6th District to settle GOP dispute May 2

By Bob Stuart

Published: April 24, 2008

The Sixth District Republican Committee will hold a meeting May 2 to settle the disputed Augusta GOP chairman election, district officials said Thursday.
Both Larry Roller of Mount Sidney and incumbent Chairman Kurt Michael are claiming leadership of the county Republican Committee.
Roller won the initial vote 141-103 at the April 10 mass meeting. But citing several irregularities, Michael took control of the meeting and after a second vote, was elected 57-2.
Michael last week said he would resign, but not before the Sixth District and Virginia GOP conventions are held next month. He also said he would not support Roller as chairman.
Sixth District Chairman Fred Anderson said the Sixth District Committee will listen to both Michael and Roller, and then “make the decision as to who is chairman of the Augusta GOP.”
The loser of the Sixth District Committee’s decision on May 2 can appeal to the Virginia Republican Party’s State Central Committee, Anderson said.
Both Michael and Roller said they plan to attend the meeting, which will be held at 4 p.m at the Best Western Lexington Inn on U.S. 11.
“I will attempt to make the meeting,’’ Michael said.
Roller said he hoped to resolve the questions about the Augusta GOP.
Local Republicans have been sharply divided since last spring’s hotly contested 24th District state Senate primary, in which incumbent Emmett Hanger held off a stiff challenge from anti-tax zealot Scott Sayre.
Michael backed Sayre, igniting a rift between him and Hanger that culminated with the disputed chairman election earlier this month.