Local GOP seeks to oust Mack

June 8, 2005
The Wilson County Republican Party has drafted a resolution seeking to remove Kevin Mack from his post as chairman of the organization and recently submitted the proposal to state party officials.
Although he had not seen the resolution Tuesday, Mack confirmed he had been contacted by representatives from the Tennessee Republican Party regarding the local party's proposal.
"They (state officials) wanted to give me a heads up that the local WCRP EC (Wilson County Republican Party Executive Committee) had requested that the state remove me," Mack said.
When contacted regarding the party's actions Tuesday, Wilson County Republican Party Vice Chairman Sherrie Orange declined to comment.
Chris Devaney, executive director of the state party, also declined to discuss the situation but described it as "an internal matter that will be resolved in proper time."
Mack said he now has 45 days to answer the charges levied against him by local party officials. The state party would then appoint a subcommittee to hold a hearing and allow Mack's "supporters and detractors" the opportunity to make their respective cases.
"They can hear both sides of the story," Mack said. "The only people that can remove me is the state party, and I guess the state party takes their cue from this subcommittee … I guess this situation will play out over the next couple of months."
When he was elected to the chairman's position by county Republicans earlier this year, Mack said his top goal was to "reunify" the county party with the West Wilson Republicans.
Just days ago, the former Mt. Juliet mayor said his reunification efforts had made little progress, and the county party had "apparently" elected to move on without the West Wilson group.
Mack maintained the latest dust-up revolved around the omission of the "right to life plank" from a list of party goals recently compiled by Orange.
"One of the main reasons that I'm involved in Republican efforts is because I believe strongly in pro-life causes," he said, although he noted he was unaware if the pro-life plank had ever been a written part of the county party's platform. " … That we would put forth a document that doesn't have that as one of the cores, to me, is a symbol of a major shift that might be underway. That concerns me very much."
Despite news of the move to oust him from the position, Mack said Tuesday he has no plans to step down.
"I'm in it until they remove me," he said. "The Republicans of Wilson County elected me with the theme of reunifying the split party … The Wilson County group has decided that they're not going to reunify, and I guess, given that, I'm an obstacle to them moving forward without the rest of the party.
Mack said he wasn't surprised by the resolution seeking his removal and maintained some local GOP members had previously encouraged him to resign from the position.
"It doesn't surprise me, not a bit," he said. "They've already asked for my resignation, and now, they're going to go after it."
Staff Writer Brian Harville can be reached at 444-3952 ext. 16 or by e-mail at brian.harville@lebanondemocrat.com.