PCGOP sits new officers amid jeers at convention

She previously served in that position from 2013-2017 and was the Secretary on the party’s Executive Committee from 2017 until 2020. Gentry was elected to the Person County Board of Commissioners in 2020 to fill the final two years of David Newell’s term after he resigned his seat.

She sought re-election to the board in 2022 and was defeated in the Republican primary.

Liz Bradsher will be the PCGOP’s new secretary.

Bradsher is a former school board member in Fairfax County, Va. and has been an active member of the PCGOP since moving here with her husband, a Person County native. She was an advisor to Republican county commissioner candidates during the 2020 election and was appointed to the Economic Development Commission in October 2020.

However, her stint on the EDC was short-lived as she was removed from that position by the Person County Board of Commissioners in April 2021 by a 3-2 vote, with Gentry being one of those two votes in opposition.

Bradsher’s bid to win a seat on the county commission was unsuccessful as she finished fourth in the 2022 Republican primary.

Kathy Lawrence and Jimmie Whitfield remain on the PCGOP Executive Committee, but in different positions. Lawrence was the party’s secretary, but is now the vice chair, replacing Whitfield who will take over as treasurer.

All four candidates were selected to their positions by unanimous consent as none faced eligible challengers.

Candidates deemed ineligible

Local Republicans Jamie Daniel, Frank Stoltmann and Ronnie Jeffreys sought office in the Person County GOP, but had their nominations deemed ineligible by the PCGOP ahead of Saturday’s convention.

Local attorney and former PCGOP chair Walter Cates nominated Daniel for Chair and Daniel followed suit and nominated Stoltmann for Vice Chair and Jeffreys for Secretary.

Both sets of nominations were made by email, the required method as listed on the convention page of the PCGOP website.

According to copies of the emails sent to the PCGOP and obtained by The Courier-Times, the nominations were made on Feb. 13, just 17 minutes apart, and a day before the nomination deadline.

Two weeks later and just three days before Saturday’s convention, Cates and Daniel were informed by email that the nominations were deemed ineligible.

In matching emails sent to Cates and Daniel and obtained by The Courier-Times, then-PCGOP secretary Kathy Lawrence wrote “the individual(s) whose name you submitted on Feb. 13 did not ‘notify the County Executive Committee of their intention to be a candidate for their desired position’. As stated within the [PC GOP Plan of Organization], PCGOP officer candidates are required to make this notification themselves. The individual named in your submission did not do so. As a result, the individual named in your submission is ineligible to be voted on for officer positions at the 2023 Person County Republican Convention.”

The rule Lawrence referenced is in the party’s current Plan of Organization that is linked on the Person County GOP website but was not on the PCGOP 2023 Convention page.

According to the PCGOP 2023 Convention page, “the current PCGOP Plan of Organization requires nominations for [executive committee] to be received anytime between Jan. 1 and Feb. 14. To make a nomination official, we need to receive it in writing via email correspondence to PersonNCGOP@reagan.com.”

Gentry emailed to The Courier-Times what was described as “a public announcement to provide accurate information from the Person County GOP convention” that appeared to echo that decision.

“...Both gentlemen did not confirm and notify the PCGOP of their request for candidate consideration per the PCGOP Plan of Organization. There is a copy of our Plan of Organization approved in 2022 by the membership of the PCGOP on the PCGOP website. This is standard procedure and the responsibility for following the rules falls to the office seeker.”

The announcement also confirmed that Stoltmann’s nomination was deemed ineligible for the “same reason as [Daniel and Jeffreys].”

There was also a question concerning Stoltmann’s party registration, but according to Gentry’s announcement, “it was a moot point, and he did not communicate with the PCGOP directly.”

In the emails sent from Lawrence acknowledging receipt of the nominations from Daniel and Cates, it read “the nominees’ names have been placed onto the PCGOP Executive Committee ballot for review and acceptance by the party’s Credentials Committee.”

According to sources inside the convention, the Credentials Committee consisted of Julie Weaver, Paul Lynch and outgoing PCGOP treasurer Jim Mattson. 

Daniel, Stoltmann and Jeffreys each told The Courier-Times that they never met with the Credentials Committee before having their nominations deemed ineligible.

The C-T’s requests for information regarding when the Credentials Committee met, any minutes taken, and any decisions made went unanswered.

The C-T also requested copies of the email nominations from Gentry, Bradsher, Lawrence and Whitfield. The requests went unfulfilled, but according to the public announcement sent from Gentry representing the PCGOP, “our Plan of Organization allows the PCGOP to ask individuals to apply for an office. The new officers are all qualified to take on these new party responsibilities.”

The PCGOP’s annual convention is not considered a government meeting, so it does not have to follow open meetings laws. 

‘Nobody won Saturday’

A crowd estimated to be around 100 came to Saturday’s convention, expecting to be able to vote for its leadership for the next two years. Pre-registration was required and only registered Republicans in Person County were permitted to attend.

The PCGOP announced on its Facebook page late last week about Daniel, Stoltmann and Jeffreys disqualification. 

The C-T can confirm that at least four of the county’s current Republican elected officials contacted the state GOP to express concerns about the direction of the party heading into Saturday’s convention.

Person County Commissioner Kyle Puryear confirmed to the C-T that he was one of them and that he made a motion to make nominations for leadership from the floor of Saturday’s convention.

According to a video obtained by the C-T, parliamentarian Thomas Hill, would not allow that to take place as he said he was bound to the PCGOP’s Plan of Organization that forbids office nominations to made from the floor.

“Whether I like it or not, I do not have the power nor the authority to accept a motion from the floor, nor do you have the power or authority to give a motion from the floor,” Hill said. “Anything that would have to be done would had to have been given to (Lawrence), prior to this, and if remember correctly, you had until Feb. 14.”

In the video, Daniel can be heard asking questions about his and the others’ eligibility to Hill – the person who appeared to run much of the discussion from the convention floor.

“Initially when Jamie Daniel had made his motion to get answers why the candidates were disqualified, the parliamentarian decided not to answer those questions and every attempt to have a reasonable discussion being suspended,” Puryear said. “You knew right there, where that was going. For a group of people who go on about transparency, they did an amazing job of stifling meaningful discussion and even addressing meaningful questions about their decisions.”

Based on videos share to the C-T, there was loud jeers coming from the crowd and cheers from others as each person accepted their position on the Executive Committee ­– especially when Hill announced that each was elected based on unanimous consent.

“If you’re a conservative, if you’re a Republican, I hate to see this conflict, this chaos,” Puryear said. “It does no one any good. Nobody won Saturday. Everybody lost. It makes us look bad from a state party perspective that we’re going through this. If you’re a regular person who is a Republican who went to that meeting and walked in and saw, what I would say is, the most appalling meeting I’ve ever been a part of, why would you even want to stay as a Republican. That’s not the spirit of being a Republican. It’s about transparency about doing the right thing and I hope I never have to go through one of those meetings again.”

Person County Sheriff Jason Wilborn weighed in before exiting the convention. Wilborn, Puryear and first-term county commissioner Jason Thomas, all Republicans won their races against the PCGOP’s “candidates in good standing” during the May 2022 primary.

“Everybody take a look at this room and take a look at the dictatorship that has taken place today,” Wilborn said. “As Republicans, we should all be ashamed. I was the highest vote getter of every candidate who ran in the primary and the general election, local, state and federal in this county. You need to take a quick look at this. This is what we’re dealing with. You’re going to run people away from here faster than you can bring them – I can promise you. You’re not in touch with the people of Person County – not even close.”

Gentry closed her public announcement with an invitation to Republicans.

“The PCGOP is an inclusive county Republican party. We welcome all Republicans to join us at our monthly meetings on the third Thursday of every month. Our website is kept updated and we encourage all to view it, when possible, for current party information. We follow the affirmed Plan of Organization as voted on by our members.”

The Courier-Times attempted to cover the Person County GOP convention from inside the event, but denied admission.

The Courier-Times then sent out a detailed list of emailed questions including requesting comments from each of the four selected officers about their feelings after the convention and the future of the party. The C-T also included outgoing chair Weaver in the email and asked him his feelings about his time in the position and the direction of the party.

Gentry and Bradsher were also asked similar questions and given the opportunity to make their case as to why they were the best choices to lead the PCGOP going forward despite losing their county commissioner races in the primary.

They all declined to answer those questions, but the PCGOP did answer several other questions raised through the public announcement sent by Gentry on Tuesday.