The Prince William County Board of Elections, which recently switched to Democratic control, has denied a request to allow several local Republicans – including Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart and Sheriff Glen Hill – to defend their seats in the June 9 primary.
In an emergency meeting Wednesday, the three-member board met to consider whether Stewart, Hill and supervisors Maureen Caddigan, Potomac; Pete Candland, Gainesville; and Marty Nohe, Coles, could defend their seats in the state-run primary — even though the local GOP committee missed a Feb. 24 deadline to make that request to the Virginia State Board of Elections.
The three-member board, which switched from Republican to Democratic control March 1, denied the request in a 2-to-1 party line vote.
This might not sound like a big deal if you are one of the folks who isn’t part of the party faithful, but I can assure you, it is.
This situation is just one of those things I am going to reserve judgement on, as far a fault-finding goes. It just seems a little bit too good to be true if you are an uber conservative Republican.
The trouble began when local Republican party chairman Bill Card failed to file the primary papers for the incumbents listed above. According to Virginia law, incumbents get choose how the run off takes place if someone from their own party challenges them in an election. Of course, any candidate with any sense would choose a primary because all registered voters can vote in a Virginia primary. Candidates pull in a lot of votes from Independents and even the opposite party if they have represented their constituents well.
If an incumbent doesn’t have a primary, then the run off becomes local in either a fire house primary or a convention. Either of those situations gets dicey for an incumbent because no one is allowed to vote in this special election but those who swear allegiance to the party or in this case, haven’t voted in a Democratic primary for 5 years. That pretty much kicks your independents right out of the voting booth.
The Democrats, of course, don’t want to let the Republicans off the hook because it is easier to win an election against a non-incumbent. They are probably all doing double flips over the situation.
What really gores my ox is the fact that people like me simply have no say in anything until the general election. I’m pretty sure I have voted in both democratic and republican primaries within the past 5 years. As for swearing allegiance, well….what are they going to do, send you to Vietnam?
The incumbents really got screwed. I wish I could get the odor of rat out of my mind, but I do smell a rat. I know that certain supervisors were targeted and arms were twisted for people to run against them. All of a sudden the challengers now have a much improved chance of winning and moving on to the general election.
The only fair thing to do is for the local Republican party to open up those fire house primaries to any registered voter and drop the 5 year rule. Bill Card created the problem. He needs to make it right–not just for the incumbents but also for the people out there who would like some say in their own government.
The Brentsville nominating contest should have been thrown out as well for not advertising it properly. Bill Card is 0-2. Unfortunately it may be time for him to step down.
The paperwork came in late – now they (incumbents) are suing for a Primary?? When Jacobs filed his paperwork late he was out. Why do incumbents think they should have any different treatment than others? If my tax payment is late I need to pay a penalty. I thought the RPV wanted no primaries?
Pat,
The local party is responsible for filing that paperwork. The incumbents did their part. All they needed to do was indicate their nominating contest to the local party chairman, Bill Card. Two completely different scenarios.
You are correct that RPV does not want primaries, however this is not their decision to make. It is left to the incumbents to pick the contest.
@Greg
Or so they thought. I never thought I would be on the side of Republican incumbents. I feel they got screwed out of what was their legal entitlement.
I hope they do take it to court, class action.
Actually, not true.
The incumbents did NOT “do their part.” They could have filed the paperwork themselves and if it was so important to them, why didn’t they?
From § 24.2-516.
“The requirement to notify the Board of the adoption of a direct primary shall be satisfied when the Board receives by the deadline (i) written notice from the appropriate party chairman or (ii) a copy of the written notice from an incumbent officeholder to his party chairman of the incumbent’s selection, pursuant to § 24.2-509, of the primary as the method of nomination. ”
Notice the “OR” part. The incumbents could have filed a copy of the written notice they sent Bill Card. They screwed themselves and need to step up and take responsibility and stop passing the buck. Poor character if you ask me.
That’s a pretty strong opinion there, GolfOCD. What do you feel isn’t true?
They notified the party chair according to law. You shouldn’t have to follow around behind adults and make sure that they have done what is their responsibility to do.
I understand that people are human and make mistakes. However, it seems that filing deadlines are the tool of the Republican party around here. I am curious as to your party affiliation. I am a democratic leaning Independent. I even think they got screwed. I rarely vote a straight ticket, especially locally. I have friends who are both Democrat and Republican. That’s how it should be locally where we know people.
Poor character? I think you are on shaky grounds there.
Yeah, GolfOCD. Thanks for citing the code for everyone’s reference. I disagree that representatives choosing to follow one of the provisions of the code rather than another is poor character. That’s a bit of a leap my friend. They followed the rule of law. Its pretty black and white which is evident in the section of the code that you posted. The party chairman typically does this. They had an agreement that he would take care of it. It did not get done.
I am curious if Golf is a republican who stands to gain from their plight or a democrat who stands to gain.
Acquisition by ill begotten fate has a certain amount of bad Karma in it.
First, I don’t gain anything. But I am someone who is following this closely and I am a Republican. I admit I have no love for Stewart or Nohe, but what I’m really trying to do here is come to the defense of Bill Card who I feel like is being thrown under the bus.
My point is that more than one person could have taken care of this, could have ensured that it gets done and they didn’t and now they are blaming one guy, which I don’t think is fair. That’s the character part I was referring to, not taking responsibility. I also admit that I’m upset by this whole thing and there was a bit of anger in that first post. (which is usually never a good idea)
To your point about following around adults, when someone is a VOLUNTEER, a non-paid person (which Bill is), you do have to follow them around. I know he signed up for the gig, but he has a life also and there are more things going on in his life than just being the Chairman that most people will never know.
Love him or hate him, Bill does try very hard and has only the best intentions for the party and for the county.
Golf, I don’t know Mr. Card but I have heard very pleasant things about him. Yes, he is a volunteer and also a human being. The failure to file is only part of the story. I don’t hold the incumbents responsible. If you think you have reported to the right person, then I don’t think that it is a character flaw..
It is my understanding that deals have been cut left and right by the most unlikely of alliances. Let’s look at this objectively. Who stands to gain from all this? Very conservative Republicans and Democrats.
Which Republicans are trying to be king makers? Which Democrats are trying to do their own king making? I have friends in both parties. Let’s look at the local election board. They are supposed to leave their politics at the door. Odd–the vote was 2 -1. Odd 2 democrats to 1 R.
I connected the dots. I hope others will too and start demanding some answers. Like I said, Mr. Card is a human being and we humans make mistakes. Funny how the jackals have run in to take advantage of the situation.
I forgot to say thanks for explaining your concerns. Good for you for sticking up for a friend.
Absolutely agree. Bill is a great guy and very capable. He is not being thrown under the bus though. He has owned the mistake and admitted that it was his fault that this was not accomplished. Just as Bill has a life, so do the elected officials. They navigate through 2 full time jobs plus family life. Part of the responsibility of being Chairman is fulfilling your commitments to elected officials. This is the arrangement the group worked out for better or worse. I think that Bill’s comments are pretty clear that he is solely responsible for the mishap though.
“Edgardo Cortes, head of Virginia’s Department of Elections, said the Prince William County Republican Committee filed paperwork requesting primary elections for the supervisors about 36 hours after the Feb. 24 deadline.
Consequently, “the state board of elections has not ordered a primary in Prince William County for the Republican Party,” Cortes said.
Several Republican officials said that Bill Card, chairman of the county GOP, has apologized repeatedly for the lapse.”
““I must tell you I’ve thought about that,” Card said. “About the time you get arrogant and prideful, God has a way of cleaning that up.”
Card says he feels especially burdened in this situation, however, because his actions have affected the election choices of several incumbents.
Still, he said he feels confident the local electoral board, though now run by the opposing party, would decide in the candidates’ favor.
“I think given the opportunity to do the right thing, they’ll do the right thing,” Card said Monday. “This isn’t a Republican or Democrat thing, it’s a right and wrong thing.””
The problem is, they didn’t do the right thing. That’s a huge problem not only for the incumbents but also for citizens who might want a little say so in who runs for office. For example, I expect I might be ineligible to vote in a Republican firehouse convention or a convention of any sort. I vote mixed.
Republicans ought to start thinking about how they need us Independents to win elections. I will support normal Republicans. I wont support the batsh!t crazy ones. If the wannabe king makers get one of the Ubers in during this upheaval, I absolutely will be writing in or voting Democratic.
Now, with things in an uproar, I believe that just about anyone can now slide in and challenge. Hmmmmm…I have a couple people in mind.
This hardly seems like a “character” issue. It instead seems like real inside local GOP baseball, albeit with some potential from doing harm to the voters as a whole. The “character” issue for Stewart was decided several years ago in my mind with his demagoguery on the immigration issue. It from time to time appears that perhaps he has outgrown that (or that the issue just played itself out and he made a judgment that it had no further utility for him). People do change, sometimes even for the better.