28th Senate District

The John Chichester crowd which seemed to have control over the method of nomination to replace him through Stafford GOP Chairman Bob Hunt's control of the 28th District Republican Committee has made a major error that will probably result in a very conservative nominee for his seat.  Hunt had controlled this seat through the Republican Party Plan that allocates votes by percentage of county involved- so he had 58% of the votes for any decision (giving him total control).  But he blew it.

Here's the basic story:

Feb. 16th there was a meeting of the 28th District Republican Committee.  Since the vote is allocated by county, Stafford's GOP Chairman Bob Hunt had 58% of the votes.  So while other members could speak, Hunt had total control over the results of the meeting.

Since Chichester was still running at this point, what was being discussed was the rules of the method of nomination. Since Chichester as the incumbent could dictate the method (primary) the committee was passing a resolution to the rules of that primary.  Basically it would allow any voters who voted in the 2005 Republican Primary for Governor to participate.  Any voters who voted in the 2005 or 2006 Democratic Primaries would have to sign a strongly worded form that they were switching parties and becoming a Republican, while voters who had not participated in any of those primaries would have to sign a slightly different form pledging their support for the nominee of the election.

Hunt used his control of the meeting to tear the resolution apart and started taking all the meat out of the resolution, basically leaving it as a totally open primary like Virginia always has.  However, after a lot of discussion Hunt allowed some provisions on closing the primary to stay, but weakened the statements voters would have to sign.  At the end of the resolution it stated if Chichester retired a convention would be held to replace him.  This passed 85%-15% with Hunt casting his 58% in favor and a couple conservatives voting "No", angry over the new language.

A discussion came up about disassociating Chichester from the party- that failed with 10% Yes, 75% No and 15% Abstaining.  Obviously Hunt voted "No".  Had the motion passed, this would have prevented Chichester from running again.

On Feb. 23rd, a new brief was filed in the court case going on regarding open primaries, where the Attorney General's office gave options for parties other than an open primary for incumbents.  Legislative Chair Russ Moulton attempted to call a meeting to discuss once against disassociating from Chichester.  Hunt said he wasn't prepared to vote on that, and since he controlled 58% of the vote, the rest of the committee agreed to cancel the upcoming meeting.

When Chichester then retired last week, Hunt was unprepared as today was the filing deadline for having a primary with the State Board of Elections.  Moulton had filed for a convention when Chichester announced his retirement on Monday- and it wasn't until Saturday (4 days ago) that Hunt attempted to call a meeting to reconsider the resolution and have an open primary.  Because meetings are required to have 7 days notice the Hunt meeting called for the next day was considered a "rogue" meeting, and the convention was method of nomination filed over Hunt's objection by the deadline today. 

Had Hunt been ready, he would have had the week's notice on Monday when Chichester retired and could have picked any nomination method he wanted, with himself writing the rules.

This gives a conservative candidate a huge leg up for the nomination, and obviously Hunt and other moderates are livid.  More on who is running and how this impacts the candidates tomorrow!

Developing...

Comments

MRW?

[eileen]

MRW? No way! Albert Pollard? This is fun. Ooooo, Ben....

[George Templeton]

So how long will you tease us on this one?

[rodger provo]

When will this item be posted?

Albert Pollard will not be running!!! Focus your energies elsewhere and let the man be!

[eileen]

Hey, I'm still holding out for Al Gore. Let a girl have her dreams, okay?

Besides, I think Ben's talking 'bout a GOPper here with this big news. Nuts...

[Not Bill Howell]

As I posted on the Ingram report before this one came up, Pollard now IS running, and the choice of a GOP convention may have a lot to do with why. Moderate Wittman will now have an uphill battle for the nod, and the ensuing Pollard-Van Hoy contest will see massive defections to the Democrat by Chichester loyalists. JC has a lot of respect for Pollard and none for Van Hoy.

[eileen]

Good night. Happy dreams of tomorrow!

[George Templeton]

Excellent work NLS. Is the 28th Senate District now a tossup if Van Hoy gets the nomination?

not a chance, if Van Hoy wins the nomination it might be a little closer but he should win handily as well.

[J. Sarge]

Does Hunt still have a 58% vote when it comes to drafting the rules of the convention, or have the rules been set? Seems like there may still be a lot of play here . . .

[Not Larry Sabato]

J Sarge- EXCELLENT question which I was going to address in the candidate post tomorrow.

Yes he does, but the RPV party plan obviously has some guidelines he has to follow. So total control of what can be controlled.

[Not Larry Sabato]

George, I'm unable to confirm if Albert is running. IF he is- the race will go from Likely GOP to Leans GOP- but its not a tossup yet. Rating would be re-evaulated after the GOP picks a nominee.

The biggest way to avoid suprises the day of the convention is pre-filing and deciding beforehand the method of contesting delegates( can it be done at the county commitee level or the 28th committee level?)

[rodger provo]

I think there is concern in the 28th relative to what deal did John VanHoy cut with Russ Moulton to get his support.

JC enjoys a great deal of moderate independent GOP support in the 28th.

The Fredericksburg area gets
no help from Bill Howell's transportation plan.

I think the race is Albert Pollard's to win given the failure of the GOP far right wing agenda to meet the needs of the voters.

[Cory Chandler]

It is my understanding that Russ Moulton is chairman both of the 1st Congressional and 28th Senatorial District Republican Committees. To be clear, Russ Moulton filed for a convention in his capacity as chairman of the latter. The Congressional District chair has no authority to file the paperwork with the SBE in that capacity; only the legislative district chairman does. Not Larry Sabato has this correct, but some other blogs have missed the distinction.

Mr. Hunt's first mistake was electing Mr. Moulton chairman of the 28th Senatorial District Republican Committee. I wonder whether there's been any thought of removing Mr. Moulton as SDRC chair. It would take 30 days and a 2/3s vote. (On the other hand, I wonder if there's been any movement on removing Mr. Hunt from the Stafford chairmanship, putting that 58% vote back in play.)

[bwana]

MRW?

No, no... M.R.Ducks, not W

sorry, couldn't resist ;-)

[veronica corningstone]

Moulton took over the S28 nominating committee to 1)remove Chichester from office and 2) get the most extreme right wing candidate possible for the seat. He packed the committee 7 to 1.

There has definitely been movement to take down Hunt. Van Hoy is former SRC Chair, so I'm betting Moulton clears the way for Van Hoy's nomination and Van Hoy helps Moulton remove Hunt (a relatively reasonable Rep)and replace with the wacko du jour.

These folks are selling their souls to the devil.

[Not Bill Howell]

Hunt opposed the two bond referenda that went down in Stafford last fall, to the chagrin of the county's three GOP supervisors (who want to spend money on roads, not schools). So he is vulnerable.

[Riley, Not O'Reilly]

The bottom line is, the Chichester crew screwed up. Chichester himself waited too long to announce his retirement. His supporters waited too long to call for a meeting to request a primary. His supporters requested a primary after the state deadline for doing so had passed. They have no one but themselves to blame, but they will contine to whine nonetheless about how unfair it is that their own incompetence did them in.

[rodger provo]

I think we are watching the
Virginia GOP embark on a
campaign this year to purge
moderate, middle of the road
elected officials.

Their goal is to be a
conservative, right-wing
political party.

This process reminds me of
what the Democrats did to
themselves 30 years.

But will today's Dems be
smart enough to field
candidates that will draw
moderate GOP's and our
independents, who may now
represent 40% of the voters?

[veronica corningstone]

Ah, the circular firing squad. I love the smell of gunpowder in the morning!

Face it, you drove a good man out of government to appease a bunch of extremists that you should never have invited to the party in the first place.

Blame Chichester all you want, but he held that seat for the Rs for 29 years with bipartisan support. Van Hoy is not going to go over well with a lot of moderates.

[GhostofAlexanderHamilton]

It will be interesting if Pollard runs and wins. When he appeared before the House GOP caucus in February he was asked if he would run for the Senate. He had been a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment in the House so he has friends in the caucus. He told the GOP, "I will be more conservative that John Chichester." Great!

[eileen]

Does Pollard run as a Dem or an Independent?

Democrat