By EVAN BEVINS, Parkersburg News and Sentinel
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — In appealing West Virginia Republican Party Chairwoman Melody Potter’s removal of him as the chairman and a member of the Wood County Republican Party Executive Committee, Rob Cornelius says her actions were improper under party bylaws and state code.
Cornelius provided a copy of his written appeal to The Parkersburg News and Sentinel Friday. In it, he asks the state executive committee to suspend and reverse Potter’s actions in a June 18 letter in which she said she’d removed Cornelius because he “has allowed his personal animus to destroy the advocacy of his leadership and undermine” both the county and state executive committees.
Potter cites what she calls negative and misleading comments about her from Cornelius online and in public appearances, including him referring to her as a “disappointing liar” and a “prostitute.”
In the appeal, Cornelius says Potter removed him, a duly elected member of the county executive committee, “without legal authority or cause or investigation and charges as prescribed in the WCREC (Wood County Republican Executive Committee) By-laws.” …