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Saturday, March 22, 2003Where is Mathews County, Virginia? I travelled to the Mathews County Courthouse on Friday for a Virginia 1st District Republican Meeting. Mathews County (spelled correctly) is one of the first counties settled by the early Virginia colonists in the 1600's, and it has a great history. With the earliest English settlement in 1650, Mathews County is rich in historical landmarks--buildings, churches, estates, cemeteries--including a Courthouse, circa 1795, still in use today. An unassuming cottage--home to the first woman commissioned an officer in the American military; centuries-old gravesites, a haunted house, and the Tabernacle, one of the last remaining outdoor pavilions for religious use. Besides the county seat of Mathews, Virginia's First District unanimously issued a vote of no-confidence in the new RPV Strategic Plan. The five-point plan essential parts are rather strong-handed, centralized to Richmond, and employ such tactics as minority outreach and the certification of chairmen. Not to mention a substantial investment in IT centralized to RPV headquarters. The general feeling was that the Strategic Plan was too centralized and lacked a certain investment/trust in our local committees. Certainly I would like to see a better organized RPV, but not at the expense of unit committees. For instance, 72 hour tasks forces are great ideas, but not if the unit chairs have to come up with the money for voter lists, phone banks, headquarters, volunteer efforts, etc. Come on now. . . we've been doing efforts like this for years without the direction of RPV. Now we have to be required to do it, report to Richmond, and actively involve some uber-wonk to make sure we are doing it effectively? Does someone in Richmond think that we can't fight the good fight effectively? Sure seems like we did a good job before RPV decided to come forth and reap the benefits of our labor. Things I want to see out of the Republican Party of Virginia: 1 - Voter lists. Accurate voter lists that I don't have to pay for. 2 - A visit every once in awhile. Sure sure, it's patting us on the back, but that kind of egoboosting works on the local level, especially when rank-and-file can point to someone in RPV and say "I know that person!" 3 - IT support. I want a website that I don't have to pay for. And it's not too hard to set up a template that non-HTML literate people can simply fill in the blanks for. 4 - Money! Give each committee $250. Multiply that by 130 committees and that's roughly $32,500 dollars. Eliminate the top 30 GOP committees (Fairfax et al. where that wouldn't make a difference) and it's $25,000. Make it twice as much and it would make a world of difference to smaller committees. It would do more and cost half as much as the current proposals. 5 - Party Calls in Newspapers. Guess what? RPV wants 'em, RPV can pay for them. 6 - Grassroots Training Seminars. And guess who hands out the free (or substantially reduced cost) tickets? RPV - for the chairmen to hand out as they please. 7 - REAL campaign finance help. I don't want a phone number. I want a training seminar to come to my area. . . and not Northern Virginia, here in Fredericksburg. 8 - Substantial direction during campaign season. Contrary to public opinion in amongst the politico world, volunteers are human beings who believe in the cause, and would like to be treated as such. So when a volunteer offers to help, don't send her out with signs and a map and say "see ya" as you push her out the door. Go with her, big shot! 9 - A statement of beliefs that means something. Not one of these squishy "fiscal responsibility" tracts. "NO TAX INCREASES" would be a good start, as well as mentioning God and a strong pro-life stance . The Spotsylvania GOP Creed is a good start. As you can see, I have several issues with folks my age running roughshod over folks twice their age. Sure, most political consultants get conditioned to think of people as sheep. But you have to fight that. Quite frankly, that's what gets most starry-eyed volunteers so jaded so quickly; winning first and principles second. Run on the principles rather than working on "outreach". People are tired of the GOP and Dems just going after voters because they are black, Hispanic, Catholic, soccer moms, or whatever label seems popular. Gimme an issue that matters to me as a Catholic, and I'll vote. Same with every other minority target group. I'll never understand this instinctive need to find the token Catholic, or the token black guy, or the token soccer mom. It just shows how hollow political consultants really are. As a unit chairman, I want to know that we are fighting for issues that matter, not another monkier so I can call myself an Irish-Lebanese-Catholic-Republican. Issues dammit, ISSUES! And tools! I don't need Richmond climbing all over my back to get the job done - General Assembly is quite enough.
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JEFFERSONIAD POLL: Whom do you support for Virginia Attorney General?1) John Brownlee2) Ken Cuccinelli AboutShaunKenney.com is one of Virginia's oldest political blogs, focusing on the role of religion and politics in public life. Shaun Kenney, 30, lives in Fluvanna County, Virginia.ContactThe Jeffersoniad
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