This article was never published or previously shared with third parties. It was held back in the hope—and based on assurances—that those mentioned herein would do the right thing and not deny WCRC’s 55 elected delegates their right to defend their seats at the 2026 State Convention.
Despite that hope, the 2026 State Convention was held on June 6, 2026, and WCRC’s 55 delegates were neither seated nor afforded due process to offer a defense on the floor of the State Convention—despite RPA Rules, Article I, Section 6(E), page 11 of 45, expressly providing each of them that right.
by Brenda Vassaur Taylor
June 4, 2026
Being an even numbered year and summer, we are now in Arkansas’ political parties’ state convention season!
The Rules:
And with a supermajority of Republicans holding elected office in Arkansas, it is helpful to understand that it is “the biennial Republican State Convention that holds ultimate authorityi over all [Republican] party matters.”
Since it only meets every two years, the State Convention delegates its power between conventions to the State Committee, which meets every six months. Between its meetings, the State Committee delegates to the state Executive Committee (EC) authority to carry out RPA policies and implement the budget on behalf of the State Committee.ii So in the end, it is the EC to which most local County Committee members are trained to give an account.
History—Behind the Curtain:
Since August of 2023 certain members of the Washington County Republican Committeeiii (WCRC) have dominated the RPA through holding power positions on the state Executive Committeeiv (EC). (For names and other vital bits of info, see the list at the bottom of this article.)
Alongside this WCRC domination, there has been a second phenomenon within Republican ranks. Republicans (including a large majority of the members of the WCRC) want “real” change. They complain, for example, that the Republicans’ 80+% in the Arkansas Legislature have produced minimal movement toward conservative economic policies (a/k/a smaller government), medical freedom, other platform positions such as “closed primaries,” or a preference for paper ballots.
These two historical occurrences came to a head during the 2024 RPA State Convention (just prior to the election of Trump to his second term) when two WCRC members, Joseph Wood and Julie Harris, were not seated as they had expected as 2024 State Convention Chairman and Secretary.
This surprisingly produced “hate” within that State Convention Hall that you could see and cut with a knife.
To add fuel to the fire, during the 2024 credentialing process, it became known to the Convention floor that the WCRC chairman, Brian Lester (now our 2026 State Party Rules Chair), had stuffed the Washington County delegate “ballot” list by adding (on his own without the vote of any member of the WCRC) 22 additional delegates—giving Washington County its maximum allowed of 55. (This news had come to light through a “whistleblower” phone call to a WCRC state delegate hours before.) When the news was brought to the floor of the State Convention, these unelected 22 were then unseated, as they had been admittedly placed on the list illegally and solely by the then WCRC chairman, Brian Lester. (Turned out, there had been a few other counties pulling the same stunt but only a slight number in comparison. They too were unseated.)
This moment became a line in the sand for the entire WCRC membership.
But the rest of the state became affected also the next month, when Joseph Wood, as state party Chairman, led the charge and declared most of the changes passed by the 2024 State Convention –“null and void” via a majority vote of the state EC.
This was a shocking move to County Committees. Wood had solicited an opinion from his then Rules Chairman, Bilenda Harris Ritter, in response to a “secret” complaint filed by Barbara Tillman, Benton County Chairman, which supported such a move in spite of a clear reading of RPA Rules.
This move had the practical effect of setting aside the 2024 State Convention decisions to 1) close the Republican Primaries and 2) bring the State Committee membership into line with most states and the RNCv.
This was not a legal consequence but one which the elected class preferred. Since the RPA staff, Chairman Wood, and Secretary Julie Harris refused to release the names of State Convention delegates to the 2024 State Convention Chairman or Secretary, the 2024 Convention chairman was without the ability to recall the Convention. As a result, the 2024 State Convention chairman then filed suit to implement the decisions of the State Convention in federal court.
The federal judge ruled that it did not have jurisdiction over the matter and dismissed the case. (Btw: This is not what attorney Brian Lester, current RPA Rules Chairman, implied to the attendees on April 21, 2026, when he deliberately and wrongly claimed from the floor of the Washington County Convention, that the Court had declared legal the “null and void” actions of the 2024 EC as being legal.)vi
Now two years later—”What difference, at this point, does it make?”
2026 State Convention Prep for June 6:
- The 10-day call has gone out from the RPA to most of the 2026 State Convention delegates (names sent to RPA from the 75 County Committee secretaries).
- I say “most” since I know personally that eight of the 55 delegates advised WCRC Secretary that they still had not received the required 10-day call from the RPA– in spite of repeated requests for same.
- It is reported that the seven-member Credentials Committeevii (CC) has failed to credential (seat) 27 of the 75 County Committee State delegations. In spite of a long-standing practice of forgiveness by the RPA, suddenly 26 of the 27 will allegedly not be seated due to missing the deadline for turning in their list of delegates per the RPA rules.
- (Apparently no repercussions exist when the RPA fails to give required notice under RPA Rules—only to Counties.)
- It is the 27th County (Washington County (WCRC)) not to be seated– which is the focus of this article.
- During the first night of the County Convention (after more than a one-month notice and sitting on these new one-time procedural rule), Brian Lester made the outrageous claim that the process used by the Washington County Convention was not legal because they were local rules and not approved by him or Joseph Wood. He added to the absurdness by saying “Procedural Rules are nowhere found in Robert’s Rules.”
- See Exhibit A-
[00:07:07.14] – Brian Lester
“The RPA rules are clear that when you pass a local rule, you have to give 10 days’ notice. Procedural rules are nowhere found in the Robert’s Rules of Order.” [emphasis added]
(You can view the video here: https://youtu.be/Gl_jqgXjQqc )
- When reviewing Roberts’ Rules, it is clear that adopting standing rules (procedural rules) for a convention is standard procedure and are not part of the underlying organization’s bylaws or local rules but apply to that one convention and are not subject to the same adoption procedure as a local rule or bylaw.
- Therefore, it is a clear misstatement of fact or shows a complete lack of knowledge of Robert’s Rules to say, “Procedural rules are nowhere found in the Robert’s Rules of Order”.
- See RONR (12th ed.) Index page 708, See Standing Rules-Convention standing rules v ordinary, 59:27, 59:35(2)
- After Lester’s objection, a motion was made from the floor during the County Convention to amend the procedural rules to allow nominations from the floor. This did not pass. (See the transcript and video recording of this portion of the April 21, 2026, Washington County Convention attached as Exhibit A.)
- On June 3, a biased Credentials Committee decided to follow the lead of the disgruntled Brian Lester, its Rules Chairman (rejected on multiple levels by Washington County Republicans). With an assumed straight face, they put in writing his absurd claim as their own —that the one-time procedural rules of the 2026 County Convention are actually “local rules”—thus setting aside the election of the 55 delegates and therefore not seating them.
- Two more facts are needed here:
- After claiming the procedure was illegal, Brian Lester filed as a delegate under these procedural rules and was elected as the last place alternate on May 9, 2026.
- The WCRC actual local rules (which did not include these convention procedural rules) were approved by the Washington County Convention on April 21 and were timely sent to the State Committee Secretary and the RPA staff.
- It should also be noted that no established procedure to elect delegates to the State Convention exists under the RPA Rules. Without a specific rule, the RPA rules specifically say they default to Robert’s Rules.
- This procedure used for the one-time election of 55 delegates to the 2026 State Convention came from Robert’s Rules and was designed as such by the WCRC chairman, Ross Little, Jr, and was duly and timely passed by the WCRC.
- Results: This new one-time procedure allowed more time and opportunity for individuals to participate than ever before. It was successful. Unlike 2024 and all prior years, all maximum (55) delegate positions provided by Arkansas law were legally filled, while adding 10 alternates.
Part of the Problem-the appearance of a biased Credentials Committee:
The seven-member 2026 State Convention Credentials Committee consists of two members of the WCRC, Sharon Stuthard, acting chairman of the Credentials Committee, and Julie Harris (a longtime member of the EC and the person who led the decision as then Credentials Committee Chair to disqualify the entire Pulaski County delegation of 71 in 2022).
Stuthard and Harris have specifically and consistently expressed disappoint in decisions made by the WCRC since their preferred candidate, Brian Lester, lost his position to Ross Little, Jr in January 2025 as WCRC chairman.
This appearance of bias has been made even more overwhelming by the fact that Sharon Stuthard, Chairman of the Credentials Committee, lost her re-election bid as State Committeewoman to Brenda Vassaur Taylor by a near 75% margin on April 21, 2026, at the 2026 Washington County Convention with 86 delegates voting.
No doubt adding to their disappointment is the fact that Julie’s old boss, Patrick Deakins, Washington County Judge, (and Brian Lester’s current boss) was soundly defeated in the 2026 Republican primary by more than a 77% margin during the runoff on March 31, 2026. (There were members of the WCRC who openly worked in this primary against Deakins in full belief his bullying and lack of effective leadership would cause the Democrat to win that position in November should Deakins be re-elected.)
Forget about all the history. These recent facts alone make emotions run high.
In the legal world, this would warrant a clear call for Stuthard and Harris to recuse from the Credentials Committee when determining whether WCRC delegates will be seated at the 2026 State Convention. They are perceived as clearly biased.
Appearance of Rules Chairman Applying a Personal Application Rather Than Legal:
The final factor that muddies this decision not to seat the WCRC delegates:
During the Washington County Convention, Brian Lester (the previous and 2025 defeated WCRC chairman) made an objection to the standing rules for the County Convention which had been passed by the WCRC. He had known about and had a copy of these procedural rules passed by WCRC for the County Convention for longer than one month but, as state Rules Chairman, had failed to contact the WCRC chair to advise ahead of time that he thought they were illegal and how this should be remedied. This fact alone lends to the appearance of a pre-planned strategy to disallow these 55 Washington County delegates voting positions at the State Convention.
Lester waited until the night of the 2026 County Convention to declare his opinion on these Procedural Rules. He proudly announced on the County Convention floor and in private that night to Chairman Little that since Little had not gotten either his or Joseph Wood’s prior permission to use this method, the use of them would be declared illegal.
The claim Lester made during the County Convention that election of the delegates was made under failed Local Rules (missing a required 10-day notice before passing) is the exact ruling made by the Credentials Committee. Therefore, one must assume the Credentials Committee is using the RPA Rules Chairman Lester’s advice on reaching this legal conclusion.
A portion of the dialogue from Lester during the County Convention is repeated as followsviii:
[00:07:07.14] – Brian Lester
“The RPA rules are clear that when you pass a local rule, you have to give 10 days notice. Procedural rules are nowhere found in the Robert’s Rules of Order. [Emphasis added]
[00:07:16.13] – Brian Lester
“Therefore, they don’t supersede.
[00:07:19.02] – Brian Lester
“And therefore, the chairman is putting all of Washington County’s delegates in jeopardy of not being seated at convention if he doesn’t follow the proper rules. And therefore, Mr. Chairman, I ask that you sustain the motions by Mr. Mendenhall because these rules have not been followed. And whether you call them procedural rules for your own benefit or not, it is a local rule that requires a 10-day notice, which did not happen in this case.”
Request of the Seated Delegates to the 2026 Republican State Convention:
Perceived unfair treatment is not righted by unfair treatment. Wrong is made right with fairness.
Procedure Rules (Standing Rules) were correctly followed by Ross Little, Jr. as chairman of the Washington County Convention and the WCRC to elect 55 delegates and 10 alternates to the 2026 Republican State Convention. This process gave more time and opportunity for people to be involved than ever offered before. The Procedural Rules followed were and are not Local Rules. To declare such (out of the blue) seems to be simply an excuse to exact some sort of revenge on state Republican conservatives, and especially on the WCRC, who do not like all that is going on in the state of Arkansas or in their own party and take effective action against it.
Please vote to put a stop to what appear as wrongful actions by a few at the top who serve on the state Executive Committee –Please vote to seat the 55 Washington County delegates to the 2026 State Convention on Saturday, June 6!
****
I apologize to the state of Arkansas and especially to our new members of the WCRC for what appears to be revenge from a few in Washington County toward the entire WCRC while hiding behind words that claim, “they are serving the best interests of the state.”
i https://www.arkansasgop.org/rules.html
See Article I, Section 1, B.
ii https://www.arkansasgop.org/rules.html
See Article V, Sections 3 and 5.
iii County Committees are lowest level (grassroots) of Republican members according to its power structure. See Article II.
iv https://www.arkansasgop.org/leadership.html
Members of the 2026 WCRC and currently serving on the 2026 RPA Executive Committee:
- Joseph Wood, Chairman
- Chairman of the State Party—elected August 2023 to the present
- Previously served as Washington County Judge 2017-2022
- Also has a full-time residence in Saline County.
- June Wood (wife of Joseph Wood), Second Vice-Chairman
- Elected December 2022 to the present.
- Also has a full-time residence in Saline County.
- Sharon Stuthard, Secretary
- Elected December 2024 to the present, replacing Julie Harris who was term limited.
- Heads 2026 State Convention Credentials Committee
- Served as WCRC State Committeewoman 2024 until defeated on April 21, 2026, by 74% of the vote in favor of Brenda Vassaur Taylor
- Julie Harris, Deputy Treasurer (votes when Treasurer absent)
- Appointed to 2026 State Convention Credentials Committee
- State Party Secretary- December 2016 through December 2024 (term limited)
- Head of 2022 and 2024 State Convention Credentials Committee
- (update: June 16, 2026, at the WCRC meeting, Julie Harris stated that she wrote the email to Ross Little sent from the 2026 Credentials Committee as to their “two concerns” regarding rule breaking.)
- Brian Lester, Rules Chairman
- Appointed Rules Chairman by Joseph Wood in 2025 to the present
- Served as Washington County Republican Committee Chairman beginning Jan 2021 and defeated in Jan 2025 by Ross Little, Jr.
- Currently serves as Washington County attorney, appointed by Joseph Wood (2017-2022), continued under Patrick Deakins (Jan 2023- likely to terminate Jan 2027 or earlier as Deakins’ (Lester) defeated by 77.11% on March 31, 2026 Republican Primary run-off.)
- April 2026, before the night of the 2026 County Convention, filed late for 2026 State Convention delegate and again a timely filing in May per adopted procedural rules. Received 9 of 50 votes in May. Defaulted to alternate. (These procedural rules for nominating state convention delegates were adopted in the March 2026 WCRC meeting and amended during the first night of the 2026 County Convention.)
- Sharon Lloyd, President of the Arkansas Federation of Republican Women
- Served since 2023 to the present.
- She has not been an active member of the WCRC since 2022. Listed here simply to show the dominance of Washington County residence on the state EC.
- Susan Geisler, Chairman of the Third Congressional District
- Elected in 2022 to the present.
v The Rule change passed by the 2024 State Convention disallowed state legislators an automatic State Committee vote. But it did not disallow them this position if elected the same as any other member of their county committee.
vi See Federal Court Order link! Conduit News.
The transcript and video of meeting—See Exhibit A.
You can view the video here: https://youtu.be/Gl_jqgXjQqc
[00:07:54.06] – Joe Maynard
Yes, this is spoken by the man who believes the Executive Committee can overrule a convention. Take that into consideration.
[00:08:01.18] – Brian Lester
Only when it’s illegal. You’re right, sir.
[00:08:03.21] – Joe Maynard
Wrong.
[00:08:04.24] – Brian Lester
As a judge said in federal court, only when it’s—
vii 2026 State Convention Committee on Credentials: Sharon Stuthard, Secretary; Julie Harris, Deputy Treasurer; Jaima Sims, 1st District; Gabrielle Harvey, 2nd District; Dianna Lankford, 3rd District; Iverson Jackson, 4th District; and Matthew Shepherd, General Counsel.
viii The transcript and video of meeting—See Exhibit A.
You can view the video here: https://youtu.be/Gl_jqgXjQqc
