Will the state GOP determine who is the leader of the Fresno County GOP party, Peter Halajian, at left, or Liz Kolstad? (GV Wire Composite/Paul Marshall)
- Liz Kolstad and Peter Halajian still claim leadership of the Fresno County Republican Party.
- Both have different ideas as to whether the state party will intervene.
- The controversy stems from a local party leadership vote on Jan. 7.
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Liz Kolstad says she is the chair of the Fresno County Republican Party.
Sheโs not alone. Peter Halajian says heโs the chair of the Fresno County Republican Party.
The dueling claims stem from the partyโs organizational meeting Jan. 7, where it appeared the partyโs executive committee re-elected Kolstad to another two-year term by a 15-14 vote over Halajian.
Halajianโs supporters said two voters were kept out of that meeting, making the vote illegitimate. The supporters โreconvened in compliance with bylawsโ in a subsequent meeting at a Clovis Dennyโs, where Halajian and his slate were elected to the Fresno GOPโs executive board by a 16-0 vote.
The issue may be decided by the state party. Halajian transmitted his vote result to the California GOP. He wants either recognition of the vote or that the state party oversee a new election.
Halajian said the state responded that they received the documentation. He is willing to accept a state ruling.
โWe donโt believe that this election was valid. We donโt believe it was right, and we want to ensure that Republican voters know that, hey, we did all we could,โ Halajian said.
Kolstad said she too has been in contact with the state party, who told her they donโt have โpurviewโ over the matter. She interpreted a state party bylaw that says county parties โoperate under their own bylaws.โ
โWeโre moving forward,โ Kolstad told GV Wire on Wednesday. She wants to focus on electing more Republicans and supporting President-elect Donald Trump.
State party chair Jessica Millan Patterson did not return messages from GV Wire.
Gregory Gandrud, the stateโs treasurer, said it is possible a state party member may help informally resolve the dispute. He said the state partyโs bylaws does not have a formal leadership vote resolution process.
The state party holds its spring convention March 14-16 in Sacramento. County chairs appoint delegates. Gandrud said any credential challenge โ such as a dispute about who is the county chair making the appointment โ would be decided by the Proxies and Credentials committee.
โIllegitimateโ and โComplainersโ
In a news release last week, Halajian called the vote Kolstad won โillegitimate.โ
Kolstad, in a Monday news release, called the dissidents โcomplainersโ and called the Dennyโs meeting โhappy-hour activities.โ
โ(The second meeting has) as much merit as five people getting together at IHOP and voting themselves in as the new Fresno County Board of Supervisors,โ Kolstad said.
Would Vote Have Flipped?
At the first meeting, Halajianโs supporters said Kolstad excluded committee member Connie Brooks because she was late; and excluded Austin Gilbert โ an alternate representing former state Senate candidate David Shepard โ because Shepard has moved out of California.
Halajian โ a district representative with Assemblymember David Tangipa, R-Clovis โ said Kolstadโs actions โundermine the organizationโs bylaws and partyโs values of integrity.โ
Kolstad previous explained that Robertโs Rules of Order โ a guideline used to conduct many meetings, public and private โ prevent a voter participating after the vote has started.
โMr. Gilbert was not even there to be excluded,โ Kolstad said in the news release.
Despite implying in an interview with GV Wire last week he was at the first meeting, Gilbert later clarified he was not there. A second alternate in Shepardโs place, Josh Babcock, was not accepted as eligible to vote. Gilbert did attend the Dennyโs meeting.
Halajian said if those two votes were counted, it would flip the vote 16-15 in his favor. He said because Kolstad was not properly elected, she could not properly adjourn the meeting, allowing a majority to โreconvene.โ
โThere is nothing in the bylaws that say we canโt,โ Halajian said. He also said there is nothing in the bylaws or Robertโs Rules of Order that would prevent Brooks from voting, even if she was late but arrived before the vote concluded.
Gandrud said he was not familiar with the Fresno County GOP bylaws, but said other counties determine that if a member like Shepard moved out of state, that would vacate the position. It would not matter who the alternate would be. Filling vacant seats in county parties is usually the second order of business in a leadership meeting.
Kolstad also said business continued at the regularly scheduled meeting with โnone of the Complainers challenged the authority of the Chair or Committee to pass the budget. Instead, they accepted the authority of the Chair and Committee to act for the Party.โ
โThatโs our job,โ Halajian said. โWhat would the alternative have been? For us to just turn around and leave and not do our jobs?โ
Tangipa and Fresno County Supervisors Nathan Magsig and Garry Bredefeld added their names to the Halajian news release.
The Halajian central committee plans to hold a regular meeting Jan. 27 at the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant in Clovis. The Kolstad central committee โ which she said is the official Fresno County Republican Party meeting โ will meet Jan. 30 at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fresno.
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