New Republican Artur Davis Speaks to FCRC

Thanks to the wonder Smitty over at The Other McCain for capturing the video, even with the world's youngest blogger on his arm.

The crowd loved him.

See Bloggers Do Make a Difference - FCRC Will Be Giving Free Tickets to GOP Debate

Yesterday I wrote about the local republican party here in Fairfax County, Virginia and the upcoming GOP debates for the open senate seat.  You can read that here, in case you missed it.  


The general gist of the post was that even though I received an email by the chairman of the party stating that the tickets for the upcoming debate in Northern Virginia would be free, the Fairfax County Republican Committee was requesting you volunteer for two hours in order to get your free tickets.  My point was that it was deceptive and wrong to handle it in this fashion.  


I not only blogged about it, but I also used my social networking connections to spread the word about this.  I emailed the Chairman.  I contacted larger blogs too.  Around noon time the head of the FCRC called my friend Phil to let him know that I would be getting my ticket without being forced into doing volunteer work.  


Great for me, but what about the rest of the people in NOVA?  This was never about me getting a ticket, this was about allowing the voters access to the candidates so they can make up their own minds who they are going to vote for.  


For those who don't live in this area you may not be aware of the background.  George Allen is our former governor and senator.  He was the one that made that now infamous Mecacca comment six years ago, which played a part in him losing his re-election bid to the senate.  For some in the tea party and grassroots movement George Allen represents all that is wrong with the republican party.  He is conservative in many ways, but he also did some big government and fiscally irresponsible things during his tenure in the senate.  He is considered by some to be part of the good ol' boys club of the republican leadership that is more interested in power than in conservatism.  They are looking for to elect another of the three candidates who are running.  


They feel very strongly that FCRC is in the tank for the Allen campaign.  Many feel that they were also in the tank for Romney.  While I do know that many are Romney supporters, I can't say for certain that they are "in the tank" for any candidate.  I can't get into the head of another person.  I just can tell you how other grassroots supporters are feeling and discussing with me among others.  


The post got enough of a response that emails and phone calls were flying this morning and this afternoon.  The bottom line is this.  All tickets will be free for everyone without any strings attached.  All you need to do is go pick them up at the FCRC headquarters in Fairfax.  


This is the best solution for everyone.  There are people who are not able to volunteer for the party as they are putting their efforts towards one of the candidates.  There are also people who may be elderly or handicapped, and can't make it to the Fairfax office for two hours.  


This debate is for the voters, not for the party to use as some tool to force get people to volunteer for a few hours.  This came down from on high.  I am not sure exactly how high up in the party it went, but high enough that FCRC has backed down and tickets are available on a first come first served basis.  


For other bloggers out there, the lesson here is that no matter how small your readership may be, if they are willing to put actions to your words, you have accomplished something.  I want to say a special thank you to Smitty over at The Other McCain for helping get the word out on this.  


I am looking forward to hearing what the Bishop has to say in the debates.  Check out his website.  He is a good man and I think would make an awesome Senator.  


Can I just say that Smitty and I ROCK!!!!  


Thanks to the party for getting the message that it is about the voters, not the party.  We deserve the chance to hear the candidates in their own words so we can decide for ourselves who will represent us in November.  

And The Republican Party Wonders Why They Can't Make Traction in Fairfax County, Virginia

As many know, there is an open senate seat in Virginia due to the retirement of Sen. Jim Webb.  The GOP has four candidates running in the primary.  There will be a series of debates before the primary.  One such debate is in Northern Virginia.  For those who may not be aware, Northern Virginia is progressive central.  The reason that many here are unhappy with Obama is because he has not been left enough.  As you can imagine the republican party has a hard time gaining ground in this atmosphere.  

This race is said not to be all that competitive, George Allen is expected to win the primary handily.  But, the "experts" have been wrong before.  I like George Allen, but there are few other interesting candidates as well.  So I was really looking forward to hearing the debate before making up my mind who I was going to support in the primary.  


As some may know, I no longer can drive for health reasons.  So I have to take the bus to get anywhere during the day.  For those who have never had the pleasure of taking mass transit, the buses don't exactly run the most direct route.  You can go all over kingdom come to get to your final destination.  The bus I needed to take to the Fairfax County Republican Committee office is one such bus.  It is maybe 10 miles, but it takes more than hour to get there.  I then have to walk about a quarter mile to get to the office.  


Today is the day that the tickets are supposed to be available.  Here is a portion of the email that I received, you can read the entire email here:

The third debate will be held on Friday May 25^th at 6:30pm at the Fairview Park Marriott located at 3111 Fairview Park Drive – Falls Church, Virginia.  Free tickets to the Northern Virginia debate will be available beginning on April 20^th at the Fairfax and Loudoun GOP Victory Centers.

I take two hours out of my day to get to the office to pick up my "free" tickets.  When I get there I am told that I have to volunteer for two hours.  Hmm, here is the definition of free from dictionary.com:

Idioms 44.for free, Informal . without charge: The tailor mended my jacket for free.

 Now, is it just me, or is asking someone to perform two hours of "volunteer" work a form of payment?  So lets go back to dictionary.com and find out what volunteer means:

vol·un·teer

noun1.a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for aservice or undertaking 2. a person who performs a service willingly and without pay.

yeah, I think it is a form of payment.  Which means that the tickets are not free.  So I said to the women at the office today that I thought the are free.  She said they are.  Really?  How so?  She then tells me that the email from the Chairman said that volunteer work would be required to get the "free" tickets.  Uh, no it doesn't.  


So I wasted well over two hours of my time and have no tickets to the debate.  When I got back home I sent  the following email to the Chairman:

I am writing to tell you how deceptive the FCRC is.  The below email says that the tickets for the debate are free.  I no longer drive for health reasons, so it took me two hours round trip to get to the office today to pick up my "free" tickets.  Come to find out according to them free means that I have to do two hours of volunteer work.  I even inquired on why the email said that the tickets are free, she said they are free.  How exactly is something free if you are required to work for two hours?  I was told that your email said that they were looking for volunteer help in exchange for the "free" tickets.  Unless I am missing something the below email says nothing about volunteering.  

I have given money and volunteered in the past.  No more.  The RPV will never get another dime or one bit of help from me again.  This is why you can't make traction in Fairfax County.  No one wants to deal with people who are purposely deceptive.  

There is no way for me to get to the office in Loudon County to get my so-called "free" tickets.  So I guess I won't be going to the debate.  But I can guarantee you what I will be doing moving forward for the RPV is a big fat zero.  Never again will I do work for them.  I will not phone bank nor will I give money.  It is not like I was some huge donor by any stretch of the imagination, but every dollar helps when you fighting an uphill battle in a county such as this one.  


Thanks for nothing FCRC.  Lets go back to dictionary.com one final time:

de·cep·tive
adjective1.apt or tending to deceive: The enemy's peaceful overtures maybe deceptive.2.perceptually misleading: It looks like a curved line, but it'sdeceptive.

   [dih-sep-tiv]  Show IPA


Yeah, I would say that about covers it.   


This isn't so much that I am not willing to do volunteer work.  I have done plenty.  I can list plenty of examples of work that I have done.  Matter of fact I was at the FCRC's office not all that long ago doing data entry work for the delegate conventions that are coming up.  This is about principle.  If you are going to send out an email saying that the tickets are free, they should actually be free.  


Linked at The Other McCain.  Thanks, Smitty (Who by the way is a member of the FCRC)