Is Bucks County GOP using by-laws to thwart MAGAs? Party chair calls 'bombshell' report lies

If the Bucks County GOP establishment sees itself as a big tree, then Andy Meehan sees himself as a small ax.

Meehan, 59, a Republican conservative activist from Croydon, is attempting to fell longtime party Chair Pat Poprik, and transform the party through its committee seats into a place friendly to the MAGA (“Make America Great Again”) agenda.

“I’m a watchdog, a whistleblower. I see things happening up there, I don’t like it and I’m calling them out to change things,” he said.

Through his web site, RightForBucks.com, Meehan posted a 10-page expose of what he called “corrupt activities” through the party’s loose use of its by-laws.

“Bombshell,” Meehan calls it.

“Lies,” Poprik said.

Meehan report claim: Unfilled seats keep power with traditional GOP

Meehan claims a key finding of his investigation is that the “country club” GOP leadership checks the power of the party’s noisy MAGA wing, in part, by keeping an estimated 100 to 200 committee seats empty, of some 600 seats available.

Without those seats filled, the required two-thirds quorum can’t be attained, and the by-laws the party has used since 1972 stay in place.

The empty positions, Meehan said, are disproportionately located in Falls and Bristol townships. That’s crucial, he said, since Lower Bucks, while heavily Democratic, is Ground Zero for the middle- and working-class men who voted for former President Donald Trump who rode “America First” into the White House in 2016.

“If Pat Poprik and the establishment up there had a hundred new committee people from down here who want to run America First candidates, it’s a threat to their power,” Meehan said.

Meehan said his analysis of the county GOP by-laws, in place since 1972, reveals a system that concentrates power in the party chair. The chair is kept there in office by friendlies on the Republican executive committee. Meanwhile, the party’s foot soldiers, the committee people elected by rank-and-file Republicans, are treated as the hired help.

“They tell the them go knock on doors, put up yard signs, work the polls, and we don’t want to hear from you after that,” he said.

Bucks GOP response: 'What army general would go into battle and not have enough troops?'

Utter and complete nonsense, said Poprik.

“The truth is, it’s 100 percent a lie,” she said. “He’s truly a pathological liar.”

There is history between the two. Several years ago, Meehan was barred from party meetings after he screened as a candidate for Congress, and was discovered secretly recording the proceeding on his phone, a violation of state law. (Meehan disputes this, saying he never tried to hide his phone from view as he recorded).

“We filed a police report. I should have pressed charges, but didn’t,” Poprik said.

RightForBucks was launched afterward. It’s brand of Republicanism loathes RINOs (“Republicans In Name Only”) and aims to check the lurch leftward that some conservatives call America’s “Great Awokening.”

“It’s definitely a split in the party, but it’s being caused by establishment Republicans who don’t want to give up power, listen to what we have to say, or give someone like me a seat at the table,” Meehan said. “They call me divisive, but they are divided from the party’s base, and its preference for strong candidates.”

Read the RightForBucks reporthttps://www.rightforbucks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Special-Report-updated-2.17.23-2.pdf

The empty committee seats are a symptom of the bigger problem, which is the by-laws, enacted under the late Chairman Harry Fawkes a half century ago.

“It’s engineered so there’s no chance the corrupt by-laws that give them all this power can be changed,” Meehan said.

With the status quo in place, up-county Republicans choose which candidates run for local and state office, and Congress, which Meehan said means no unapologetic MAGA candidate will be on the ballot.

Poprik said she’s hamstrung in changing the old by-laws without a quorum. The party has tried for years to fill empty committee seats in Bristol Township, using techniques such as ice cream socials to recruit candidates.

“It’s not for lack of trying,” she said. “We’re doing better in Bristol Township, but why would we keep those seats empty? What army general would go into battle and not have enough troops?”

Recruiting committee candidates is laborious and time-consuming, she said.

“You just don’t pick a person out of the blue,” she said. “You need to talk to a person, feel them out, see if they’re really Republican.”

Besides, there are MAGA committee people within the county GOP ranks.

“There’s no litmus test,” Poprick said.

The history and future

Filling empty committee seats became a marquee issue more than a decade ago in Bucks County with the rise of the Tea Party, a movement led by four conservative Republican women who opposed former President Obama’s policies, especially the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare.”

Tea party political novices who attempted to run for those seats often found their petitions for office challenged by establishment Republicans on technical grounds, and were purged from the ballot before Election Day by county judges.

Meehan said his examination shows the county GOP is also in non-compliance with state GOP rules.

“These by-laws have to be struck down at the state level, otherwise change will be impossible. It’s a kangaroo court,” he said.

Lawrence Tabas, who chairs the state Republican Party, did not respond to an interview request.

Poprik said she read some, but not all, of Meehan’s report.

“It’s so tedious,” Poprik said. “I couldn’t even get through it. Really, I think he could care less about the Republican Party.”

JD Mullane can be reached at 215-949-5745 or at jmullane@couriertimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County Republican Party divided by MAGA activist claims