Georgia Republican Party Executives Caught "Stealing Chickens"

No Plausible Deniability Defense Available for McKoon or Bowden

We have known this for months, that the Georgia Republican Party establishment will never rest, content with the prospect of Brian K. Pritchard sitting for two years in the second highest position in the party. For that matter, we have also known the “Old Republican Guard” will never rest as long as David Cross might occupy the 3rd highest seat, both Pritchard and Cross elected to their respective offices by a convention of delegates called in attendance last June at the 2023 Georgia Republican Party Convention in Columbus.

And who knows, had it not been for WCGA Radio General Manager Wesley Cox blowing the whistle on a plan to oust Cross a few months ago, perhaps the party’s 2nd Vice Chair would already be replaced.

Plausible Deniability Defense is Crucial

Tyrants practice their craft under a calculated prospect of asserting plausible deniability should they be caught. By that I mean, as long as no one, for example, catches a thief in the act of thievery, and as long as there might be any other plausible way to explain how a stolen artifact might be found in his possession, a thief can generally get away with his crime without admonishment. Plausible deniability is how they helped to justify the rigged the 2020 election. In the case of Mr. Cross’s potential ouster from his position as 2nd Vice Chairman, once the southeast Georgia radio manager, Mr. Cox, blew the whistle, exposing a planned coup attempt against Mr. Cross, any conspirators were forced to reconsider their plans, cancelling or postponing them for another day, and plausibly denying there was any such plan to begin with. That’s how plausible deniability works.

OK, fine. In the case of the coup attempt against Mr. Cross, both sides lived to fight another day.

But today, in the case involving the party’s 1st Vice Chairman Brian Pritchard, unfortunately for the conspirators, the plausible deniability defense will not fly. That is because, as I posed in my example, the thieves in this case have been caught with their fingers clutched around the necks of chickens, running out of the hen house toward the gate. These thieves were sloppy. In this case, the chicken farmer intercepted communications among the conspiring chicken thieves, describing exactly how they were going to steal his chickens, and set a trap to catch them.

Meet Travis Bowden

Travis Bowden is the Executive Director of the Georgia Republican Party. Last July, one month into the term of the newly-elected slate of executive officers, Republican Chairman Josh McKoon appointed Mr. Bowden to become the new party executive director. Said McKoon at the time,

So, according to Chairman McKoon, Bowden’s job would be to, “accelerate initiatives our leadership intends to roll out.” Furthermore, McKoon appointed Bowden because Bowden “has built a great network of relationships among grassroots leaders.”

Below, we will discover the kind of “initiative” Republican Party “leadership intends to roll out” against Brian Pritchard, using Mr. Bowden’s “great network of relationships among grassroots leaders.” But we’re not quite there yet. First it is important to certify the relationships here.

Everyone Serves a Master

Because the executive directorship is an appointed position in the party, and because the executive director is appointed by the chairman, it is no great stretch to recognize that Executive Director Bowden “serves at the pleasure” of Chairman McKoon. That means that, since Josh McKoon hired him, McKoon can also fire him if his new E.D. does not do a good job of “accelerating initiatives leadership intends to roll out.” I think you get it. Let’s move on.

Now, if you read Sunday night’s Substack I entitled, “Marjorie Taylor Greene/Brian Pritchard News Story Larger than VJ (Victory in Japan) Day,” you will recall that Republican Chairman Josh McKoon holds a day-job serving as general counsel for the Technical College System of Georgia. You will also recall that, in a similar way that Travis Bowden serves at the pleasure of Chairman McKoon, McKoon serves in his position at the pleasure of Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. Thus we have a relationship among the three which looks like this:

Governor Kemp > Chairman McKoon > Executive Director Bowden

Each individual to the right serves at the pleasure of the individual to his immediate left.

Now, recall, in the story of the chickens, the farmer set a trap to catch the conspiring chicken thieves. Similarly, in our present case, a trap was set to catch Mr. Bowden apparently conspiring to instigate a coup to oust Republican Party 1st Vice Chair Brian Pritchard. However, unlike the coup foiled by our patriot friend and radio station operator Mr. Cox, this time there can be no defense of plausible deniability. This time, a chicken thief was caught, chicken-in-hand, heading for the gate.

I just thought this was funny…

You will also recall from Sunday night’s Substack, evidence I placed into consideration indicating what is apparently a WORLDWIDE conspiratorial effort to oust Brian Pritchard from his elected office in the Georgia Republican Party. I say it is a WORLDWIDE effort because of an unnatural spreading of an otherwise insignificant local smear campaign against Pritchard, queued up to run in publications all around the planet, as far away as Singapore, once Marjorie Taylor Greene posted a tweet calling for Brian Pritchard to resign.

You see, no one in Singapore cares whether a chap named Brian Pritchard is Republican Party 1st vice chair, county dog catcher, or whether he even exists. Thus there is only one reason the news in MTG’s tweet traveled to all four corners of the world, and that is that someone pushed a button to make that happen. There can be no plausible deniability here. It happened and was designed to happen to smear the name of Brian Pritchard, in order to pressure him to resign his post.

Now we get to the fun stuff.

Yesterday morning (Monday April 1, 2024), Pritchard announced on his show that he would not resign his elected position as 1st Vice Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. Shortly thereafter, in an effort to exert additional pressure on Brian Pritchard, it appears McKoon’s appointed Executive Director Travis Bowden “accelerated” one of those “initiatives leadership intends to roll out,” broadcasting a text to his “great network of relationships among our grassroots leaders,” they being numerous establishment-minded State Committee members, providing them a template to copy and paste into an email back to Bowden, indicating displeasure with Brian Pritchard, urging Pritchard to resign, and declaring their intentions to vote for his removal should Pritchard decide to remain.

The WORLDWIDE effort to “can” Brian Pritchard from his position as 1st Vice Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party has come home to roost. Apparently, Chairman McKoon’s executive director, Travis Bowden, sent out a plea for help among his network of State Committee members to gain support to oust Brian Pritchard. Bowden’s purpose would be to make this particular “initiative” appear to arise out of grassroots concerns. The text above is proof that this “initiative” has nothing to do with Republican grassroots. The text above proves that the effort to oust Brian Pritchard comes from the top, not from the bottom.

Now, do we believe Mr. Bowden would send out such an appeal WITHOUT the knowledge of Chairman McKoon? Of course not. Although McKoon would obviously like the world to believe he is not involved, unlike the case of David Cross months ago, asserting innocence and denying a role in this case is not plausible. Bowden serves at the pleasure of McKoon. Therefore, before Bowden would initiate a coup to take down McKoon’s 1st vice chairman, McKoon would have to know that and approve of it. Bowden’s job is not to undertake his own initiatives. No appointed underling of the elected party chairman would go rogue and undertake such an “initiative” without direct authority. From the words of Chairman McKoon, Bowden’s job is simply “to accelerate initiatives our leadership intends to roll out.” Therefore, initiating a coup against the party’s 2nd highest elected officer, without instructions to do so, could get Mr. Bowden fired. Perhaps more importantly to Mr. Bowden, unilaterally orchestrating this sort of initiative could even make the executive director personally liable should Pritchard decide to sue. Thus, it is not plausible for Chairman McKoon, and perhaps other members of executive leadership in the Republican Party, to deny responsibility for this plot to oust Brian Pritchard, elected to his position by a statewide delegate vote during last year’s convention.

So, how far does this CONSPIRACY against Brian Pritchard go? For the reasons I have offered, in my opinion Chairman Josh McKoon cannot plausibly deny involvement. But does it go even higher, as if to the office of Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp? It is certainly plausible, however, without more evidence than is available, that would be problematic to assume. Then again, Travis Bowden owes his livelihood to Josh McKoon. Josh McKoon owes his livelihood to Brian Kemp. I will let you do the math.

A Lawyer’s Responsibility

I think it is interesting to note that the American Bar Association Model Code of Professional Responsibility, canon 9, provides that, "[a] lawyer should avoid even the appearance of impropriety." The Georgia Bar Association has adopted that canon as Rule 3-109 under its CODE OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY. That means that an attorney representing a client should not represent interests contrary to the interests of his or her client. To do so would be a conflict of interests. You likely know, Chairman McKoon is an attorney.

Last November, I warned of Chairman McKoon’s conflicts of interest in my Substack entitled “Conflicting Interests Steering Party Chair Josh McKoon's Actions-The Kemp Appointee Can't Serve Two Masters.” My November warning is now coming home to roost.

McKoon and Bowden Must Resign

The meaning of all this cannot be more clear. Three times now, I have called for Josh McKoon’s resignation as Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. This will make a fourth. And in addition, I now call for the resignation of apparent coup initiator, Travis Bowden. It may have worked in the case of David Cross a few months ago. However, in the case of Brian Pritchard, due to extreme sloppiness, or perhaps haste, there is no access for either to appeal to the “doctrine of plausible deniability.” It’s all there in black and white. Read it for yourself, a top-down plot to remove the elected 1st Vice Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party.

What Can You Do?

People are always asking me what they can do to help save our country. Here is a great opportunity for you to get involved. I propose each of my readers send the following email, or one of their own design, to both Executive Director Travis Bowden, and as well Chairman Josh McKoon. Using your own words, or mine, please express something to the effect of, “You have lost all credibility as a Georgia Republican. I demand you resign your position with the Georgia Republican Party immediately.” That’s it. It is time we turn the tables on establishment, RINO Republicans running the Georgia Republican Party into the ground. Gaining the resignation of these two individuals will go a long way to restoring true grassroots control over Republican policies and activities.

Email addresses:

Travis Bowden……. travis@gagop.org

Josh McKoon………. josh@gagop.org

Thank you!