Here’s the latest batch, this time from Wayne Ozmore:
Update on the GOP slating that took place in Craig County, VA:
THE FACTS: Jordan Laboisa–the sitting Chair of the Craig County GOP–conducted, approved, and oversaw the slating of GOP convention delegates yesterday in Craig County. Jordan Laboisa is also on the Susan Stimpson for Lt. Gov. payroll—confirmed through VPAP. Twelve people filed to be delegates to the upcoming RPV State Convention and the the Stimpson campaign slated the 3 people off who did not support Stimpson. Two of the three supported Steve Martin for Lt. Gov. and the other one supported Scott Lingamfelter for Lt. Gov. Each name was voted on individually by secret ballot where you have to select a box (yes or no). You had to get an unanimous vote to be a delegate. Jordan was head of the credentials and the nominated committee at the Craig County Mass Meeting. Sadly, these three Craig county Republicans will be unable to cast a vote for the candidate of their choice at the upcoming RPV Convention courtesy of the Stimpson campaign for Lt. Gov. Unreal…..
Translation:
(1) Stimpson staffers are encouraging “slating” (or more accurately, credentialing only Stimpson supporters)
(2) Unit chairs are on the payroll executing this strategy
(3) …and now good Republicans will be alienated by effectively 1/7th of the rest of the ballot.
Interestingly enough, only JMDD performs more poorly than Stimpson in terms of those whom people least want to see nominated as Lieutenant Governor.
Already other LG campaigns are chiming in that such activities are becoming systemic, worrying, and real.
Longtime Republican political operator and former RPV political director Richard Crouse sums it up thusly:
The party plan does not touch upon slating. I thought we were supposed to “grow” the party but I guess not. Everyone should be allowed to go to the convention unless they are democrat or sign/say the pledge…. There is no old guard and new guard only republican. If this happened to Martin and Lingamfelter then it is only a matter of time before it happens to the other candidates… And it begins….
Can the duo of Stewart and Stimpson really fend off all the other five candidates?
UPDATE: Quick backgrounder from Ozmore:
When I introduced the resolution to remove/ban the practice of Instruction in 2001, removing the practice of slating was also contained within my initial resolution. It was kept in at the request of a few party activists and one elected official as a means to only slate off Democrats trying to infiltrate our nomination process….to be used for that purpose only though unstated in the rules. However, given recent events, the time has come to ban the practice of slating with specific language
True.
UPDATE x2: Unit chair in question claims that the individuals booted were known Democrats, the veracity of which hinges on whether or not we have a “Democrats for Martin” or “Democrats for Lingamfelter” contingent.
Anyone else buying that? Me neither…
…and keep in mind this individual works for Stimpson. Interesting they would single out these two campaigns and their supporters.
UPDATE x3: From a source familiar with the incident:
This was an old guard vs. new guard mentality. But you don’t make that comment… there’s no establishment vs. challenger. You can’t have that mentality as a unit chair.
Seems as if members of the “old guard” were the old unit committee members.
This gets back to an old question. Should unit and district committee chairmen really be employed by campaigns?
UPDATE x4: …and now the story has legs. Justin Higgins with JHPolitics cracks the story wide open:
The major issue is, there was no motion made to use this type of methodology in selecting delegates. Under Robert’s Rules, the slate of delegates would receive an up or down vote, unless otherwise indicated by the Call for the Mass Meeting. You can see that Craig County’s Call has no such language. To “slate” delegates, a motion would’ve had to been made to remove the other delegates from the list, then that motion would’ve had to have been voted upon. This did not happen.
Labiosa engineered an illegal “slating” using a method that does not exist under Robert’s Rules. The shunned members of the committee have all right to challenge the delegate roll submitted by Craig County, as they were removed in this manner. If you’re going to “slate”, Jordan, you might want to learn how to do it properly.
Talk about throwing down the gauntlet.
Ouch.
UPDATE x5: So here’s an interesting thought — what does Ken Cuccinelli think about all of this?
Here’s the problem. Bill Bolling announces on March 14th, and when he does, will he walk into a sea of former convention attendees that were booted off due to slating? How does this slating of perceived moderates old guard establishment non-Susan Stimpson supporters help either the eventual Attorney General nominee much less Ken Cuccinelli?
Shouldn’t we be trying to grow the party rather than… um… exclude?
UPDATE x6: An enfeebling response… and this is how it starts:
First, the Stimpson campaign was not involved.
…except that the unit chair in question is a paid staffer. Of the Stimpson campaign. Strike 4,326 guys…
UPDATE x7: I’ve received a lot of e-mails from across the Commonwealth about folks deeply concerned about efforts to slate delegates in the convention. A handful of folks (truly… 4 by my count) are attempting to defend this wild and unethical activity by the Stimpson campaign.
Justin Higgins again calls them out:
Labiosa and other Stimpson staffers have attempted to defend the methodology and argued that it doesn’t involve “slating” for their candidate, but that’s really an aside to the real issue at hand.
The delegates rejected by Labiosa’s underhanded scheme never had a chance to defend themselves.
I find it highly ironic that Labiosa, who considers himself a libertarian and in recent days has been an outspoken proponent of Rand Paul, would deny these potential delegates the right to speak for themselves. It’s the interparty equivalent of a 5th Amendment right, and if Labiosa had used a legal methodology for electing delegates, they would have had time to make their case. That case was denied. (emphasis added)
Boom.
UDPATE x8: Quick folks! What’s the first rule of getting out of a hole?
It’s to stop digging… and unfortunately, the Stimpson campaign seems to be calling in a backhoe.
From the Stimpson campaign political director, Amanda Chase:
First, the Craig County mass meeting was run by Stuart Bain from Salem, not Jordan Labiosa, the Craig County Chair. All other temporary officers were either neutral or supporting other Lieutenant Governor campaigns. All decisions made at this meeting were made by the 27 voting members of the Craig County Republican Committee. 26 votes were cast.
This is the same Stuart Bain who ran against Rep. Bob Goodlatte as a Libertarian in 2010, who according to the rules presumptively enforced, would not have qualified to be a delegate to the convention.
Susan respects the determinations of local Republicans at mass meetings to decide who they will send as delegates to the State Convention. However, I want to reiterate her long-standing and adamant opposition to slating. Anyone who properly pre-files under the party plan and meets the qualifications should be accepted as a delegate. Yesterday we learned that 3 delegate applicants were voted down by a distinguishably different margin indicating no clear slate was present. This was a decision made by the committee members and not that of our campaign. The temporary officers running the mass meeting were notStimpson (sic) supporters and the majority of the delegates elected were not Stimpson delegates.
Except that the temporary chairs for both the nominations and credentials committees? Were none other than Stimpson regional co-ordinator and Craig County GOP chair Jordan Labiosa himself.
Ouch.
