Criticism is one thing, but your criticism in willful ignorance is quite another. I’ve refuted every wacky accusation of yours but it falls on deaf ears. You not only criticize in ignorance, you stubbornly choose to stay that way by ignoring evidence to the contrary. It’s a ridiculous cycle with insidious results.

Now you imply that I control my Exec Committee’s emails to oppress criticism. Good Lord, what next? We use position-level email addresses for the very reason that they are easy to remember and easy for anyone to use! Politicians, corporations, and info@anycompany.com use this method every day for that exact reason. Do you see how absurd your fantasies are? And it’s all because you are not involved.

I urge you to stick to commenting only on what you know first-hand and otherwise ask questions first and only afterwards provide suggestions as a humble outsider.

From RPV on down, we have witnessed a subversion of this process which has placed the power to ASSUME the thoughts on issues of the many into the hands of the few, and in the process we have witnessed the steady decline of the Republican Party. Congratulations. Maybe policy should once more be placed in the hands of the Republican faithful (at large) instead of in yours. If the Republican Committees that are guilty of trying to lead people blindly by the nose would put that energy into actually doing their jobs (organizing Republicans throughout their units), just maybe the Party would rebound.

I also find it interesting that you should wait to post your response to me until it was so far down in the string that it’s doubtful anybody but Greg, and MAYBE you, will read it. I would have sent this to you in an email, but I also find it interesting that the Executive Committee of PWCRC does not have individual email accounts listed so that your constituencies can communicate with you. Afraid that you might get some negative feedback, or be held accountable?

I disagree on the proper role of RPV or unit committees. I don’t understand how you separate them all since those groups are exactly the Republican membership at large to which you assign the duty of policy. The RNC defines the GOP platform at the national level and the same applies at the other levels. In other words, committees ARE the membership and therefore have the duty to define policy.

Please also note that while I did promote a policy regarding transportation, with which you agree, I listed specific grassroots actions to take that will serve, right now, to help win next year’s elections. I wonder in return how those could have been overlooked.

Now, I wish I could avoid repeating myself by saying that: if you were a member of, or at least active in, the PWCRC you would know the many changes and programs I have put in place to grow membership and build activism for election success. One can opine about effectiveness but perhaps you can now understand why your criticism paired with ignorance of today’s reality is so frustrating.

Perhaps I was a bit OTT on Tom Kopko. You are right. PWC is a different beast, as it’s size does create a bigger challenge. Also, the Allen campaign is as much to blame in it’s execution. However, I do believe that the PWCGOP Chairman focused the majority of its resources at the BOCS race. Individual PWC Republicans took personal initiative in many precincts, especially in the 50th.

But, in reading Tom’s responses above, it sounds like he’s positioning himself for a run at an office down the road.

The point is that Allen recieved top billing on equal work yet underperformed his ticketmates. His defeat was therefore not caused by the grassroots effort put forth by the PWCGOP. It’s worth discussing the real reasons why he along with so many other Republicans lost across the nation, but that does not seem possible in a reasonable way here.

However, there are lessons that can be directly applied to the ‘07 Session and races. The biggest is to solve real problems, especially while in the majority. In Prince William the Republican Board Chairman will begin solving gridlock with the bold and sensible step of a controlled growth policy.

In Richmond the Republican House leader is solving the NoVA transportation conundrum by boldly demanding state spending where the taxes are paid, in NoVA, instead of blindly raising taxes or fees. Our thankfully conservative Delegates are in that corner too. Though proper, it is not an easy place to be.

The immediate lesson for us all is that our Delegates need our help now to shape the public’s expectation. The public should know that the state budget has ballooned, that there was a $2 billion surplus last session, and that less than 50% of the taxes NoVA pays are spent here.

The public’s expectation should be that the Governor’s budget in December should, but won’t, put all surplus monies towards transportation.

We Republicans need to begin now by fighting, together, the media bias against us with letters to the editor, talking with our neighbors and friends, holding rallies for surplus dollars to be spent on transportation, and committing strong support to our Delegates.

Sorry Greg, but you’re wrong on that. Take a look at the PWC portion of the 1st CD. Also, the Davis campaign had a very strong, visible presence of its own in the County, leaving nothing to chance. Wolf’s portion of PWC included the Cities, as well as the exceptionally strong Republican western portion of PWC…and Denny Daugherty’s exceptional organizational work in Brentsville (note comment above). No one is saying, Greg, that we don’t have a lot of dedicated Republicans in PWC…just that we have a lot less than we used to have.

There aren’t a whole lot of people who would be willing to pick up this heavy load and carry it so diligently. PWC is a big county, and this is a darned hard job. Although George Allen didn’t carry PWC, every other Republican candidate won in the county, which isn’t a bad record. It’s also worth noting that George Allen had a lot to do with what happened.

Comparing the Manassas City GOP to the PWC committee probably isn’t fair as well. The Manassas GOP was built over many years with a stable handful of officials and influential groups, and that hasn’t been the case in PWC. The challenges facing PWC have been going on for years, before Tom got elected, and it may take a few more to get everything working as it should.

I think all of us learned this cycle, no matter how well we did. We all have some lessons learned to apply.

Huh? If Kopko’s team worked so well together, how come Allen lost PWC? I don’t care how fancy the plays, what matters is the score when time runs out. Kopko blew it. Add to that his antics in the press, from the 50th’s convention, to the Davis Hurst debate, and you can see that Kopko only cares about his cult of personality, helping those he deems ideologically pure, his buds, bros and homies. I have to ask, how does it feel to be the chairman in a PURPLE DISTRICT!

To truely see Kopko’s failures, one only has to look at little old Manassas. Committee 1/20th the size, yet executed near-flawlessly. Worked with the same individual campaign staffs, yet delivered different results. Hmmmm? Quite a contrast.

Kopko will come on here and cry foul, that anons and pseudo-anons should not be taken seriously. It is Kopko who should not be taken seriously. He is a joke, and will become a punch-line faster than you can say “Chapman”. It has already started. The best part is, Kopko can’t help being Kopko.

Mr. Harrison, perhaps you should suggest to Tony Kostelecky (sp?) and Steve Thomas that they offer a seminar on how to build a Republican consensus as they BUILD a committee, rather than a personal power base. I’m sure that there is some Republican leadership in the area that would truly benefit…and I know those volunteers on those committees who I’m sure did, indeed, work their collective glutious maximi off would appreciate the help that knowledge would bring them in the future!

Our operations was strictly joint so that every campaign would benefit from any work done. Ask Frazier, Kelly, Puleo, Patrick and my Magisterial District Chairs if “Team GOP” was real and they’ll tell you that I and my Ops Chair chewed their butts multiple times when it wasn’t fully joint. Of course each campaign had responsibility for showing up and coordinating. To be sure, Allen was at the top of our ticket call script, at the top of the ticket door hangers, and had at least equal sign placement. Tom Davis himself praised “Team GOP” for working so well together.

Of course, anonymous writers have to remain in the shadows and not ask too many questions lest your hand be tipped. Or are you so deceitful as to have worked alongside me and still spread lies about me and the PWCRC? No, you have removed yourself from reality with the result being the fantasies you describe above.

Cheney, your musings about the PWCRC are fully marginalized by your lack of membership or activism in it. You have never even had one conversation with me yet you feel qualified to pass judgment. The word prejudice comes to mind.

As for driving out moderates that is absolutely false. It’s undeniable that conservatives are actually the survivors of a purge attempt by moderates last year. No such thing has happened in return; in fact I have reached out to every name on every list and sign-up sheet we can find or collect. There is no marking on the spreadsheet for conservative or moderate. I twice offered the membership job with zero strings to one vocal moderate critic months ago. They didn’t take it but then again there was no reason to do so. This notion is therefore axe-grinding.

To all, let us please get back to work with Voter ID so that every ‘07 candidate will benefit. Also, our Delegates, now one additional conservative stronger, are going to need a lot of moral and letter-writing support regarding transportation this coming session.

My belief, Senator Allens’ campaign ran a poor race. If that means fault lies with the RPV so be it. But it goes farther. The failure of the Rebublican party in both VA and nationwide starts with political blundering at the top. Carl Rove has lost touch. Why was the Sec Def fired the day after the election after the Pres had said he was here for good? To make him the scape goat? Better to have done it before the election and given Allen and others something to hang their hat on. At a national level, the party failed to capitalize on having a sitting President and control of the House & Senate. Shame on us!

We have a strong GOP party in Manassas. We need to duplicate this accross the Commonwealth. Tony and Steve have done a wonderful job retaining our strength. That I see, we’re not being complacent and are addressing the issues the citizens want. Jackson listened and the people responded. More importantly Jacksons margin of victory was in the City. Maybe the rest of the State should learn form us.

Batson is right, we need to replace the top now so we cvan have a strong nationwide showing in ‘08.

It’s time for the Prince William County Republican Committee to take a hard look at itself. They need to look back to the years of Party growth in the county, when Reagan’s “big tent” philosophy moved us into an era of continual success. When, regardless of personal philosophy, we were all able to come together after the nominations process for the benefit of the Republican nominee because we didn’t publicly vilify our own (I don’t remember anybody screaming invectives in the faces of fellow Republicans as I’ve seen in recent years, or march on their offices to publicly scourge them). We all worked hard for our respective causes, using them to build the Party rather than tear it down. The electorate has forced us to take a step backwards…perhaps it’s time for the Republican Party to LOOK back as well.