Chicago-Style Politics

Published in the Lynchburg Ledger on August 20, 2010

by Bill Wheaton

Press Media Group, LLC

As I begin writing this column, the jury in the Rod Blagojevich political corruption trial appears to be deadlocked. When the defense rested quickly without calling Blagojevich to testify, I thought to myself, “They have bought the jury.” Actually, they have to only buy only one juror.

Barack Obama came out of the same political environment, and we have seen Chicago-style politics on a national scale. The appointment of Czars needing no Senate confirmation, the trashing of the Constitution with the takeover of General Motors and Chrysler and the high living at taxpayers' expense during a recession are just some examples.

Obama and the people he surrounds himself with hate the Constitution because it restricts their political agenda, so they simply ignore it and do what they want.

Up until last week, I thought Chicago-style politics was limited to Chicago and Washington D.C. Little did I realize that the same disregard for the rules was being played out right here in rural Central Virginia. It was not among the Democrats as one might think, but among the Republicans in Campbell County.

Earlier this year, the Campbell County Republican Party elected a new chairman, Will Kirk. He seemed like a nice enough fellow, and the only criticism I heard was he was acquainted with the politically ambitious Boyer family. I voted for him because I felt we needed “change” in the Republican Party. Well, we got change, just like the nation got change with Obama, but in both cases, it was not the change we were looking for.

Also earlier this year, Deborah Hughes, Clerk of the Campbell County Circuit Court retired, and the Court appointed Assistant Chief Deputy Sheila Bosiger to serve as Interim Clerk until the November election.

The Clerk of the Court is an elected position, but the least political of all the Constitutional offices. The Clerk is on an eight-year cycle where all others are on a four-year cycle.

With 25 years experience in the Circuit Court Clerk's office and 10 years as Assistant Chief Deputy, Sheila Bosiger decided to seek election to the job she is filling on an interim basis. Since all the Campbell County Constitutional officers are Republicans, she sought the nomination of the Campbell County Republican Party.

However, opposition in the person of Rick Boyer appeared on the scene. Boyer, who just graduated from Liberty University Law School and is awaiting the results of the Bar exam, has decided he wants to run for the seat. There is virtually nothing Rick Boyer learned in law school that would equip him to serve as Clerk of the Court. In fact, Boyer has admitted Sheila Bosiger is more qualified than he is for the job. If he should be elected, Sheila Bosiger would have to train him to run and manage the office she is currently running and managing.

Since the Clerk of the Court is prohibited from giving legal advice, Boyer' law degree would become worthless to him.

Sheila has the respect of all the Campbell County elected officials plus the local attorneys. At least three of the county elected officials personally contacted Rick Boyer and counseled him not to seek this position, but the politically ambitious Boyer turned a deaf ear to the advice.

With the filing deadline fast approaching, Republican Chairman Will Kirk hastily called for a meeting in the Unit Committee for the purpose of calling a Mass Meeting to pick a nominee, as prescribed in the Bylaws of the Campbell County Republican Party. However, Kirk chose to ignore major portions of the Bylaws to expedite his and Rick Boyer's agenda.

Article V, Section A, Part 4 of the Bylaws states, “All Unit Committee meetings shall be held in a building appropriate for public use and shall be open to the public.”

Instead of holding the meeting in a public building being open to the public, Kirk held the meeting by telephone conference call and closed it to the public; therefore, this was an illegal meeting and any decision made by the meeting should be null and void.

On the day prior to the illegal conference call meeting, I had emailed Kirk advising him of the Bylaw restrictions. I wrote, “By my reading of the Bylaws of the CCRC as adopted 1/8/2004, you cannot hold a unit meeting by phone as you are planning to do Wednesday.” I was giving Kirk the benefit of the doubt that he was working from ignorance.

I later learned that this was a planned strategy between Kirk and the Boyers' to secure the nomination for Rick Boyer. Email messages between rick Boyer and Will Kirk regarding the rules for the Mass Meeting are proof enough of that.

Boyer managed to bring 134 people, many from his church. Some actually had no idea why they were there, except that Boyer asked them to come. .

Sheila Bosiger, who is not a political person, learned about the Mass Meeting only a week before the meeting was scheduled. She managed to turn out 100 supporters, which was 34 votes short, and Boyer won the nomination.

Bill Stanley, the Chairman of the 5^th District Republican Committee was at the meeting and served as parliamentarian. I advised him of the violations of the Bylaws and he informed me that if I made any objection, I would be ruled out-of-order. Later he did advise that there is a way to appeal, which I am in the process of doing.

Sheila Bosiger will be on the ballot as an Independent.

It is indeed a sad day when we see Chicago/Obama-style politics right here in our own back yard.