Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Goode Republicans elect chairman, marriage amendment resolution



Charlottesville, Va— Saturday’s convention to elect a new chairman of the Republican Party in Virgil Goode’s Congressional District was far from boring. There were shenanigans, drama, personalities, and conflicting principles. Speaker after speaker listed his conservative principles: strong national defense, low taxes, small government, expand the federal government into the marriage business with a new Constitutional Amendment.

At Hampden-Sydney College near Farmville, 227 delegates elected the previous 5th Congressional District Chairman Tucker Watkins. His challenger was Tim Boyer. George Sterling was the short-term incumbent who had replaced Watkins. Watkins received 268, Boyer 226 weighted votes. Each county or city is allotted one delegate seat for each 500 Republican votes in the previous gubernatorial and presidential elections combined. Albemarle has 64 and Charlottesville 12 out of the 494 possible delegates.

After five hours, the eight resolutions came to the floor for a vote. Watkins had taken control of the party again. “All those in favor?” Aye. “All those opposed?” A few no votes came from the Charlottesville delegation. So the resolutions were separated into 2 recognition and 6 issue resolutions. The first two were combined for a single vote.

Now the six issue resolutions as one vote: “All those in favor?” More ayes than earlier. “All those opposed?” Again rang out the contrary few from the Charlottesville delegation. “The ayes have it.” On to the next item.

Of the resolutions, only the marriage amendment seemed controversial. While speaker after speaker called for young people to join the membership, the same speakers called for a federal marriage amendment. This was the most glaring conflict of principles at the convention.

Young people aren’t joining the party because they don’t hate gays. The night before the convention at Fridays after Five, I was asked how I could be a Republican since they hate gays including me. I reminded him that I have eight years of historical documentation proving how evil Democrats are (and some Republicans). My blog is only the most recent 2 years.

The federal amendment would create a national religion whose main tenet is a church’s definition of family. The legislation is an attempt by straight parents and siblings to prevent you from having your own family when you grow up and move away from home. Gays are the only minority who needs protection from their own families. So naturally the speakers said the amendment would protect families.

(“Va marriage amendment foes gathering momentum”, July 7, 2006 .
Includes the family / next-of-kin argument in letter to Charlottesville Observer (defunct) May 14, 2003.)

Exclusion Rules

Since he spoke to Charlottesville Republicans March 29, Tim Boyer gave a much different nomination speech April 26. This time, Boyer quoted famous statesmen and spoke with historical perspective. In the days leading up to the convention, there had been allegations of denying access to folks who wanted to be delegates in Nelson and Albemarle counties.

In Nelson, they had the wrong date, it was moved up two weeks and some people missed the deadline. In Albemarle county, Keith Drake denied an allegation by Boyer that delegates had been excluded, with only one being received by fax at the exact 7:00 p.m. deadline.

My question: If your mission is to attract new people and the rules are blocking people, why don’t you change the rules? For example, the convention was to start right at 10:00 a.m. But people who had driven a hundred miles were showing up late. So registration was extended.

On March 29, Tucker Watkins also spoke in Charlottesville. At first I liked Watkins because I overheard him standing up to a unit chairman outside the courthouse. But Boyer called me a week before the convention and I spoke with him candidly. Watkins called the next day but I missed his call.

At the convention, I could tell that Boyer had listened to people and changed his message. Both chairmen promised to support conservative candidates. In the emails and literature, I discovered a theme of resentment from the “losers”—candidates blocked by the chairman. Because I had been on the receiving end of similar treatment, Keith Drake’s endorsement of Watkins pushed me toward Boyer. In 2003, Drake was quoted in the newspaper on the importance of following rules…even if it means you have no candidate. My campaign focused on a rule called Eminent Domain.

In 2003 I sought the Republican nomination to oppose the late Mitch Van Yahres. I missed the filing deadline by one day. Then-Charlottesville Chairman Bob Hodous would not publish the deadline until six weeks into my 8-week campaign. Two years later I supported Tom McCrystal for the nomination. The deadline was published 10 weeks in advance and the filing fee was $200 instead of the $500 the previous cycle. McCrystal lost to David Toscano.

How can people lose and not be a sore loser? When the process is fair and inclusive. Fair means the rule applies equally. Inclusive means you recognize the losers as much as possible and invite them to the party. When you talk about the winner, you should mention the loser. When you endorse a candidate, give the challenger’s name. Include the dissenters in written reports and timelines and such. So new people know that their participation is appreciated, even if it’s not the majority view. So those ideas can be reconsidered when circumstances change.

For example: When too many people want to participate, create a bunch of rules. When nobody shows up, maybe it’s time to relax a little.

I don’t write this post to make the Republican Party look bad. They’re making me look bad. So I write this to make the party look better, to show we’re not all like that.

Endorsement: Jeff Frederick for Virginia Party Chair. The challenger to John Hager. My logic: if the party is losing membership and not sticking to its principles, then you must hold the incumbents accountable. Never stick with a bad employee because the new one might be worse. The bad worker will get worse as long as you tolerate the poor performance.

Endorsement: Ken Cuccinelli for Attorney General for his work on Eminent Domain Reform of 2007. Didn't mention marriage in his own speech but did when he spoke on behalf of Bob Marshall.

Rick Sincere’s News and Thoughts

Photoblogging Fifth District GOP

Why I support Tucker Watkins


Shaun Kenney

Liveblogging 5th District Convention


Virgil Goode


Virginia's 5th congressional district
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Virginia's fifth congressional district is a United States congressional district in the commonwealth of Virginia. It covers all or part of Greene, Campbell, Bedford, Albermarle, Nelson, Fluvanna, Buckingham, Cumberland, Appomattox, Prince Edward, Charlotte, Lunenberg, Franklin, Henry, Pittsylvania, Halifax, Mecklenberg, and Brunswick Counties. The current representative is Virgil Goode (R). Goode was originally elected as a Democrat in 1996, but changed his party affiliation in 2002, making him the first Republican to represent this district since Reconstruction.

Overview

Hampden-Sydney enrolls over 1,100 students from thirty states and several foreign countries. The College enrolls young men of character and ability who will benefit from a rigorous and traditional liberal arts curriculum.

Along with Wabash College, Hampden-Sydney is one of only two remaining traditional all-male colleges. The school's mission is to "form good men and good citizens in an atmosphere of sound learning." As such, Hampden-Sydney has one of the strictest Honor Codes of any college or university. Upon entering as a student, each man pledges that he will not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do while he is a student at Hampden-Sydney. The pledge takes place during a solemn ceremony after a lecture by the School's president and Dean of Students. This simply-worded code of behavior applies to the students on or off campus. Though it is strict, the justice system is student-run, allowing for a true trial of peers, adjudicated by a court of students that is both thorough and compassionate to both the college and their fellow students.

Every student must prepare for and take the Rhetoric Proficiency Exam, a three-hour essay that is graded upon coherence of argument, quality of argument, style in which the argument is presented, and grammatical correctness. To prepare, the college requires each student to pass three Rhetoric classes that are usually taken the first two semesters a student is at Hampden-Sydney. After graduating, many alumni have stated that the Rhetoric Program was the most valuable aspect in the Hampden-Sydney education.

History

Classes at Hampden-Sydney began in temporary wooden structures on November 10, 1775, on the eve of the American War of Independence; this makes Hampden-Sydney College the nation's 10th oldest college. The College has been in continuous operation since that date, and despite the difficult and financially-strapped first years resulting from the Revolutionary War, the College survived with sufficient viability to be granted a charter by the Virginia General Assembly in 1783 – the oldest private charter in the South.

Hampden-Sydney College derives its name from John Hampden (1594-1643) and Algernon Sidney (1622-1683). Hampden lost his life in the battle of Chalgrove Field during the English Civil War. Sydney, who wrote Discourses Concerning Government, was beheaded by order of Charles II following a failed attempt to overthrow the king. The college was founded by alumni and people affiliated with Princeton University. These proponents of religious and civil liberties were much admired by the founders of the College, all of whom were active supporters of the cause of American independence. Both Patrick Henry and James Madison were elected trustees in the founding period before classes began.

The college's founder and first president, Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, was subsequently the president of the College of New Jersey, which is currently Princeton University. Smith hired many faculty members from the College of New Jersey.

Hampden-Sydney became a thriving college while located in southside Virginia, which led to an expansion of the college. In 1812, the Union Theological Seminary was founded at Hampden-Sydney College. The Seminary was later moved to Richmond, VA and is currently the Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education. In 1838, the medical department of Hampden-Sydney College founded the Medical College of Virginia which is now the MCV Campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. During this time, the college constructed new buildings using Federal style architecture. This is the style of architecture still used on the campus.

At the onset of the American Civil War, Hampden-Sydney students formed a company in the Virginia Militia. The Hampden-Sydney students did not see much action but rather were “captured, and...paroled by General George B. McClellan on the condition that they return to their studies."

























1 Comments:

Blogger Shaun Kenney said...

Well done! This is the stuff citizen journalism is made of!

4/30/2008 10:00 AM  

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