Based on some emails circulating throughout Virginia, it looks like Ron Paul supporters will be making a concerted effort to take-over, or at least influence, the direction of the GOP in Virginia.
Beginning today in Alexandria with the campaign of Chris Kachouroff for party chair, Paul supporters will be attempting to win key party positions and delegates to the state and national convention.
Brian Gentry of the Ron Paul Campaign Committee wrote to supporters via email:
We need to get as many Ron Paul supporters as we can to attend the Unit Committe [sic] meetings and vote for themselves and other Ron Paul supporters so they can attend the district convention — where we will then vote on our three Ron Paul supporters that paid the money to be a delegate to the national convention.
This is our chance to TAKE OVER the Republican Party in Virginia and return it to its core values and strict adherence to the Constitution.
So, this leads to two questions:
- Do the “party faithful” have enough members who are concerned enough and will go to district meetings to prevent this take over? and,
- If the Paul supporters are successful, will their influence on the GOP be a good thing?
Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. 
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J.R.,
You should check out my recent post questioning whether the Ron Paul Revolution is dead. The actions of Chris Kachouroff and other Paul-istas is clearly pointing to the fact that they intend to continue the revolution. It seems to me that they are trying to divide the party by having one side being the conservative faction and the other side being in favor with the revolution. While I disagree with Ron Paul on foreign policy, I think that his social policy is right on target with conservatives. Our party needs to unite and return back to the ideals that appealed to many voters. If we fail to ignore these ideals, our party will sink to the bottom of the ocean with no chance of revival.
According to VCAP’s Blog, Chris Kachouroff will be running for Alexandria’s Gop Chairman, I Have had several run-in’s with Kachouroff and find him to be a very disagreeable man with a god complex, The Paulista’s Strategy is clear, Go into democratic areas with few GOP committee members (ie Alexandria,Arlington,) and take over there, and work there way into swing areas, attempting to take enough districts to finally destroy the VA Republican Party
Current Alexandria GOP chairman Chris Marston defeated Kachouroff in today’s chairman canvass, 159-100.
Thank God… I Have an article up with some screwball kachouroff quotes
Kudos to Chris Kachouroff for wanting to RESTORE the Republican Party to its PRINCIPLES! We need more folks like him, willing to stand up for what is RIGHT!
LoveFreedom
You mean backing down on abortion?
Many of the Ron Paulistas who showed up at today’s party canvass in Alexandria to vote for Kachouroff had no interest in taking ANY Republican literature from the reps who were there for AG Bob McDonnell, Jim Gilmore for Senate, Bob Marshall for Senate, Jeff Frederick for RPV Chair, and candidates running for State Central Committee and 8th District Chairman. Chris Marston won with 62% of the vote. Thank goodness!!!
Perhaps “take over” is a poor choice of words. It would be better described as “take back” for those of us life-long conservatives, who have watched in utter dismay as elected republicans have completely abandoned republican principles over and over again.
This abandonment of principles is why republicans have suffered resounding defeat of late and why republicans will continue to be defeated until someone has guts enough to stick to the principles that republicans supposedly stand for.
My dad once told me to “watch what a man does, not what he says”. I follow that sage advice and as far as this presidential race goes, no one can hold a candle to Ron Paul’s conservative credentials.
And now McCain is the front runner? Gimme a break! You call THAT a conservative???????
Please review the Va. republican creed below and tell me where Ron Paul differs:
Virginia Republican Creed
We Believe . . .
That the free enterprise system is the most productive supplier of human needs and economic justice
That all individuals are entitled to equal rights, justice, and opportunities and should assume their responsibilities as citizens in a free society
That fiscal responsibility and budgetary restraints must be exercised at all levels of government
That the Federal Government must preserve individual liberty by observing constitutional limitations
That peace is best preserved through a strong national defense
That faith in God, as recognized by our Founding Fathers, is essential to the moral fibre of the Nation
In answer to the two questions:
1. The “party faithful” need a wake-up call. Turn off 24/7 talk radio and think for yourself for a change. Quit settling for flip-flopping RINOs.
2. A return to republican party roots would be the best thing that could happen to the party.
Come on now folks. Ron Paul supporters want what you want–to take over the party with the principles of Robert Taft, Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan. That’s what we’re doing and that’s what a great many other Republicans who are not Ron Paul supporters are doing. You should be doing it too unless you’re happy being a “Compassionate Conservative.”
By the way, I (Chris Kachouroff) met a lot of great supporters yesterday and lot of great non-supporters. Some folks were very unhappy and others were very happy to have an event in Alexandria. In fact, solid Republicans said they were glad I was running but that they wouldn’t vote for me because they wanted to see results. Do you blame them? Most of all, I’m excited that Chairman Chris Marston is happy to have us on board.
Also, we’ve brought several great folks to our local GOP party and we’re going to swell the ranks with more Republicans. Of course, we don’t all agree on all issues. I don’t necessarily agree with Ron Paul on all the issues. However, as I stated yesterday, I absolutely support Chris Marston and he is the chair–end of story. We had a lot of Republicans show up yesterday and that’s the point you all are missing! Yesterday was a great turnout and exciting kick off! I got to meet well over 200 people that I didn’t know.
Jeff Frederick’s guy was there and he had a lot of great ideas. A lot of our people are excited that he wants to rebuild the party. http://www.votejeff.org. That a lot of folks didn’t take literature doesn’t mean that they’re “Paulistas”. That is simply absurd. When you walked inside to vote, you had to run the gaunlet of getting spammed with flyers and leaflets. And calling us “Paulistas” is not so nice. PWConservative (aka Joey Taylor) wrote his own little blog that we declared war. I assure you that Ron Paul supporters have not declared war. Do you not see the humor in that title? Ron Paul folks declare war?
Look, we need to unite not divide. We should be focused on Nov 08 elections. You all are engaged in a little hate speech here and you shouldn’t be. We don’t have time for this. We have an election coming up. We’ve got a lot of work to do if we are to defeat that Marxist Obama.
I encourage you to contact me directly if you want to shoot the breeze and find out a little more: Antifederalist.brutus@gmail.com
BTW, I am officially a voting member of the Alexandria GOP Committee and so are a few of my friends. Have any of you here paid your dues? Do tell which committees you all belong to.
Sincerely,
Chris Kachouroff
PW Conservative says:
You mean backing down on abortion?
Huh? Who is backing down on abortion? Ron Paul!?!
I invite you to look up Ron Paul’s full pro-life credentials on your own but for starters, he is an OB/GYN who has delivered over 4,000 babies. He has actually introduced legislation to overturn Roe v. Wade (HR 300) and he believes that life begins at conception (HR 1094).
He believes life is the very basis of liberty.
And here’s a juicy tidbit: Ron Paul was endorsed by Norma McCovey aka ‘Jane Roe’. Why? Because he walks the talk.
Please show me someone who can beat those credentials.
The people fighting the RP message are the people most likely to lose power and influence. A natural reaction,I suppose.
I think it will be a good thing since I’m one of them. By the way McDonnell got my vote the day he filed that friend of the court brief in the upcoming DC gun ban case. Marshall’s OK too. Maybe people are just tired of not feeling represented. Time will tell. Also…
PWConservative Says:
February 24th, 2008 at 1:25 am
“The Paulista’s Strategy is clear, Go into democratic areas with few GOP committee members (ie Alexandria,Arlington,) and take over there, and work there way into swing areas, attempting to take enough districts to finally destroy the VA Republican Party”
…..and people have accused us of being conspiracy theorist? Judging from primary turnout not alot of voters were inspired and any republicans that voted in the democratic primary for Hillary still doesn’t cover the gap I don’t think.
While there might be some disagreement on foreign policy we agree on domestic issues.
You would think that would be highlighted since the “Paulistas” got more names to put someone one the ballot than anyone else. Perhaps we could work together to get things done on the things we do agree on? When we don’t agree at least that will make for more interesting meetings. No one likes socialism whether it be the brisk march of the Dems or the inexorable crawl that seems to be McCain domestically. Cheers all.
Heh heh,
Ron Paul is the Libertine (Libertarian) candidate. Ron Paul is in favor of legalizing drugs and prostitution. Ron Paul represents the branch of the Republican Party that seeks to take it back? I don’t think so.
Little David,
Why has ‘libertarian’ become a bad word and why is Constitutionally guaranteed maximum Liberty such a negative to (some) republicans ? As a conservative, I believe the following quote, written by none other that the current republican standard-bearer, Ronald Reagan.
“I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer, just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals . . . The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom, and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.”
So, I ask you, what kind of republican are you?
Thanks, Terri K, for answering PWConservative’s question about abortion – well said. This issue, among many others, is better dealt with at the state level. Citizens of each state used to determine how they were governed (when the US Constitution was being followed) prior to the federal govt usurping power. Who here wants Big Govt telling them what to do? We live locally – we should govern locally, too! That’s all that Ron Paul is saying – restore power to the people, the ones who have to abide by the laws that are made. He may not agree with every decision that every state makes, but that’s their decision, as outlined in the Constitution.
10th Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
http://www.constitutioncenter.org/constitution/details_explanation.php?link=157&const=17_amd_10
Anyone who was at the Advance saw that Chris Kauchoroff was by far the best speaker of the day at the straw poll. The party needs more people like him.
LoveFreedom
Federalism is the only answer to abortion, Ron Paul’s HR 300 which sounds appealing at first glance, Is proved to be a waste of time as the bill itself if passed will most certainly be overuled by an activist judge. I Favor a constitutional amendment passed by the state’s (It has never been done before, but it is an option layed out by the constitution)
Opposition to Federalism based on principle, and not on a case-by-case basis is foolish and unsound.
Ron Paul stated in a debate question concerning abortion “The first thing we need to do is get the Federal government out of it”
If the weak state by state method were used, States like CA,NY,MD,IL would never ban abortion and women seeking an abortion would simply go to these states.
Before a Federal Ban on Partial-Birth Abortion was passed Abortion, Travel to states allowing late term abortions was very common.
Loudoun Insider
I Thought Bay Buchanon was by far the best speaker.
And I Disagree with your analysis that the party needs more people to push us away from the Compassionate Conservative Movement, I Would think that someone supporting a Compassionate Conservative Like Gov. Huckabee would have an opposite opinion
(Kachouroff comment on Va Virtucon “If you mean to keep us the party of “Compassionate Conservatives” you’re right–we have no interest in perpetuating that flaw”)
Results speak for themselves. I read the RPV Creed, and then I look at the current state of the United States, and I see that we are grossly missing the mark. There is nobody to blame but those who are currently in office and those who put them there.
Looking at our electoral process and the voter turnout, Republican Committee members at the local, district, and state level are responsible.
They create and manage the GOP electoral process that results in loss of grassroots party activism. They are the ones that allow big business consultants and lobbyists to suck the honesty and integrity out of conservatives and force them to play the beltway game.
It is that frustration that has led me to join my local GOP office. If the only path to a congressional seat or the White House is rode via the back of the Donkey or the Elephant, well, I will try to ride the Elephant.
I am distrustful of both party’s ability to abide by the Constitution. If there is going to be a resuscitation of responsible approaches to limited government, I have no doubt the capability of such rests in the GOP.
I am bringing my Ron Paul perspective to the disucssion and working to make the changes that I think are necessary to save our great but sickened nation. If that makes longtime GOP’ers nervous, so be it. A little debate will do us some good. Maybe we can examine how conservatives lost their way and work to shore up the problems that have led to the party losing its identity.
Terri K,
In answer to your question I’m not a Republican. I am a “moderate independent”, the kind of voter who decides who wins elections.
I most certainly would never vote for Ron Paul for President, but evidence is that most Republicans would not either. Thank goodness most Republicans have not fallen off their rocker and might actually nominate someone (John McCain) that I might actually vote for come November.
Little David, you are one small faction of those folks who are even interested in participating in the electoral process.
People who are interested in real change as being a motivator to decide to whether or not participate in the electoral process of American Government are likely not interested in McCain because he is the same old bureaucratic politician that has disenfranchised the American Voter.
I still think the low turn out of voters for the GOP primary indicates that the Republicans aren’t very enthused about their choices. There are many active Republicans in my local committee who have stated that they would hold their nose if they had to vote for McCain.
The Libertarian fringe that scares people like you from considering a candidate like Ron Paul is not as bad an impact on your life as the ruinous policies and laws that will be enacted by a candidate like McCain, Obama, or Clinton.
Robert Lehman,
What “ruinous policies” has John McCain proposed?
Actually, while you might describe it as ruinous, I am in favor of doing something about healthcare as Hillary proposes. It does not have to be her prescription, but SOMETHING needs to be done.
Ron Paul represents (thankfully) the fringe of both our society and the Republican Party. Repbublicans are at least supposed to be the “family values” party and I find it hard to equate legalizing prostitution, drugs etc etc as being amongst those things that attracts me to the Repubican Party.
Little David,
Rather than ask me “what ruinous policies has McCain proposed”, I would ask, how has McCain as a senator worked to limit the role(s), size, and impact that the Federal Govt. has on individual American citizens’ quality of life?
Regarding health care:
I agree that something does need to be done. But why should the federal government be involved in the solution, when its current Medicare program and the DHHS only creates burdensome ineffeciencies that result in non-value added healthcare outcomes at a cost to taxpayers that is just not affordable in a free society? Why should the federal government play a part in citizen healthcare policy to the extent of forcing me as a taxpayer to pay for healthcare services for someone else who lives on the other side of the country and refuses to practice living a health lifestyle? Why should I pay for healthcare for someone with an unhealthy lifestyle (sedentarty poor diet and nutrition) who has high healthcare utilizaton due to their multiple comorbidities? A better solution is to pull the federal government out of the equation, which will lower spending and the tax rate, allowing more local, community based efforts to take root. The bureacracy and administrative costs that accompany a national healthcare plan makes it impossible to pay for, let alone deliver positive outcomes.
I agree that family values start at home. Cultural diversity cannot allow for homogeny of a core set of values to be rigidly followed though when not all people have traditional families to instill them.
Victimless activities like drug use and prostitution are made that much worse by making them criminal acts. I do not advocate doing drugs or paying for sex because of the personal health risks that such activities carry. But, so long as drug users and professional sex workers and johns don’t impact on my quality of life, why would I want to treat them as criminals and engender the problems associated with their having to get around the law to do what it is that they think they should be doing?
Why not outreach instead of criminalization as a means of looking at the problems associated with drug abuse and prostitution? The U.S. spends hundred of millions of tax dollars on criminal justice and correctional services. Why have we not seen a reduction in drug use and prostitution with all of the effort pured into addressing it? Making these activities illegal and locking up the citizens who partake in such does nothing for solving the problem.
Supporting candidates like Ron Paul is not all against addressing the problems of access to good healthcare services, healthy living, and family values. Unlike the majority of candidates who have already held tenured positions in government and have had their positions adopted, candidates like Ron Paul are ready to inject common sense into the vexing problems that face our society to which the federal government has done nothing but make worse rather than better.
Problems with Americans and healthy living, access to healthcare services, drug abuse, and prostitution are not independent symptoms that can be siloed into some linear policy solution. These are symptoms of a much sicker society that has been suffering for generations at the hands of government mismanagement, interference, and tampering in personal and private matters of citizens. The more that the government tries to contribute to citizen quality of life in these personal areas, the further and further we get at finding the solutions that are truly effective and sustainable in our free society.
Robert Lehman,
When it comes to America’s health care system, studies have been done that the current American Way provides that more is spent on healthcare with less results to show for it. Sobering thought isn’t it.
As for your arguments for legalizing prostitution and drug use. If we follow your argument to its conclusion, then we would be better off doing away with penal institutions and saving the money we spend on law enforcement. NOPE is what I say.
David, I agree that the return on our investment for health care expenditures is poor and indeed it is a sobering thought. More federal government intrusion and mandates will not make it better. I am a healthcare administrator and have worked in the field for 14 years.
I have worked in medical centers, home health care agencies, long term care, the correction healthcare industry, and in managed care.
I can tell you that none of the main players in the the equation (Providers serving patients and being paid by payors)realistically believe that federal government mandates which would require universal healthcare coverage is a good thing.
All report extreme dissatisfaction and overhead that has a huge devaluing effect in the cost benefit analysis. That, coupled with the inability to sustain taxpayer funding for such an ill-advised scheme pretty much makes universal healthcare a no brainer as a something to avoid at all costs if you want to really provide best value healthcare while making it sustainable in a free market environment.
ell you what, while we are at it, all Americans require food, shelter, and clothing to be able to live. The majority require cars to be able to get to work. We should immediately begin drafting policies for the federal government to provide these necessities to those Americans who don’t have them as well as providing universal healthcare.
This line of thinking that within a free society, our Federal Government enacts policies that it must provide for those who can’t provide for themselves is a tell tale sign that the people being governed are no longer free.
There are plenty of victim related crimes that require on going and reasonable public safety and criminal justice expenditures. So I am missing the logic in your conclusions that, we should shut down the penal system as a result of possibly decriminalizing drug use and prostitution as a means of decreasing the problems associated with it.
Robert,
I accept your input on what we should do. However I continue to accept the input of other societies that get more bang for the buck when it comes to health care. Do we need to completely follow their lead? No. However if we can not come up with a better way on our own, then let us follow the previously beaten trail that seems to be better then the path we have been following thus far.
As for your comment about crime safety? I was only responding to your (and Ron Paul’s) proposal. We can make the problem go away by just making the problem legal as you propose (Legalizing prostitution and drug usage.)
Little David,
The problems associated with drug abuse and prostituion won’t simply go away as a result of decriminalization.
If they were legal activities, they still would pose public and community health challenges, just like alcohol,the obesity epidemic, cigarette smoking, etc. Punishing people for victimless (albeit unhealthy) vices and locking them away in jails and prisons does nothing for doing away with the problem. The threat of imprisonment actually drives a wedge between those who want to help and the people they think who need it.
I hope you and other skeptics of Ron Paul would find that candidates like him are not all interested in creating a rampant drug culture or adding to the lasciviousness of American culture. We are simply interested in taking these issues out of the realm of the federal government, and allowing them to be worked out at the state and local level.
I have enjoyed our exchange today. Thanks for sharing.
I too thank you for the exchange.
I am closing with that in no manner does the Ron Paul Candidacy represent any measure of the direction that I think our nation needs to head towards.
Is there some truth? Yes. However I refuse to swallow the entire pill.
Long time Republican voter here. I’m also a Paulite. What you don’t understand is we are not trying to “take over” the party and destroy it. We are trying to steer it back to a place where it represents true conservatives. In VA, McCain WON. A man who supported welfare benefits and drivers licenses for illegal immigrants in his own state. A man who voted in December for a gun restriction that would deny any vet access to a gun if he/she has suffered or seemed to suffer from ptsd in the past 20 years.
Yes, you guys need us. You are infiltrated with corruption and it smells. We could all leave the party and leave it in total ruins or we can stay and you can work with us to return our govt to a Constitutional Republic like our forefathers planned. Your choice.
As a post script to the above exchange between Little David and me regarding the decriminalization of drug use – Here is briefing regarding the state funding of drug courts here in the Commonwealth.
It is difficult to deny the positive, and lasting effects that a non-correctional approach to dealing with illegal drug use has on community health. It is an all around better alternative to locking up offenders, from a treatment perspective, an economic perspective, and a family and community perspective.
Perhaps an expansion of the use of drug courts could be a compromise amongst differing opinioned parties as to a useful solution to the vexing problem of how to respond to the problem of a burgeoning chronic substance abuse population that is wasting away in jails and prisons at taxpayer expense. Read the brief below.
“These are tight budget times in Virginia, and one place the House of Delegates is scrimping in the next biennial budget is on drug courts. Doing so would be a false economy likely to cost state taxpayers more in the end.
House negotiators should restore the money during budget talks with senators to hash out a compromise 2008-10 state spending plan.
Charlottesville Daily Progress political columnist Bob Gibson drew public attention to a House Appropriations Committee cut of almost $6 million from 14 of Virginia’s 29 drug courts.
Gibson quoted committee member Watkins Abbitt, who said federal grants for the program had disappeared, and “It is one of the luxuries I don’t think we can afford.” He pointed out that judges can order drug offenders to get treatment as a requirement of probation.
But Virginia’s drug courts do much more.
Nonviolent addicts diverted to the drug court docket can avoid jail time by agreeing to treatment supervised by a judge, with increasingly severe sanctions attached for participants who slip up.
They have to be drug free for 12 months before graduating. A Virginia Tech study several years ago found that more than two-thirds of 261 participants did graduate, and only 7 percent reoffended.
The program proved its worth. Albemarle Sheriff J.E. “Chip” Harding argued in a letter to Abbitt: “Obviously, if an offender can overcome their addiction they are much less likely to commit not only a drug offense but other offenses that are typical of an offender trying to support a habit.”
The courts are not a luxury, but a cost-effective barrier against crime.
— The Roanoke Times”