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Lynchburg Republicans are at it again.
Yes, I realize you’ve probably read that before. This is a different “again.”
This time, the Lynchburg Republican City Committee has scheduled a special meeting for Oct. 15 to take up resolutions that would censure the city’s Republican mayor and vice mayor — and expel them.
To explain this to outsiders is like trying to explain one of those Biblical passages about who begat whom. There are a lot of “begats” here.
At the risk of doing injustice to one side or the other, I’ll try to skip over all that to get to the main points, but some review is necessary.
In November 2022, Republicans swept the three at-large seats on the council to take a 5-2 majority. They then promptly split into two warring factions, with Mayor Stephanie Reed and Vice Mayor Chris Faraldi on one side, council member Jeff Helgeson and Marty Misjuns on the other side, with the fifth Republican member, Larry Taylor, somehow managing to stay out of the line of fire.
At this point, it’s hard to say just what the source of the friction is because there are so many. Reed and Faraldi say it’s because they didn’t back Helgeson for mayor. Helgeson and Misjuns say it’s because Reed and Faraldi have been trying to stifle debate. That’s the mild version. Along the way, Helgeson called Reed “the stupidest person on earth,” Reed accused Helgeson and Misjuns of “terrorizing” her, the council censured Misjuns on a 5-2 vote for his behavior, and Helgeson and Misjuns recruited a primary challenger to Faraldi. When that challenger lost, he filed a lawsuit to void the election, which set off another round of infighting. This summer, Helgeson and Misjuns released an email from the city attorney that dealt with what the city’s position should be during that lawsuit; they were then censured on a 4-3 vote for violating attorney-client privilege. Oh, and Reed tried to call the city manager on Helgeson and Misjuns when they tried to hold a news conference in city council chambers, something that apparently isn’t done in Lynchburg on the theory that council chambers should be reserved for official business. (That’s what’s going on in the lead photo above).
Even that’s a pretty watered-down account of just the highlights.
The notable thing here is that all these are Republicans fighting back and forth — the Democrats on the council are just spectators. It’s unusual at the local level to see council members of either party fighting like this, so it’s especially unusual when they involve members of the same party. Now 30 members of the 90-member Lynchburg Republican City Committee have called a special meeting on Oct. 15 to take up resolutions that would censure Reed and Faraldi — and boot them off the Republican committee. The proposed censure resolutions contain a long list of particulars, some of which I’m not in a position to investigate, but some of which are well-documented: Specifically, Reed and Faraldi voted for that resolution to censure Helgeson and Misjuns.
At this point, I’m not sure how much the actual details matter. It seems fair to say the situation in Lynchburg is a mess. Some observations:
This isn’t your standard ideological fight
I suppose there’s some ideology at play here somewhere, but it’s not as if this is a clear-cut case that pits a hard-right faction against a more center-right faction. Helgeson and Misjuns certainly present a more hard-line persona, and some have delighted in calling Reed and Faraldi “RINOs” — referring to “Republicans In Name Only.” However, when I attended a Republican rally in Bedford County last week, guess who was there wearing a “Trump Force Captain” hat? Faraldi. The Trump campaign has named him one of its on-the-ground operatives in the Lynchburg area. During the recent 5th District Republican primary, both Faraldi and Reed backed state Sen. John McGuire, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, while Helgeson and Misjuns backed incumbent Bob Good.
Lynchburg Republicans are risking their majority on the council
I’ve pointed out before that, because of how Lynchburg’s council is configured (three seats at large, four by ward) and how those elections are staggered, there’s little voters can do about this — at least for now.
Of the four seats on the ballot this fall, three are in wards with strong political leanings — Wards 3 and 4 are distinctly Republican, Ward 2 is Democratic. However, Ward 1 is very much a swing ward, and there’s a three-way race underway for that seat among Republican Jacqueline Timmer, Democrat Randy Smith and independent Cameron Craddock Howe. If I were a Lynchburg Republican (which I’m not), I’d be concerned that censuring the Republican mayor and vice mayor and kicking them off the party’s governing committee just a few weeks before Election Day might have the effect of turning Ward I voters off Republicans altogether, especially when there’s an alternative available besides the Democrat.
I asked Veronica Bratton, the Lynchburg Republican chair, about this. Her response: “I believe the members who worked and donated to achieve a five [member] Republican majority are upset and feel betrayed by the actions of two [Faraldi and Reed] . . . It is very disappointing that they felt this was the only way they could get the attention of the mayor and vice-mayor. I hope the meeting will allow for open dialogue between both sides where we can reach an understanding and come together.”
Faraldi replied by text message that he was traveling and would not respond. Reed sent a statement that “I’m continuing to focus on public safety, school issues and growing the workforce in our city. I spent my morning telling classes of 7th graders that I’m trying to make sure that they have opportunities for their future here in Lynchburg, and that’s what I will continue to focus on.”
The biggest electoral danger for Lynchburg Republicans might come in 2026 when those three at-large seats are on the ballot. Democrats could easily run on a platform of “clean house.” Republicans have a tax cut they can point to, but that risks getting lost in the kerfuffle. In politics, emotion often counts more than policy.
Some Lynchburg Republicans are still unhappy with the state’s election laws
A new state law essentially forbids the use of conventions to nominate candidates except in special situations; parties are forced to use primaries. Lynchburg’s Republican leadership wanted to use a convention earlier this year to nominate council candidates until Attorney General Jason Miyares told them they couldn’t. One reason that some don’t like primaries is because Virginia doesn’t register voters by party, so anyone can vote. Bratton says that by comparing lists of who voted in this year’s Republican congressional primary with those from other primaries, she concluded that 440 Lynchburg Democrats voted in the Good-McGuire primary. If they all voted for McGuire, that’s enough to have tipped the balance in that race.
The resolution censuring Faraldi also alludes to this crossover vote: “The LRCC recognizes that a slim 33-vote majority of the electorate in Lynchburg’s fourth ward voted to retain Chris Faraldi as the Lynchburg’s Republican nominee.” However, the resolution notes, Virginia’s open primary law allows voters who normally “would not qualify for Republican Party membership,” namely Democrats.
This kind of crossover voting goes both ways. Last year, Republican committees in Fairfax and Loudoun openly urged people to cast ballots in the Democratic primary, mostly as a way to try to defeat certain candidates who they figured would win if nominated. The General Assembly hasn’t shown much interest in requiring party registration, so Lynchburg Republicans may just have to stew about this.
Lynchburg isn’t the only locality with a dysfunctional governing body. Highland County’s may be even more so.
A recent story in The Recorder, the weekly newspaper in the Alleghany Highlands, began this way: “Yet another Highland County Board of Supervisors meeting devolved into a shouting match Tuesday. Accusations and foul language at top volume filled the room as two supervisors and residents argued about who lied, who cursed and who was to blame for expenses the county will have to pay related to a recall petition against supervisors Henry Budzinski and Harry Sponaugle.”
That wasn’t all they argued about. They argued about whether one of them had threatened a county employee. “You better lawyer up, buddy,” Supervisor Paul Trible told Budzinski. (No, this isn’t the same Paul Trible who was once a U.S. senator from Virginia.) “I am the one that is going to bring you down,” Trible said, according to The Recorder. It’s an entertaining account, just as Lynchburg’s political in-fighting is entertaining in a way, but government shouldn’t be so entertaining. Government should be more businesslike. Speaking of recall petitions …
Recall petitions aren’t the answer
I often hear voters who are unhappy about something their local government has done threaten to launch a recall petition. These voters need to read the law.
In Virginia, only four localities allow for the kind of recall those voters envision. Instead, recall petitions — if they get enough signatures, which they rarely do — go to a judge, not the voters. That judge is not called upon to weigh in on whether the officeholder has done a good job or not. Instead, the state sets a high bar for removing someone from office: The judge can remove someone only if the officeholder has committed certain specific crimes, or “for neglect of a clear, ministerial duty, misuse of the office, or incompetence in the performance of the duties of the office when that neglect of duty, misuse of office, or incompetence in the performance of duties has a material adverse effect upon the conduct of the office.” Voting the “wrong way” — however voters deem that — is not a sufficient cause for removal. Not even being a jerk is sufficient cause for removal.
Interestingly, Lynchburg is one of those four localities that does allow for an actual recall election — Hampton, Norfolk and Portsmouth are the others. So in theory, Lynchburg voters could launch a recall election of any of their council members. However, last year there was a drive to launch a recall petition against Misjuns, and it sputtered out. In Highland County, the recall petition was dismissed, and The Recorder reports that the county will now have to reimburse the two supervisors “about $5,000 in legal fees, plus staff time related to the case.” That means the recall petition there not only fizzled, it backfired and cost taxpayers money. Considering that the last census counted just 2,232 people in Highland, that means the recall will cost each resident $2.24.
None of this is making the localities look good
I shouldn’t have to say this, but I will. You’d think from all these politics that these are terrible communities. They’re not. Both are beautiful places to live, Highland in a rural way, Lynchburg in a more urban one. Lynchburg also stands out in some interesting statistical categories. In a part of the state that’s old and growing older, Lynchburg (thanks to all its colleges) is one of the youngest cities in the state. It’s one of just two places in the western part of the state (nearby Appomattox County is the other) where births outnumber deaths. Lynchburg has a vibrant arts scene. It’s got economic challenges, to be sure, we all do, but Lynchburg is a better place than its politics make it appear.
Voters have limited recourse if their governing body is dysfunctional
I realize this is where I should be giving some high-minded advice about how voters are in charge. That’s a nice thing to say in a civics textbook. The reality is somewhat more complicated. First of all, let it be noted that what the Lynchburg Republican City Committee does or doesn’t do doesn’t change who’s on the council, so their upcoming meeting doesn’t even matter. However, it’s a byproduct of the council members battling back and forth, and that seems to have no end in sight. I’ve said this before, but it seems worth saying it again: Of the four members of the Lynchburg City Council who, willingly or unwillingly, have been at the center of this controversy, only one will be on the ballot this fall. That’s Faraldi, and he’s running in a district that votes between 55% (2016 presidential) and 65% (2022 congressional) Republican. Helgeson is retiring. Voters will have to wait until 2026 to register their thoughts on Misjuns and/or Reed.
That’s why voters should be careful about who they elect in the first place. Unfortunately, that’s often easier said than done.
Early voting begins Friday
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