Delegates to our Virginia GOP state convention will make several important decisions during balloting on Saturday, August 15. Information on the issues and the procedures are found at https://virginia.gop/rpv-convention/. The convention is “unassembled” (see Article XII of the State Party Plan), which in this case means that voting will take place at twelve different locations around the state.

Perhaps the biggest decision is selecting a new State Party Chairman. The three candidates are current state chairman Jack Wilson, former delegate Rich Anderson, and Lancaster County Unit Chair Michael Schoelwer. In order to make sure the new chairman is elected by a majority vote, we will use a “preferential ballot.” On a preferential ballot, voters mark their first choice for chairman. Then they mark their second choice for chairman. The first time the ballots are counted, every candidate gets a vote for each time they are marked as someone’s first choice. If none of the three candidates gets a majority of the votes during the first count, then the third-place candidate is dropped from contention. The ballots on which he was first choice are counted again. This time each of the eliminated candidate’s ballots are counted for whichever of the two remaining candidates the voter selected as second choice. The candidate remaining in the race who receives the most first and second choice votes combined is the winner. That means if your first choice is eliminated, you will have been able to vote your preferred second-choice candidate from among the two remaining. It’s like doing a second round of voting, just on a single ballot.

Michael Schoelwer is my first choice. The RPV desperately needs to be revitalized and redirected. I have spoken at length with Michael, and I believe he can provide both. I am especially encouraged by the philosophy he gained during his career in the State Department of providing the field ops with the supplies and support they need and then letting them do their jobs without interference from on high.

Rich Anderson will get my second choice vote. I have not talked with him as much as with Michael, but he is solid on most of the issues that matter to grassroots conservatives. I believe either Michael or Rich can get the Party out of our current doldrums.

Morton Blackwell ran unopposed for reelection as National Committeeman. For National Committeewoman we are choosing between Jean Gannon, a long-time establishment Republican, and Patti Lyman, a grassroots leader who has been on the political firing line for a number of years. I will be voting for Patti.

We will elect two Presidential Electors. The only candidate I know well enough to support is E. W. Jackson.

We have the opportunity to vote on four amendments to the State Party Plan. The first amendment seeks to make the State Central Committee (SCC) more lean and agile so we can deal with issues much more quickly. Currently it is bloated with members who are elected by other SCC members. They have no real constituency unlike those of us who were elected at District or State Conventions and represent actual voters. The false flag being raised about how the amendment will disenfranchise our Republican auxiliaries is just that, false. Currently the CRs, YRs, and VFRW have 11% of the vote on SCC. After this amendment reduces the size of SCC from around 80 to 56 members, the auxiliaries will still have 11% of the vote. Additionally, they still each have a vote on each district committee. No one is trying to disenfranchise them. That is just a false flag. I will vote in favor of this amendment.

The second and third amendments will add to the SCC bloat, not reduce it. I will vote against them both.

The fourth amendment we will consider will require members of SCC and District Committees to “recuse themselves from consideration of any question in which a conflict of interest exists due to compensation by an elected official or candidate.” This should have been in the Party Plan all along, but there are enough SCC members who have such conflicts that the best we could get was a requirement to report the conflict, but no requirement of recusal. I will be voting in favor of this long overdue measure.

The only way amendments 1 and 4 will ever be adopted is if enough convention delegates vote for them. Too many SCC members look at factors other than the good of the voters for us to ever get the necessary three-fourths majority of SCC to make these needed changes. I firmly believe that my choices will bring the greatest good to the Party, more importantly to Virginia, and by extension to the United States of America.

Cordially,
Steve “Doc” Troxel, Ph.D.

On Tuesday, July 28, the Sixth District Republican Committee held its first meeting since our new leadership team was elected at our July 11 convention in Lynchburg. We wanted to hold an in-person committee meeting for several reasons: 1) to show our opinion that the Governor’s prohibitions against normal life are both unwarranted and overreaching, 2) because it is easier to convey meaning and intent to someone in person than via electronic means, and 3) we have several new members, and we needed to meet them and get to know them.

We met at the Stonewall Brigade Bandstand in Staunton’s Gypsy Hill Park. We chose this pleasant, open-air setting because the Governor won’t let us meet at most of the places where we would normally meet. It was a warm, still evening, but we set up a couple of fans that moved enough air to make it a comfortable evening.

Our Republican guests, Staunton City Councilmember Amy Darby and Staunton Mayor Andrea Oakes brought greetings from their city and an open invitation to meet in Staunton whenever possible. Other guests included Ian Parish, area director for US Senate candidate Daniel Gade, and State Party Chairman candidate Michael Schoelwer, who provided the specifics of his plan to make Virginia a Republican state again.

In his remarks to the committee, new district chairman John Massoud focused on working together, without recriminations from the past, to reach specific voter turnout goals in the Sixth that would overwhelmingly re-elect Congressman Ben Cline, and provide the margin of difference to elect Daniel Gade and re-elect President Trump despite the Democrat majorities in certain parts of the state.

Our first major order of business was to elect a Vice Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer for the District Committee. Incumbent Treasurer Donna Moser was the only candidate for Treasurer, so she was re-elected by acclamation. Former Waynesboro chairman Ken Adams and Liberty University graduate student Tommy Kelley ran for Vice Chair. They each gave excellent speeches focused on unifying the committee and winning in November. Tommy made a statement we should all bear in mind. He said he worked well with people on both sides of the Republican aisle, and he hoped that in two years there would be no aisle.

The two candidates for district secretary were incumbent secretary Karen Kwiatkowski and Rockbridge unit secretary Jan Lowry. They also spoke of their hopes for each of us to work together for victory in November.

During a ten-minute period in which committee members asked questions, each of the candidates provided thoughtful answers. The vote was by secret ballot. After the ballots were counted, Tommy Kelley addressed the committee, withdrew from the race and asked the committee to elect Ken Adams as Vice Chair by acclamation. Likewise, Jan Lowry withdrew from the secretary race and asked the committee to elect Karen Kwiatkowski by acclamation. The entire committee agreed to this with applause for all four individuals.

This was only one example of the spirit of cordial cooperation with which the entire meeting was held. However, a tiny group of sore losers from our convention posted a sarcastic meme belittling the results of our meeting. This childishness said more about those who posted than about the Committee. This type of small-mindedness should be condemned by those who see that the real issue in the Sixth is winning by exceptional margins in November.

I gave a report on our preparations for the “unassembled” State Convention vote on August 15. Every state delegate will vote at their designated polling place between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Delegates from Roanoke City, Roanoke County, Botetourt, and Rockbridge/Buena Vista/Lexington will vote at the Salem Civic Center along with two units from the 5^th District and several units from the 9^th. Delegates from Lynchburg, Amherst County, and Bedford County with vote at Tree of Life Church in Campbell County along with about two-thirds of the 5^th District’s units. The other ten units (from Augusta County north) will vote at the Augusta County Government Center in Verona. The voting will be walk-up. (Delegates will park in the lot and walk to the voting tables to cast their ballots. Individuals who for health reasons choose not to leave their cars will be accommodated.)

All in all, this was the type of meeting we need to be having every time – focused on a common goal and working toward that goal in harmony with each other.

Cordially,
Steve “Doc” Troxel, Ph.D.

On January 10, 1963, Florida Congressman A. S. Herlong read into the “Congressional Record” an excerpt from “The Naked Communist” by Cleon Skousen This excerpt listed 45 goals communists had established for the United States. Numbers 17 through 31 sound like a summary of today’s news.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. Eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, and substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms instead.
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.”
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” …

We thought we won the Cold War. We did not; we only drove the enemies of our freedoms underground. While in the shadows of society, they have quietly and effectively turned lies into “fake truth.” Those of us who were alive in 1963 can easily see how much worse off our country is now than it was then. Goals 25, 27, and 28 have been particularly destructive. Destroying the moral fiber of America has left us without a common bond and without a common truth. Without those bonds and that truth our country is ripping itself apart.

Goal 42 from the list is also worth noting: “Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use ‘united force’ to solve economic, political or social problems.” Unfortunately, too many Americans believe the fake truth of our enemies. The only thing that will bring America together again is a wholesale return to the faith of our forefathers, that is, the Truth found in the grace and mercy offered by Jesus Christ. Without it, America is doomed. But then, that’s what communists have wanted all along.

Cordially,
Steve “Doc” Troxel, Ph.D.

On July 11, Republicans in Virginia’s Sixth Congressional District (CD6) voted overwhelmingly for a change in leadership. They elected businessman and Strasburg Town Councilmember John Massoud to be CD6 Republican chairman with 58 percent of the vote. They elected ten of the eleven candidates on his team – only two of whom were incumbents. They elected John because he pledged to end the divisiveness on the District’s Republican Committee and to focus everyone’s efforts on getting Republicans elected to every office from local to national.

John’s win was so huge that this newsletter could easily become a “gloat-fest.” That, however, would be counterproductive to what John wants to accomplish – to what he has already begun accomplishing. John tried to take a couple of days off to decompress from a very intense and overly long campaign, but almost immediately, a significant number of people began calling and emailing him. Most brought congratulations and offers of support. Some were people who had supported his opponent during the campaign but who now offer their support to his efforts to make Republicans in CD6 an even more imposing force for conservative values. A very few were people who called to vent their anger that he won.

The bottom line is that the vast majority of active Republicans want to be about the business of saving the America that we have known and stopping the hordes of brainwashed socialists who disdain the very freedoms that allow them to believe as they do and that allow even the poorest among them to live at an economic level higher than 90 percent of the rest of the world.

CD6 Republicans, when given proper leadership, are the most powerful conservative force in Virginia. Even during the turmoil of the past two years, we have elected Republicans to the General Assembly from six of eight Senate districts and twelve of thirteen Delegate districts that include a portion of CD6. Republicans can do even better if they will work together.

It is time to heal the wounds to our unity and to flex our significant, conservative muscle.

To begin the healing, John has reached out to the major players from his opponent’s coalition in an effort to find common ground. Most have agreed to work with John for the common good. A couple have not. They should rethink their positions, especially in light of what the Republicans in CD6 have very clearly voted they want from their leaders.

It is time to heal. Those who supported the former chairman need to switch their allegiance, not to John Massoud but to the Republicans district-wide whom they were elected to represent, lead, and serve.

It is time to heal. It won’t happen if we pick at the scab of past differences.

It is time to heal. People who live in the past will die in the past. It is time to move forward and fulfill our obligations as leaders. It is time to provide the leadership and motivation and encouragement grassroots Republicans need to put voice to their dreams and to put feet to their enthusiasm. It is time to heal.

Cordially,
Steve “Doc” Troxel, Ph.D.

On Saturday, delegates to the Sixth District Republican Convention will be selecting a district chair, three regional vice chairs, and three representatives to the State Central Committee (SCC).

The three candidates I support for SCC are myself (obviously), Steve Kurtz, and Dean Welty. I like, as individuals, our opponents in the race, but the three of us have far more experience and success in conservative politics, and we have proven abilities to stand up for our principles in the face of opposition.

Each of the three regions of the Sixth District will elect a vice chair for their region. For Northern Region Vice Chair, I support Randy Gilbert. He took on the job of Chairman of a local Republican committee that was in turmoil and decline. In just two years he turned that committee around and made it one of the top committees in the district. He has the ability to help other committee chairmen in the northern region apply similar ingenuity and effort to improve their committees as well.

I support Curt Lilly for Central Region Vice Chair. He too smoothed out some difficulties that he inherited in his local committee when he became chair of that committee. His opponent has never before been involved in Republican Party leadership.

Steve Richards is running for reelection as Southern Region Vice Chair. He brings experience and organizational skills to the job. His opponent has no experience in Republican leadership.

The most important race to be decided on Saturday is for District Chair. Some people would make it a contest of personalities. Even then I think John Massoud would win, but that isn’t the key. The keys to this decision are leadership and trust. Our current chair is not a leader. John Massoud is. I’ve studied leadership. A true leader gets other leaders to work together for a common cause that excites them all. Our current chair wants everyone to do what she wants regardless of the education, intelligence, and experience we bring to the table. In fact, many things said during this long campaign lead me to believe that Jennifer selected the members of her team because they will do what she tells them to do. They may not think that, but I’ve seen her in action when she doesn’t get her way. It isn’t pretty.

That is not meant as a put down on the candidates on her team. They are all likeable people, but she sees them as pliable people who will vote the way she tells them to vote. John Massoud on the other hand does not need to feed his ego. He has enough successes in his life to provide fulfillment for anyone. Instead, John plans to lead this district to do what grassroots Republicans want us to do – defeat Democrats, protect our Constitution, and restore pride in the United States of America.

Our current chair uses vile Facebook posts, false narratives, and lawsuits to intimidate and punish those who disagree with her. John Massoud uses reason, intelligence, and understanding to work out principled solutions that everyone can embrace. You can trust what he says.

Our current chair takes credit for the work of others. John Massoud helps others accomplish more in their work.

Our current chair has been unemployed as long as I’ve known her. John Massoud is vice president of a multi-million-dollar company where he is responsible every day for leading hundreds of employees in getting their jobs done smoothly and efficiently.

I’m tired of working under the chairmanship of a wannabe dictator. I want to work under a leader who practices the true meaning of the word “leader,” someone whom I can trust to lead wisely.

The delegates will have to decide whether the district will continue with the same “leader” who has promoted turmoil for the past two years, or they can elect John Massoud, a true leader who will unite the district and whom we can trust will get our real job done.

Cordially,
Steve “Doc” Troxel, Ph.D.