Virginia had the largest Surplus in Virginia History and folks like Hurt rolled the surplus into the Budget for ever more. Now we have a Budget Crisis and there is no place to cut except our rest-stops and other needed services all in hopes that we as Citizens agree once again to massive tax increases; for the children you know. We need to break out of this nonsense and cut the pork, it’s in there!
I want a Convention whereby the best Candidate actually wins! In a Convention, democrats wont be voting and diluting the real feeling and frustrations of Repulican Voters in the 5th District.
We have a real chance to put forth a true conservative candidate which Mr Hurt is not.
We have no real protection against another 96 convention and with 7 rather than 2 candidates it will be worse. The deals will be back room ones with promises made to the hacks for future business that the candidates may even not know about. Once Watkins is removed as chair,which will happen very quickly,we have no protection against someone just like the 96 one. That is what the hacks want so they can run things.
Just look back to Augusta county’s mass meeting last year if you want a more recent example. The TEA party folks are good people but no match for the hired guns in a convention. They can get their people out for a primary I believe. If they can’t then they won’t come out on November either and we’ll be stuck with Tom.
Very simply,having been there in 96 and watched Morton and Boyer go along with the travesty, they and the hacks can’t be trusted not to do it again.
Bill Stanley will be the fifth district chair after Watkins is removed. Maybe a convention which has his touch will be better than the ones in the past. Attempting to compare this to the state convention is pointless because they are run by two completely different entities. Further, as noted above, the Tea Party supporters will have a hard time matching the support generated by long time republican party activists who have been winning conventions and primaries in the past.
The support you are talking about went to the Tea Parties! You don’t seem to get it, the tea party’s are full of Republican Voters, Swing Voters, even Democrats and Young undecided Voters. So let’s not think this is normal to see such a grassroots group out there looking for Constitutionally Sound Candidates. A convention may be the only solution here in the 5th District! And Yes I’m against Bob “taxem if you can” Hurt.
if you think all that support went to the Tea Parties you are mistaken. I support the Tea parties and traveled all over to attend various events. However, you are making the wrong distinction. It is the republican party that is full of tea party supporters, swing voters, and even Democrats. If McDonnell’s win didnt highlight this i dont know what will.
I agree the convention is the best route, but that is because i want Hurt to win. I know he has a bad voting record on taxes, but you have to understand the local politics involved in that vote, and they are too lengthy to discuss here. Hurt is the only one with a chance to take back the fifth.
Aaron what makes you think Watkins will be removed ?
Removal is the wrong word, i dont think he will run again… and why would he after the Goode loss?
Also, Jim McKelvy (SP) is now in this race. Look for him to spend some serious $$ in this race.
I understand that Watkins intends to allow other speakers rather than just his committee. I found out he has always done this so my question is where did anyone get such false other information ? Was it just put out to inflame people ? Can anyone trust people who clearly did not tell the public the truth ? Do they know better now and if so, why don’t they correct themselves ? How about it blue ridge guy ?
Stanley would not necessarily be the chair of any convention, even if he was elected chair of the 5th district. The chair of the convention would be selected by the hacks before the meeting. How can anyone know now that meeting would not be run the same way the 96 meeting was run ? Feda Morton and the Boyers were a major part of the planning then to run over everyone’s rights ? Do you really think they won’t try the same old tricks again ? Better safe than sorry.
At the previous district meeting when Tucker scheduled this up coming meeting for the purpose of voting on a convention or primary he stated that candidates would not be allowed to speak until after the meeting was over.
I encouraged people to attend the meeting to rally support for a convention, I mentioned that they should not expect to be able to speak and should show their support outside the venue. I stated this for two reasons, because of Tucker’s statement about the candidates speaking and because I did not want to see a bunch of people showing up and causing a disruption of the voting. This would certainly not help the case for a convention.
I have since spoken with Tucker and will notify people that they will be given a brief amount of time to state their case for a convention or primary. For some reason Tucker only mentioned this after my call went out for people to attend the meeting. Nothing was said about opening up the floor to guests at the previous meeting when this was scheduled. Again my main concern was that this meeting was too important to be disrupted by many people who feel passionately about this subject.