Manassas GOP seeking delegates

By Lillian Kafka

Published: March 19, 2008

The Manassas Republican Committee is accepting filings from voters who want to be delegates for congressional and statewide conventions coming this spring.

The committee is sending delegates to the 10th Congressional District and the Republican Party of Virginia conven-tions in May.

The committee can receive any amount of delegate applications. But if it receives more than 220 delegate applica-tions for the 10th District and 215 for the state convention, it will hold a meeting on April 24, said chairman An-thony Kostelecky.

It's common for area committees to hold local conventions to elect delegates. But in Manassas, they will only hold a meeting in the unlikely event that more than 220 people want to become delegates, Kostelecky said.

He said this method saves everyone's time. But that doesn't mean people should hold back from ex-pressing their interest in becoming a delegate to the congressional or the state conventions.

"We don't want our nomination settled by a small number of elite superdelegates," he said. "We want the average citizens to be able to participate."

"If people get me their forms by April 18, in all likelihood that is all they have to do," he said. "We're trying to avoid having a convention to elect people to go to a convention."

The Republican Party of Virginia convention is May 31 in Richmond. The 10th Congressional District convention is May 17 at Langley High School in McLean.

To become a delegate for the committee, you must be a registered voter and live in the city of Manassas.

The application can be found at manassasgop.com.

For more information, call Anthony Kostelecky at 703-393-9700.

Staff writer Lillian Kafka can be reached at 703-878-8065.