At least nine Butler County Republican Committee members have sent letters to the Pennsylvania Republican Party complaining about how committee chairman Gary Vanasdale conducted a recent committee meeting.
There is no merit to the letters, which were sent by a small group of “sore losers” attempting to undo the will of the people and spread propaganda, said Vanasdale’s attorney and wife, Jen Gilliland Vanasdale.
The letters were sent to state Republican Party chairman Lawrence Tabas. No one from the state party responded to a phone call or email seeking a response.
Most of the letters criticize the way Gary Vanasdale conducted a June 15 committee meeting, and some of the letters ask for him to be removed as chairman or for a hearing to be convened to determine if he should be removed from office.
The letters say he did not open the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance because there was no flag in the room in the Holly Pointe office complex in Butler where the meeting was held, refused to conduct a roll call, refused to establish a quorum for voting purposes and denied calls to remove his wife from the meeting because she is not a member of the Republican Party.
A meeting agenda was emailed to some, but not all, members, but was not available at the meeting and was not presented for approval at the meeting, the letters said. Gary Vanasdale didn’t acknowledge motions to amend the agenda, according to the letters.
In addition, the letters said that at one point during the meeting he, his wife and members of the executive committee left and met in the Gilliland, Vanasdale, Sinatra, Istik Law Office across Main Street from the Holly Pointe building without giving a reason for the meeting or saying how long the meeting would last.
Among the letter writers is Jondavid Longo, mayor of Slippery Rock and one of three committee members from the borough, whose letter contained complaints about the meeting and other complaints about Gary Vanasdale.
“For these reasons, and the many others of my fellow Republicans, I respectfully request a hearing into the conduct of Gary Vanasdale be convened as soon as possible,” Longo wrote.
Also in his letter, Longo claimed Gary Vanasdale appointed Jen Gilliland Vanasdale as Butler County Republican Committee solicitor.
Mary Kaye Soriano, one of six committee members from Zelienople, wrote: “In summary, the meeting was a chaotic disaster. County Chairman Vanasdale was discourteous and unprofessional. He made no attempt at following any established rules of order and, if fact, stated he had no intentions of following any rules but his.”
Jackson Township committee member Dianne Gregor wrote: “I am asking you to please take action and remove him from leadership. Butler County is too important for the state GOP to ignore these issues.”
“I humbly ask you to take a strong look at all the evidence submitted and our shared stories and help the Butler County Republican Committee properly reform to become an effective committee working for the Pennsylvania GOP,” wrote Lancaster Township committee member John Kovacic.
Jen Gilliland Vanasdale criticized those who complained and said their complaints have no merit.
“The same sore losers — consisting of a small group of establishment insiders, once again are attempting to undo the will of the people. They are trying to use their relationships — such as by contacting the … Butler Eagle, to try to spread propaganda and nonsense. There is no merit to the same, and it is just another example of why change was needed and will continue,” she wrote in an email to the Eagle.
She also sent responses from her and Gary Vanasdale to some of the letters to Butler attorney Tom King, who serves as the Pennsylvania Republican Committee’s general counsel, after he sent the complaints to her.
“Respectfully, said complaints are duplicative and without merit. They are more of the same from a disgruntled minority establishment group that lost control of the BCRC, so they abandoned ship and started the ‘United’ Republicans PAC,” she wrote.
Longo’s complaint was among those she addressed.
“As for JD Longo, I will address his defamatory statements and lies in a separate court process, as applicable. Gary never appointed me as solicitor. In fact, he abstained. I was voted by the BCRC Committee as a whole. I also note that I have yet to be paid for services rendered (and won),” she wrote.
In response to Soriano’s letter, she wrote: “As for Mary Kaye Soriano, she previously resigned from the BCRC and has no standing. Additionally, she may have illegally recorded the meeting at issue. This, too, will be handled in a separate court process, as applicable. Please see her resignation below and I have also attached the email in its entirety dated Sept. 23, 2022.”
According to the attached email, Soriano asks to have her email removed from a list.
Jen Gilliland Vanasdale’s email to the Eagle includes Gary Vanasdale’s responses to some of the complaints that were sent to King.
In response to a complaint from Cindy Hildebrand, one of two committee members from Chicora, Gary Vanasdale wrote: “In response to your complaint, please see the following. I also note that you have no merit and continue to try to undo what has already been decided on at least two occasions. You have abandoned your BCRC role by forming a PAC and serving it separately. Your actions make it clear that you have no interest in being part of the BCRC unless you are chair and/or vice-chair. I wish you the best in the next election.”
He went on to say there was no quorum at the meeting and no flag in the meeting room. He said there was a place on the agenda for new matters, but (Hildebrand) didn’t wait for it.
“The tone and approach by you and your orchestrated ‘United’ Republicans did not permit me to even get through our first agenda item,” he wrote.
Jen Gilliland Vanasdale noted that Bill Adams, a noncommittee Republican leader who was present at the meeting, sent her a text saying that “Gary handled the situation well.”
