Audio from weekend WVGOP meetings raises more questions about chairman selection
Trending
CHARLESTON -- As lawmakers consider making changes to state party executive committees, questions remain about two votes held last week to choose a new chairperson of the West Virginia Republican Party.
According to a review of audio from last Saturday's West Virginia Republican Party Executive Committee winter meeting in Charleston, the vote for Raleigh County Republican Executive Committee Chairman Mark Harris and former state party chairman Conrad Lucas ended in a tie 56-56 vote with one member abstaining.
Saturday's meeting had 113 members and proxy votes, with only two proxy votes allowed per member present. The secretary who counted the roll call vote had Harris with 57 votes and Lucas with 55 votes. Questions were raised by Berkeley County REC Chairman and Senate President Craig Blair about the vote total after several committee members had different vote totals from the secretary.
"I'm only interested in accurate results," Blair said. "Our results did not match what you presented to these people here … this was a neck-and-neck race all the way to the end."
A number of committee members called for a recount. Terry Campo, an attorney from Washington, D.C., brought in by the state party to act as parliamentarian and chairman pro tem for Saturday's vote, called for the secretary to read back each member's vote, but there was not a list.
"I am informed that the names of how everybody voted was not recorded," Campo said, calling for a motion to recount the total.
"Since it was not on the record who voted for who, I would like a recount," said committee member and Del. Joshua Higginbotham, R-Putnam, speaking in favor of the motion.
"It appears to me, and I certainly don't know what the count was, but I have plenty of faith," said Del. Marty Gearheart, R-Mercer, speaking against the motion. Gearheart was the proxy for committee member and Del. Joe Ellington, R-Mercer. "We've never had a recount before … I see no reason for that to be recounted … as far as I'm concerned, a vote has been taken, a vote has been counted, and we have a winner. We should move forward."
After the motion for a recount failed, a new motion for a second roll call vote was approved with a representative from each candidate standing with the secretary as each member was called again for their selection. Also, four state committee vice chairs were prohibited from voting for the second vote due to bylaws changes that prevent appointed vice chairs from voting on committee business.
"In our bylaws, it does not allow for the vice chairs to vote," Blair said. "What I'm trying to do is to make sure everyone is aware that when we have a roll call vote when it is done, the vice chairs are not eligible to vote … we don't want to declare someone the victor and have everyone's name next to it and then somebody comes back and looks at the bylaws and says that that was not done properly."
A ruling from the chair determined that non-elected vice chairs would not be able to vote in the second roll call vote. All four voted in the first roll call vote, with Paul Hartling, Janina Michael, and Chris Trent voting for Harris. Had their votes been disqualified from the first roll call vote, Lucas would have beat Harris 55-53.
After a second roll call vote, Harris defeated Lucas 56-53. That vote had committee member and Del. Larry Pack, R-Kanawha, changing his vote, voting for Lucas on the first roll call vote and Harris on the second roll call vote. Greenbrier County REC member Ben Anderson changed one of his proxy votes at the end before tabulation of the second vote from Lucas to Harris. Despite being ruled ineligible, Trent voted on the second roll call.
Committee member and Del. Diana Graves tried to get a ruling on whether Gearheart's proxy vote was valid. Ellington had contacted Graves to express his support for Lucas.
"Joe Ellington texted me and said he directed his proxy for my team, Conrad Lucas, and now he is refusing to do so," Graves said.
"The holder of the proxy is the person who votes," Campo said.
The drama behind the vote is at the center of a debate in the House of Delegates on whether to change the structure of state executive committees. HB 2354 would permit any elected or appointed member of the House of Delegates and the state Senate to automatically be a member of the state party executive committee of the party they are registered with.
The bill would also allow lawmakers to have multiple votes on the committee depending on if the lawmaker is also a county political party chair, an officer of the state party, or an elected member of the party executive committee. The House Judiciary Committee held a virtual public hearing on the bill Wednesday and were supposed to discuss the bill in committee Thursday, but it was removed from the agenda.
Harris was chief of staff at the Beckley VA Medical Center from 2017 to 2019. He was dismissed from that role after an investigation resulted in sexual assault charges against a former doctor at the facility. Jonathan Yates was sentenced to 300 months in federal prison after admitting performing sexual acts on patients. Democratic lawmakers criticized Republicans for selecting Harris in a press conference on veterans' legislation Thursday.
"I've read the accounts of the veterans who were sexually abused at the Beckley VA … when a man by the name of Dr. Harris was chief of staff," said Senate Minority Leader Stephen Baldwin, D-Greenbrier. "Dr. Harris was dismissed from the VA for failing to lead and failing to protect veterans during that time, and now has been elected to lead the West Virginia Republican Party … the West Virginia Republican Party will have to answer for that."
Harris replaced former state party chairwoman Melody Potter, who retired in January. Roman Stauffer, the acting state party chairman and a previous candidate for party chairman, recused himself from running the meeting. He threw his support behind Harris after a meeting last week at the Governor's Mansion and had the support of Gov. Jim Justice.
(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)