CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Can a county political committee member who was elected by primary voters be removed?
Just ask Bob Schadler, a former member of the Mineral County Republican Executive Committee.
“That’s what happened to me,” he said during a telephone interview this week.
“I wasn’t chairman of the committee. I was just a member of the committee by electoral vote. And they just threw me off the committee, based on state committee rules.”
Schadler’s 2011 case, which went all the way to the state Supreme Court, is similar to a current dispute over state Republican Party Chairman Melody Potter’s decision to remove Wood County GOP Executive Committee Chairman Rob Cornelius.
In a letter last month, Potter told members of the Wood County Executive Committee that she intended to remove Cornelius.
Potter’s letter cited Cornelius’s insulting statements on social media and questions about the structure of the local committee, including two positions Cornelius hadn’t filled. For authority, Potter referred to two sections of the state party bylaws.
Cornelius has been openly critical of Potter and the party’s relationship with Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican who was first elected as a Democrat.
“Mr. Cornelius has engaged in an extensive smear campaign against both myself and the West Virginia Republican Party,” Potter wrote.
There are plenty of similarities with Schadler’s situation, but also key differences.
Schadler, who is a former state Delegate, had been elected by primary voters in 2010 to serve on the county GOP executive committee.
In his case, it was the rest of the county executive committee that voted to remove him, using bylaws. In the Cornelius case, Potter made the move herself.
The decision on Schadler was based on a state party bylaw forbidding State Executive Committee members from helping a Democratic candidate in a contested campaign.
Potter, who says Cornelius has been divisive, cited other bylaws but not that one. Justice has other Republican primary challengers.
Cornelius, like Schadler, has been through something like this before.
The Wood County Committee tried to remove him in 2015. An arbitration hearing led by former state party chairman Conrad Lucas led to a ruling in favor of Cornelius and restored him as chairman.
Schadler, like Cornelius, disputed the authority to remove him from office.
“My point in challenging in court was I was elected by the voters, not the committee, and I didn’t think they had the legal right to remove me,” he said.
Here’s what happened. After serving in the House of Delegates for 16 years, Schadler put his name on the local ballot for circuit clerk in Mineral County’s court system but lost.
Then he weighed in on the general election race for the seat he had vacated in the House of Delegates.
Schadler threw his support to the Democratic candidate for House, Charlie Messick, over the Republican candidate, Gary Howell. He paid for a newspaper ad in favor of Messick.
“It was my personal opinion to have someone other than Gary Howell be elected,” Schadler said this week, “and that’s why I supported the Democratic candidate.”
Howell won and continues to serve in the House. He declined to comment for this article. Howell became chairman of the Mineral County Executive Committee in 2010, but says he recused himself in the Schadler removal.
Schadler says he didn’t know about the provision to banish executive committee members who support Democrats. He found out when the executive committee notified him of his removal.
“They sent me a letter,” he said, “and on Christmas eve is when I got the letter. They just said ‘You’ve been removed from the committee by a vote of the committee.'”
Schadler filed a lawsuit in Mineral Circuit Court in response. His lawyer was Harley Staggers, a Keyser attorney, former U.S. Congressman and a Democrat.
Mineral Circuit Judge Phil Jordan wound up ruling against Schadler. The judge rejected Schadler’s contention that there was no provision in state law for removal of elected members of state political committees.
“Counsel for Mr. Schadler has presented no case law to support his absolutist position that no member of any executive committee can ever be removed for any reason because of the absence of expressed removal language,” the judge wrote.
The judge agreed with the counter-argument made by lawyers representing the executive committee.
“The Committee’s final argument, that requiring loyalty is a reasonable expectation for membership on any executive committee is compelling,” Jordan wrote. “Frankly, it just makes sense. It is unreasonable to expect a committee to retain a member who is openly endorsing the defeat of one of its candidates.
“Executive committees are the nuts and bolts of election campaigning in West Virginia. They discuss strategy, organize volunteers, plan campaign ads and get out the vote strategies. Certainly having someone for the ‘other side’ in the room while all this is going on would have a chilling effect on such activities.”
Schadler then appealed to the state Supreme Court, which in 2012 issued a memorandum decision denying his request.
The Supreme Court cited precedent political committees have very broad powers in matters of party regulation and the courts usually respect that power.
“Because the statute is silent on the issue of removal, and because of our well-settled policy of not interfering with intra-party disputes, we affirm the circuit court’s refusal to grant declaratory relief to petitioner,” the Supreme Court concluded.
Schadler still doesn’t agree.
“My position on my removal from the committee was that the committee members did not elect me,” he said. “It was the voters of Mineral County who elected me.”
Schadler continues to work as a funeral director. He does not dabble in politics any more.
“That was enough,” he said. “It’s a bad feeling for me. I have not been involved in any of those things at all.”