Cabarrus Cheap Seats

On October 25, 2007 at the Cabarrus County Republican Men’s Club meeting at Troutman’s BBQ following the program with Phil Kirk as scheduled speaker, a motion was made to depose the Vice President of Programs (Coy Privette) for ignoring demands for his resignation from the state and local GOP from that post following his arrest and conviction for six counts of aiding and abetting prostitution this summer.

Instead of dealing with this call from the members to comply with the rest of the Republican Party, Audy Dover tried to adjourn the meeting himself without complying with Robert’s Rules. He and most of the officers (Coy Privette, Don Harrison, and Richard Suggs) walked out of the meeting when it was obvious that nearly everyone in the room wanted to discuss the motion.

The details of the meeting are in an earlier post and it was reported in the Independent Tribune.

Monty Python fans should recognize the video. It pretty much sums up how most people felt about the so-called leaders who scampered away from the meeting in dereliction of the offices they were entrusted by their fellow Republicans. For today’s Friday Five, I’d like to focus on five truths about the night of October 25.

5. It was NOT an ambush. In every case since his conviction, Coy Privette has been asked privately by party leaders to step down before there were public calls. It was true in this case also. He was approached by leadership about stepping down from this post because of it’s public nature and he simply ignored those calls. As has been the case with Privette and his followers, the rules apply to everyone but Coy - which brings me to my next point.

4. The vote to depose was binding. As the lowest ranking officer in the organization (Treasurer) - I never intended to preside over the meeting; but we did intend to hold the vote. A group of members got together, reviewed the By-Laws and Robert’s Rules of Order, came up with a plan, and executed it. The plan was to gather a quorum of members of the Cabarrus County Republican Men’s Club and hold a vote to depose Coy Privette as VP of Programs in accordance with the procedure in Robert’s Rules. At the bitter end of the latest edition of Robert’s Rules, there’s a section detailing the deposing an officer for cause without notice - it requires a 2/3 vote of an assembly of members of an organization. Three lawyers were present and two have reviewed the details of the meeting following: in conversations with them the only thing that was done out of order was the President trying to improperly adjourn the meeting. A quorum was present at the October 25 meeting, a vote was held in order, and the result was unanimous: Coy Privette is no longer the VP of Programs of the Republican Men’s Club.

3. The Cabarrus Republican Party is not divided. There’s a myth that has been propagated by those sympathetic to Privette that comes up every time he stirs the pot. Coy will attack a fellow Republican, the fellow Republican will defend him or herself using facts (which are normally not on Privette’s side), Privette’s small squad of myrmidons would pounce on the defender claiming the defender was attacking Coy, and then there would be accusations of party disloyalty against the defender and pious calls for party unity on the part of Privette’s ever-shrinking corps of acolytes. The fact of the matter is that, according to my count, 8 people left the room and 34 stayed. Put quite simply, we are the party - they are the fringe. There’s no “division”. A division would be two significant parts of the whole. Instead, Coy’s bunch, while noisy, is pretty insignificant and puny. Which brings me to my next point.

2. Coy’s remaining followers are a bunch of insignificant has-beens. I could write on and on; but the proof is in their actions. While I’m one of the easiest people to get a hold of in the County, I did not receive one e-mail, phone call, text message, letter, etc. from any of Coy’s fans confronting me. However, there were calls to my employer and my church - much to the bemusement of both. Not one of them could win an open and honest election (a rigged one, maybe). People aren’t buying what they are selling, because they don’t have the credibility or the intestinal fortitude to lead.

1. Cabarrus Republican opponents should be on notice. At that meeting, the Cabarrus NC House delegation was present, two commissioners (and the husband of one), a local mayor, and a couple of candidates were present and voted. If the establishment can get this organized about one of our own to rectify the second-place position in a local, party auxiliary organization - how much easier do you think it’s going to be to get them riled up and organized against Larry Kissell, MoveOn.org, and their isolationist tripe in ‘08?

See y’all Monday.