At their last meeting the Jefferson County Republican Executive Committee voted to remove a sitting member, Chris Anders, one of two representative on the committee from the Shepherdstown Magisterial District. While there is some question as to whether or not they had the right to do this, there’s an even more important question - was it the right thing to do? What they did was to kick out a member of the committee that had won that seat in a taxpayer funded election.

In the bylaws of the JCREC there is a provision for the removal of a member. However, party executive committee members are duly elected as per the West Virginia state code §3-1-9. There is nothing in the code that provides for the removal of a duly elected committee member. In fact, with the exception of a very narrow provision for certain municipalities, recall of an elected official does not exist in West Virginia. According to Ballotpedia, “The right of recall in West Virginia does not extend to county officials”, not even School Board members.

Further, the JCREC also falls under the jurisdiction of the state party. There is nothing in the state GOP bylaws that provides for the removal of a committee member. Only officers. In the state bylaws there is a “Banishment Clause”, but that involves due process with evidence to be submitted. I suspect that would need to be done under the auspices of the state GOP. So the authority used by the JCREC to remove Anders only comes from its own bylaws, nowhere else. Not the state code, not the state GOP. I hope that the JCREC hasn’t done anything illegal.

Since his election in May, where he garnered 60% of the vote, Chris Anders has represented the Shepherdstown magisterial district on the JCREC. He is also West Virginia State Coordinator for Campaign for Liberty. For the record, some time back, I served briefly as county coordinator, but for various reasons decided that it wasn’t for me (maybe I should reconsider).

According to Anders, he acknowledges that he is viewed as outspoken and uncompromising. He asserts that C4L stands for constitutional principles, adding “my mission is to get public officials on the record and then to hold them to it. This is in fact what the West Virginia Republican platform says”. The issue that put him at odds with the other members of the JCREC stemmed from his proposal to adopt a resolution censuring the Jefferson County Commission for implementing the ambulance fee. Said Anders, “the ambulance fee is a tax increase, which is a violation of the Republican platform”. The committee tabled the resolution. Subsequently, Anders publicly criticized the decision.

According to JCREC chairman, Mike Ashley, what rankled him was that the public statements made by Anders “threatened to undermine the campaign of one of the candidates who also happens to be a member of the committee”. He added that Anders’ statements were “misleading and misrepresented the committee”. I asked him what formal charges were brought against Anders and was told there were none, that there didn’t need to be.

For his part, Anders stated, “My public statements were factual and accurate. How does fighting for Republican principles hurt Republican candidates?” adding that he had notified the committee in advance that he would be not able to attend the meeting. “I would have liked to have been there to defend myself”, he said. For my part, I was surprised that the committee went through with the vote as Ashley had indicated earlier in the week that it would not proceed if Anders wasn’t able to attend.

Former JCREC member, Todd Metzgar, who attended the meeting, called the committee’s actions “tyranny”. I wish that he were still on the committee. To my mind, it shows that the committee has little tolerance for criticism of its actions - especially public criticism. It would also appear that there is no policy in place in the bylaws regarding what constitutes grounds for removal. There were no formal charges made against Anders. Can the committee remove someone because they don’t like that person?

No matter what one might think of Anders, the so-called liberty movement or C4L for that matter, he was duly elected by the voters of the Shepherdstown Magisterial District. By the actions of the seven who voted to give him the boot, the JCREC is saying to voters that their vote has little or no meaning - even irrelevant. If the rest of the committee doesn’t like who you select, they will overrule you. Disenfranchising voters is not what a political party should be doing. When voters speak, the party should listen.

By comparison, the state GOP operates very differently - for now. Under the leadership of Conrad Lucas, at the state level, the GOP tent has become broad based and inclusive. I attended the state convention in Beckley from which the GOP party platform emerged. Input was encouraged, there was lively and sometimes contentious debate and from that open process came a platform that the party could rally around - and they did. Tolerance and deference were the order of the day. The openness that characterizes the state party has led to the success experienced by the GOP in West Virginia on November 4. If the party keeps it up, it could be successful for a long time.

Coming off its recent successes, one would think that the Jefferson County GOP would be looking to build on those gains. It is said that all politics is local. However, the more local it gets, the harder it is to fathom. I haven’t spoken to every member of the Jefferson County Republican Executive Committee, but everyone that I have spoken to so far about the Anders resolution has told me that they are for it - in principle.

Actions speak louder than words. There’s obviously something about this whole affair that I’m missing. Or, maybe that’s just politics. I hope not.