Countywide : Vote on GOP Chief’s Removal Planned

A majority of the Ventura County Republican Central Committee unanimously agreed Thursday that the panel’s chairman was improperly elected seven weeks ago and called for an official vote Wednesday to remove him from office.

Eighteen of the 28 members of the committee set in motion a method of ousting Chairman Bill Jones, who has come under fire for sympathetic comments about former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke.

Many members had hoped to dump Jones immediately and replace him with Vice Chairman Richard Ferrier. But they agreed to follow Ferrier’s advice that any immediate action would expose the group to potential challenges for not following procedures outlined in the committee’s bylaws.

“This business is not about defeating individuals or factions,” Ferrier said. “It is about proceeding calmly and rationally.”

If Jones is ousted on Wednesday, a new chairman would not be elected until early January.

Ferrier has emerged as the peacemaker on a committee deeply divided between traditional Republican leaders and a new group of antiabortion activists and others who support the political agenda of the religious right.

Jones, an evangelical Christian, has attracted opponents from both factions for his remarks that former Klansman Duke “is good for the Republican Party” and that money designated for AIDS awareness education has been spent for “homosexual how-to classes.”

In a last-minute parliamentary maneuver, Jones had tried to cancel Thursday night’s meeting and urged his supporters not to attend so his detractors would not have a quorum. Jones did not attend the meeting and was unavailable for comment Thursday night.