Documents Reveal Plan To Remove Over 200 Members From the Republican Party of Arkansas
RPA To Take Action Monday Morning
On Friday, Arkansas 1st News broke the story that RPA Chairman Joseph Wood and the State Executive Committee will meet tomorrow at 10am to vote on dissolving the entire Saline County Republican Committee (SCRC) which will remove over 200 members from the RPA. (Link Below)
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14sQG9NNFi/
I stated in the article that Maumelle Attorney and high-ranking RPA official Belinda Harris-Ritter has spearheaded this action….Today I am going to provide a document showing that.
In early September a complaint was filed with Chairman Wood by Saline County Republican Committee member Clint Lancaster….Clint is the husband of District 2 Chairwoman Jennifer Lancaster.
The complaint was against SCRC members John Newcomb, Frank Curtis, Scott Gray, Angela Gray, Rene Almond, Thomas Harper and Stephanie Johnson for RPA rules violations….No complaint was filed against the SCRC itself.
By rule, a rules review committee was appointed by Wood which included Ritter. By rule, it was also required Jennifer Lancaster be the Chair of that committee.
Even though Ritter is not the Chair of the rules review committee, she took it upon herself to prepare a report and on November 7th emailed it to Wood for him to distribute to the State executive committee.
In it, Ritter makes strong allegations of bias against Ms. Lancaster.
Ritter stated, “Her husband and law partner filed the complaint and the evidence shows she is inextricably intertwined in the actions and activities that are disrupting the SCRC and are the basis of the complaint.”….along with…. “Jennifer Lancaster should have recused from chairing the Rules Review Committee because she is biased against the defendants.”
As stated earlier, even though no complaint was filed against the SCRC, Ritter recommends dissolving the entire committee citing Lancaster’s bias as a main reason.
Here is Ritter’s 5-page report.
When you read Ritter’s report you can see a compelling case for Ms. Lancaster’s bias….not for dissolving the SCRC but for the claims of bias….That’s if you take the report as Fact …. If.
Now let me show you why Ritter’s report belongs in the Fiction section of the library.
On November 9th, Ms. Lancaster, as Chair of the rules review committee, submitted her report to Wood to be distributed to the Executive Committee….That report proves that Ritter’s claims against her are completely false.
Ms. Lancaster took her own husband, Clint, to task for being “vague” about the charges in the complaint stating “The respondents are entitled to a thorough explanation of the behavior that allegedly violated the rules.”
This is not the first time Ms. Lancaster has taken issue with her husband’s take. During the State Convention in June, which she Chaired, Mr. Lancaster made a motion that she immediately declared improper and out of order.
To do you one even better, during the Convention, I rose and made a motion to remove Wood as the RPA Chairman and within seconds she dared to declare my motion improper and out of order as well….My feelings are still hurt by the way.
Now it’s clear to everyone how Ms. Lancaster and those charged feel about each other….Doubtful Christmas cards will be exchanged….However Ms. Lancaster defended them in her report by speaking against the removal of some charged stating “Though their behavior may be reprehensible, no evidence was provided proving a rules violation.”
She goes on to say – “Though these same individuals have lied about me and participated in complaints against me, I do not need to agree with or even like these individuals to defend them against this injustice.”
Ms. Lancaster also takes the rules review committee to task for not providing those charged with due process by stating “The Respondents were not afforded a fair or thorough investigation, and the investigative committee has refused to provide specific examples of behavior that allegedly violated our rules.”
Ms. Lancaster ended her report by recommending that the complaint, which again was filed by her husband, be….stay with me now….Dismissed.
That’s on Hell of a Bias !....Right ?
Here is Ms. Lancaster’s 3-page report.
Now if you thought Wood would take the rules review committee Chair’s report and distribute it to the executive committee....well….you would be wrong.
Wood discarded Ms. Lancaster’s report and instead distributed Ritter’s report to the executive committee.
We now know for a Fact there was no bias on the part of Ms. Lancaster….So my question to you the reader is this –
Are Wood, Ritter and the executive committee the ones biased in this matter ?
One thing is without question and that is the entire SCRC is on the chopping block when no complaints have been filed against them as a committee.
You tell me where the fairness and righteousness are in that?
#FactsNotFiction
I find your article and Jennifer's report more proof of my statements that the RPA is corrupt, led by an incompetent sycophant and allowed to be this way by a governor who supports Joseph Wood because he will do whatever she asks, right or wrong. The whole management of RPA should be removed and forbidden to ever return.
It seems being a true conservative Republican now means not being part of the Republican party. What a pity that a state as red as Arkansas has a RPA as corrupt as ours.
As Mr. Sotallaro mentioned, the unfortunate reality is that being true conservative Republicans (staunch constitutionalists, who want our government to focus on Arkansas first at the state level and America first at the national level) now means being unaffiliated with the actual party. Many have tried for years to bring the power back to We The People from the inside of the system. It looks like some of us will have to continue from the outside. If the RPA thinks this will stop us, they've got another thing coming.