Last night’s Lexington County Republican Party Executive Committee meeting was enlightening to say the least.

After special guest speaker Hamp Redmond, Chairman Mark Weber opened the business portion of the meeting with an officer’s report emphasizing his commitment to keeping meetings short, ending on time, and becoming more disciplined with process and Robert’s Rules of Order.

Efficiency. Order. Structure.

Ironically, the moment he concluded, Second Vice Chair Debbie Heim’s “report” proceeded as a nearly 30-minute lecture on how a bill becomes law.

To be fair, this concept was already masterfully covered in about three minutes by Schoolhouse Rock!,  specifically the cinematic masterpiece, I’m Just a Bill.

After multiple additional leadership reports, we finally arrived at the 3 resolutions on the agenda, right at the 8pm deadline. The chair then asked the body whether we wished to extend the meeting to actually conduct the party’s business.

To my knowledge, business meetings exist for the Executive Committee to conduct business, not to sit politely while leadership enjoys the dulcet tones of its own officer reports.

The agenda for the Lexington County Republican Party monthly meeting was issued today. Among several resolutions at the upcoming meeting on Monday, the executive committee will consider:

* A resolution supporting the “clean” closed primary bill (H.5183), a fantastic piece written and submitted by Preston Baines.

* A separate resolution imposing candidate qualification standards requiring a candidate to have voted in two of the last three Republican primaries.

It’s important to note the differences between the two.

One is about who votes in our primaries.
The other is about who is allowed to run.

That distinction matters.