Several Republicans who have at times been disenchanted with the direction of the Duval County Republican Executive Committee have formed a conservative organization that will be active in local elections and issues.

The new group, called the Duval County Republican Assembly, was chartered in March as a chapter of the Florida Republican Assemblies and the National Federation of Republican Assemblies. The national organization has been around since the 1930s.

On its Web site the national group says, “The NFRA is a grassroots organization committed to helping our state Republican Assemblies reform the Republican Party to achieve their goal of a constitutional government.”

It has been called the Tea Party before there was a Tea Party.

According to one member the chapter operates independently of the Republican National Committee, the Republican Party of Florida and the Duval County REC.

The Republican Assembly intends to do things the REC is unwilling to do and that local Republican clubs ae forbidden to do — endorse candidates in Republican primaries, publish the voting records of elected officials and take positions on matter of public policy.

Frequent critics of the current REC such as former City Council member Robin Lumb, YouTube personality Quisha King and activist Blake Harper are among the 114 people who attended the first meeting of the new group.

However, the new group was not formed to oppose the GOP’s executive committee.

“We are not working at cross purposes with the REC,” Lumb told Eye on Jacksonville. Republicans may belong to both organizations. Lumb is president of the new group.

The next meeting of the assembly is 6 p.m. May 8 at the Salem Centre on Bentley Road. The guest speaker will be state Sen. Clay Yarborough of Jacksonville. Among the agenda items will be a discussion of the proposed municipal football stadium renovation.