The Prince William County Republican Committee announced Tuesday that it has officially removed independent candidate Brentsville Supervisor Scott Jacobs from its membership.
“This action is taken after you violated the letter and spirit of the agreement that you made with us when you joined the Prince William County Republican Committee.” said Chairman Bill Card in the letter. “By your signature on our membership form you pledged to ‘support all of its [the party’s] nominees for public office.’ Further implicit in your letter to us expressing your intent to run as a Republican in the Brentsville Special Election is the corollary that you would not run against our nominee.”
A copy of the letter informing Jacobs of the Committee’s decision can be read HERE.
According to its members, the committee took this action at their November 24 meeting in response to various reports that the Jacobs campaign is representing Scott Jacobs as the Republican candidate in the December 23 Special Election. In actuality, Jeanine Lawson is the Republican nominee.
The Prince William GOP has released an audio recording in which a Jacob’s representative identifies Jacobs as “a Republican” and a conservative candidate. The speaker never uses word “independent” within the recorded phone conversation, which may have caused some confusion among the electorate. CLICK HERE
Jacobs, who at one time sought the Republican nomination, was disqualified by the nominating committee of the Prince William Republic Committee for not meeting the requirement that all applications had to be postmarked by a certain date. Jacobs hand-delivered his application to the committee, but the committee voted not to accept it within days of the Mass Meeting to elect the party’s nominee.
Tuesday, Jacobs spoke with Bristow Beat denying the allegations that his campaign is representing him as the Republican candidate.
“Neither myself nor any of my staff have been out there saying, ‘Scott is the Republican candidate.’ That is an absolute fallacy,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs said that he is disappointed that the Republican GOP decided to take this move against him. He explained that he joined the committee with the best of intentions and volunteered his time for the committee on numerous occasions. He also thinks they would have continued to consider him a valued member as he is a small business owner in the community.
Jacobs said their vote does not change his core values.
“Their decision doesn’t my change morals, ethics, background, or how I vote. [I have] principles solely based in Republican ideology,” Jacobs said.
After dedicating nine months of his life to campaigning, Jacobs said he felt strongly that he needed to continue his efforts. He drew upon the support of his friends, family and supporters. He also felt that since the Democratic Party said at that time that they would not be running a candidate, he believed his candidacy would provide choice the people would not otherwise have at the polls.
Jacobs said he takes responsibility for not adhering the application deadline; however he pointed out that the Prince William Republican Committee had their own failings in regards to process. He claims they failed to post the “call” for nominees on the Republican Party of Virginia website, possibly invalidating the entire nomination process.
Furthermore, Jacobs questioned the true motives of the nominating committee, a committee of three. He described two of those three members as staunch Lawson supporters.
He said that he was informed by those who attended the meeting that he was almost expelled from the party, but for one influential member who explained that it would be best to just remove his name from the rolls.
However, Chairman Bill Card defended the committee’s decision when speaking with Bristow Beat Thursday. He said the decision was appropriate because Jacobs, “violated our trust, and he violated the letter and the spirit of the agreement in which he joined us.”
Card said that although Jacobs lived in Brentsville almost his entire life, he only joined the Prince William Republican Committee this year.
“I didn’t even know Scott Jacobs until January.* He came to us seeking our brand. He came to us because he wanted an R by his name,” Card said.
In addition to not meeting the application deadline, Card said the committee was concerned with some of Jacob’s other behaviors such as posting campaign signs before the election board sanctioned such forms of political campaigning.
And, while Jacobs said he embodies Republican ideals, Card disagrees.
“We believe in following our word, and keeping our word, and being honest and upfront with everyone,” Card said.
Card also said he was willing to be reviewed by the state party.
“We were well within the law,” said Vice President of the Prince William Republican Committee, D.J. Jordan, “but Mr. Card was going to go into an official appeals process to value what Mr. Jacobs had to say.”
However, before such a review could be conducted, the Republican Committee learned that Jacobs announced he had decided to run as an independent candidate.
Card felt the spirit of Jacob’s announcement was insulting to the Republican Committee because it was critical of the process they employed in excluding him from their mass meeting.
Despite a rift it created, Jacobs said there are some advantages to being an independent candidate such as reaching out to all Brentsville citizens regardless of party affiliation. He notes that he has won over some Republican supporters, and others see the value in his economic policies he believes are aligned with tradition Republican values.
For his part, Card continues to be critical of Jacobs economic plan, and said the current Prince William Republican Party is aligning itself with the people, not the developers. He said they support local businesses, just not through a rash of building more rooftops.
*A reader has noted that Bill Card and Scott Jacobs served on the Strategic Planning Commission together before 2014. Card said he missed many meetings because it was on the same night as his Republican meetings, and he does not remember meeting Jacobs during the ones he attended. Jacobs said he does remember meeting Card, but verified that Card missed the majority of planning meetings.
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