Shocking

How the heck is this not illegal?

BVBL has been on this story for a while, but it is so appalling that it deserves more attention.

Tom Kopko is Chairman of the Prince WIlliam Republican Committee.  As Chairman of that committee Tom and ONLY Tom gets to select the Legislative District Chairs for each district in his county.

He chose himself in the 51st District:  After he had been paid by a candidate seeking the nomination.

As Legislative District Chair, Tom and ONLY TOM gets to decide on the method of nomination.  I repeat- he appointed himself to decide on how to nominate a candidate- after one candidate had already PAID him.

Tom and ONLY TOM decided on a convention- which as legislative chairman all appeals would be required to come to him to decide.

Then Tom and ONLY TOM was able to decide on filing deadlines.  He chose the earliest deadlines in the entire state- forcing candidates to file for a June convention in January.

But what was made this truly awful was when the convention he was responsible for as Chair turned into a day long nightmare with more votes being cast then Delegates in some precincts- who did the appeal go to?  Tom and ONLY TOM.

After sitting on the appeal for 2 months until it would be too late to do anything, Tom AND ONLY TOM finally issued a ruling denying the appeal.

So let's review

1)  Faisal Gill pays Tom Kopko
2)  Tom Kopko appoints himself legislative Chair in that district
3)  Tom Kopko chooses a convention, which he is then as Chairman in charge of keeping fair
4)  Tom Kopko sets the filing deadline early to keep other candidates out
5)   Convention is full of irregularities and Faisal Gill wins
6)  Julie Lucas' appeal is required to go to Tom Kopko
7)  Tom Kopko sits on the appeal for over two months (to subvert appeals to anyone else) and then rules in favor of Faisal Gill.

At this point there is no question that Faisal Gill is an illegitimate nominee. 

My question is- why is this activity not illegal?  Shouldn't someone who has subverted democracy be put in prison? 

This is disgusting, and we obviously need new election laws to make sure this never happens again.

Comments

[George Templeton]

Well when Gill loses in the general, hopefully Lucas will run for that seat in 2009.
Of course with people like this running county committees, it is no wonder the GOP is struggling lately in this state.
I wonder if anyone in next year's General Assembly will focus on this because it doesn't seem to happen too often on the Democratic side and the Republicans wouldn't want to spotlight this incident, so they might
ignore it too.

Lucas, nor anyone else ever filed a complaint with the Commonwealth's Attorney's office. Thus they can't investigate any corruption or fraud that may have taken place in this case until a complaint is made.

Sounds like the GOP dicked itself over by not putting a little more forethought into their by-laws.

[Not A.E. Dick Howard]

Non-primary party nomination contests are governed by parties, and state governments don't have much excuse to interfere with them. They're internal process, not even funded by the state.

The only legal complaint would be a violation of 14th Amendment due process, but the Republican State Party Plan has an appeals process that satisfies procedural due process requirements. There are appeals after the legislative district level: to the congressional district, then to the state party.

The only constitutionally sound way for the state to interfere is to require parties to nominate by primary, and that certainly isn't going to be considered until the fate of the open primary lawsuit is definitively known.

[James Young]

No. 2 is actually No. 1, Ben. Kopko didn't select himself: the unit Chairman is District Chairman by virtue of the Party Plan, a virtual committee of one. Soooo, no scandal there.

Gill paid Kopko (No. 1) before anyone else announced. Advisable? Perhaps not. But we have the benefit of hindsight. Sooooo, no scandal there.

Kopko has always advocated, as a matter of principle, conventions as the process for choosing GOP nominees for open seats (No. 4). Sooooo, no scandal there.

10th District GOP Chairman ALWAYS selects an early filing date (No. 4) to protect his posterior, yet his supporters (many of whom are also Lucas supporters) never complain. Sooooo, no scandal there.

"Full of irregularities" (No. 5)? Hardly. Only as seen by those who couldn't get enough voters out to win and those, like you, who are partisan Democrats. And nothing they were willing to challenge lawfully. Sooooo, no scandal there.

Appeal required to go to Kopko (No. 6). Again, by virtue of the provisions of the Party Plan. Sooooo, no scandal there.

Kopko sat on the appeal for two months (No. 7) because: (a) he was waiting for reports from observers who dithered (imagine the outcry if he had ruled --- as he could have --- on the technical deficiencies in the appeal without ensuring that the irregularities amounted to anything); and (b) [probably] because he has a life.

You're confusing "spin" with "scandal," Ben.

Jumping into your partisan mode a little early, huh, Ben?

[Not Larry Sabato]

James, can you quote the exact part of the Republican Party Plan that says Kopko must appoint himself?

[James Young]

Glad you asked, Ben.

Most relevantly, Article III, Section E(1) of the PWC Party Plan (authored by yours truly), specifically provides that "The Chairman shall represent the jurisdiction on the ... the Legislative District Committee ... in which the Chairman resides."

What makes the "Committee" a committee of one is Article V, Section A(1) of the RPV Party Plan, which provides in pertinent part that "The membership of each Legislative District Committee shall consist of the Unit Chairman of each Unit wholly or partially in the Legislative District, subject to the provisions of Article VI, Section E" You can see it here: http://www.rpv.org/plan.html#5/

Article VI, Section E, provides in pertinent part that "Whenever a Unit is divided between two (2) or more Congressional or Legislative Districts the Chairman of such Unit Committee shall serve as the Unit representative on the Congressional or Legislative District Committee encompassing his residence." Notice the "shall serve" language.

[Not Larry Sabato]

James, if he is required to be his local legislative chair- isn't that more reason to not take money from a candidate for that position before the filing deadline?

[James Young]

As I said "Gill paid Kopko (No. 1) before anyone else announced. Advisable? Perhaps not. But we have the benefit of hindsight." 'Fact is, my recollection is that there was very little, if any, information that anyone else was interested in the seat. McQuigg herself did a fundraiser for the race as late as mid-November.

BTW, Julie paid twice as much to 11th District Chairman Becky Stoeckel's publishing company. I doubt that you saw too much about that on BVBL, and if you're relying on him for your information (compare his comments about the appeal with what the actual ruling was), you've made a serious error.

Standing alone though --- and it does stand alone, since the rest is contrived --- this is hardly damning.

[James Young]

And perhaps, in light of the facts, you should change your title to "Contrived."

[Not Jack Herrity]

Not A.E. hit the nail right on the head. If it's an internal party process the state is outta luck. Dumb move on Kopko's part, but perfectly legal under the Party Plan.

NJH

[Clean it up in '07]

"the unit Chairman is District Chairman by virtue of the Party Plan, a virtual committee of one. Soooo, no scandal there".

That's not quite right. It's allowed, but NOT required as James Young's statement implies. It's also pretty darn slimy when you appoint yourself a committee of 1 in a leg. district when you "just happen to be" a paid consultant to one of the candidates in a very hotly contested nomination battle.

The result is the GOP is split on even supporting the bogus nominee Gill with most just so disgusted that they are sitting this one out now. Put the Nichols race in the D pick-up column thanks to Kopko, Young and their ilk.

You can put that one in the bank!

[Clean it up in '07]

"the unit Chairman is District Chairman by virtue of the Party Plan, a virtual committee of one. Soooo, no scandal there".

That's not quite right. It's allowed, but NOT required as James Young's statement implies. It's also pretty darn slimy when you appoint yourself a committee of 1 in a leg. district when you "just happen to be" a paid consultant to one of the candidates in a very hotly contested nomination battle.

The result is the GOP is split on even supporting the bogus nominee Gill with most just so disgusted that they are sitting this one out now. Put the Nichols race in the D pick-up column thanks to Kopko, Young and their ilk.

You can put that one in the bank!

"Non-primary party nomination contests are governed by parties, and state governments don't have much excuse to interfere with them. They're internal process, not even funded by the state."

This is not an entirely true statement. Internal party nomination contests are governed by the Voting Rights Act. And in Virginia that also means that all methods and procedures must be pre-cleared. The "party" loves for the regular citizen to think that it's all just governed by internal rules, and it is NOT.

"Fact is, my recollection is that there was very little, if any, information that anyone else was interested in the seat. McQuigg herself did a fundraiser for the race as late as mid-November."

Therein lies part of the problem - your "recollection". You don't recollect correctly. Lucas had been rumored as a likely candidate for months - and it even made the blogs as such.

Regardless of whether or not Kopko "thought" (there's an oxymoron for ya') there wouldn't be another candidate - he had no way of knowing that for a fact. At the least, he's an idiot for taking money before the deadline.

I wish I was a voter in that district. I'd just throw a Federal Civil Rights lawsuit at Kopko just for sh_ts and giggles. Then when my lawyers subpoena all his bank records we could have so much fun digging through it to potentially find out just how many shady payments he has been taking to rig conventions. What a blast it would be.

[Loudoun Insider]

The cicumstances behind Kopko's payment are even stranger. It was first reported by the Gill campaign that Kopko was paid $1,000 for "consulting" services. Then for some reason it was amended to $2,000 for "website design". Apparently these are not activities for which Kopko is routinely compensated for. That's what makes this so stinky. Becky Stoeckel's business is printing and numerous candidates use her firm. This whole episode is just unbelievable in its audacity.

James Young really should read Article V, Section B-
"the Legislative District Committee shall meet and elect a Legislative District Chairman... He may be one of the Unit Chairmen, but shall not otherwise be entitled to vote solely by virtue of holding said office." Read a big fat MAY as to whether a unit chair is leg. district chair... plenty of districts have and previously have had a non-unit chair as district chair. But who wants an extra hand or set of eyes in/on the process?

[Not A.E. Dick Howard]

Anonymous at 4:46 wrote: "Internal party nomination contests are governed by the Voting Rights Act. And in Virginia that also means that all methods and procedures must be pre-cleared. The 'party' loves for the regular citizen to think that it's all just governed by internal rules, and it is NOT."

Under Morse, which was a fragmented decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, parties are state actors for the purposes of the Voting Rights Act and decisions relating to party nominations must be precleared. However, assuming as we must (though it may not be true) that Morse would be treated deferentially under stare decisis, preclearance under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is a process overseen by the United States Attorney General or the United States District Court for the District of Columbia--not the state. Anonymous at 4:46's criticism of my 12:25 post is incorrect.

[James Young]

As I said, Article III, Section E(1) of the PWC Party Plan (authored by yours truly), is most relevant, and specifically provides that "The Chairman shall represent the jurisdiction on the ... the Legislative District Committee ... in which the Chairman resides." Kopko was REQUIRED to be on the committee, by virtue of that provision. And that provision was written a good 15 years before this issue ever arose.

The only authority to appoint other committee members also rests with Kopko, who chose not to pad the committee --- in my experience, in districts within a single jurisdiction, such committees are ALWAYS committees of one --- with other appointees. And BTW, contrary to "Clean it up in '07's" intimation, Kopko was district chairman long before McQuigg decided to run for Clerk of Courts, and there WAS a race for the GOP nomination.

"such committees are ALWAYS committees of one"

That statement is ABSOLUTELY false. In addition, Kopko had an ethical duty to "pad" the committee with other people since he was going to do something as stupid as pocket two grand from a campaign while holding BOTH the 51st Chair and PWC GOP Chair.

[James Young]

As other district chairs have written (and ascribed their names thereto), Anon 9:57, being paid for services may not be typical, but it is hardly unusual or stupid. And I'll take such comments seriously when: (a) you sign your name to them; and (b) you give as much space to demanding that 11th District Chair Becky Stoeckel stop "pocket[ing]" money from campaigns within her jurisdiction, since controversies may arise therein. That is apparently your "standard," such as it is.

[James Young]

BTW, you declare my statement --- actually, a reflection of "experience" and recollection, which may be flawed --- to be "ABSOLUTELY false." Kindly provide us with examples which prove it to be so. Or is that simply your opinion?

"Anonymous at 4:46's criticism of my 12:25 post is incorrect."

I was disputing your implication that noone stood above the state party and its plan. Every movement related to elections and nominations by the local party is governed by the FEDERAL voting rights act. I thought it was a GIVEN that the voting rights act was federal.

My point - there IS indeed a higher power governing these shenanigans. It's NOT all inside baseball like the local leaders constantly imply.

Only a lackey could assert with a straight face that there is any comparison between Kopko taking a $2000 payment for services rendered in a field in which he does not work and in which he has ZERO track record and Stoeckel receiving payment AT HER COMPANY for printed materials - a business she has been in for many years and for dozens of candidates.