Sixth District Appeal Filed With RPV Over Controversial $30,000 Motion
A 45-page appeal has been filed with the Republican Party of Virginia’s State Central Committee on behalf of the Sixth Congressional Republican District.
The appeal is seeking to overturn a motion that was passed by allies of former chairman Scott Sayre who remain in power on the district committee. By appropriating up to $30,000 for the legal defense of committee members who have had multiple charges leveled against them, the motion could drain the Committee’s bank account during a pivotal congressional race.
The RPV governing body will hear the appeal at their next meeting.
The Sixth District went through a tumultuous spring as information surfaced exposing questionable practices, some that resulted in FEC complaints (see here, here, and here).
At the May 19, 2018, Sixth Congressional District Republican convention, Scott Sayre, who had served two years as district chairman but saw his leadership mired in controversy, was soundly defeated when delegates overwhelmingly elected Jennifer Brown with 59 percent of the vote.
A month after the convention, newly elected Chairman Brown called together leaders in the Sixth for her first quarterly district meeting. Approximately two-thirds of those present were hostile members consisting of area unit chairs and representatives still loyal to the recently unseated Sayre.
Armed with a surprise motion carried by Waynesboro Republican chairman and Sayre ally Ken Adams, the plan would drain available funds up to $30,000 from the district’s bank account, a move that would leave Brown with approximately $3,000 for 2018 campaigns and day-to-day committee expenses. Most, if not all, had backed Cynthia Dunbar as the GOP Congressional nominee, and not Delegate Ben Cline who won the nomination.
Blindsiding both Brown and the one-third of the committee who supported her, the motion passed, setting in motion a backlash and series of appeals to salvage the Sixth’s financial footing.
After a July 5 appeal to the Sixth District Committee was batted down by the same Sayre loyalists who had originally voted for the motion, the follow-up appeal has now been filed with RPV. Some highlights from the appeal are:
- Warren County GOP Chairman Stephen Kurtz stated “the bylaws do not overrule the vote of the Committee, a blatant disregard for the Party Plan.
- Ken Adams’ motion to allocate up to $30,000 for legal defense violated Sixth District bylaws.
- Voting to retain Bopp Law Firm as the Committee’s representative is a violation of the Party Plan.
- The vote to appoint Ken Adams and Matt Fitzgerald as the Committee’s sole representatives to Bopp Law Firm represented a clear conflict of interest and violated the Sixth District bylaws.
- Matt Fitzgerald’s proxy on June 23 violated the Party Plan.
These issues and others are presented in the appeal to State Central Committee. Read the entire appeal below.
Craig Storrs Appeal State Central Committee Sixth District by Brian W. Schoeneman on Scribd
