Having been through two Republican State Conventions in 2008 and 2009 that were horrible with the shouting and the disagreements, this doesn't shock me at all. It has been waiting to happen but it went too far this time on the part of the establishment the way it looks in order to get Romney the delegates.
Here in my own precinct in 2008 I gave up my precinct chair as I was working in campaigns and frankly nothing ever happens in my precinct. The person who replaced me at the precinct meeting I was fine with -- really nice person and didn't realize he was a Paul supporter UNTIL after the names were turned in and discovered he didn't live in the precinct so he was ineligible. The County Chair got mad at me for daring to question him when he appointed someone instead of us calling another precinct meeting to vote. But then he was the County chair after I served as the Vice Chair of the County who put a Democrat on his ticket who hadn't registered as a Republican and another person who was not a resident of our County which we found out later and they were removed so his time as County Chair started off bad and ended bad. Seemed like a nice guy but inept.
Been debating whether to post this article but frankly as am seeing the same thing happen around other states, the person is right that the Romney/establishment people want to disenfranchise the Paul people but looks like it is also Santorum and Gingrich by giving all the delegates to Romney even though he didn't win them all in my state. Doesn't seem to make some people any difference. Rules are mad to be broken it looks like.
If I didn't know better and read the article, I would have thought he was talking about a Democrat Convention but he wasn't. This is what having Romney for the nominee is making it worse in states like mine where Republican leaders have to turn into pretzels to support him or they are more moderate then they portrayed themselves. I find this whole fiasco sickening and am asking myself once why I am a Republican when the Governor of my State refers to Ron Paul people as "Obama lovers" which I was shocked to learn. Frankly most of us supporters for other candidates thought Ron Paul was way too cozy with Mitt Romney. Personally think this is uncalled for out of a Governor when these are legitimate delegates which is more than can be said for some of the Romney people. A Governor represents all the people not just Republicans and the same can be said for Democrat Governors. Today politics seems to trump all!
Ron Paul people didn't physically attack other delegates like the Romney people either at this Convention. Something is wrong with this Republican Party that started when the RNC Chair Priebus took over and is getting worse. The RNC is beholding to big donors who are out to buy this election for Mitt Romney.
It is beyond disgusting and last night I actually went to see what the Reform Party platform was not even knowing if I could vote for them in OK because I live in one of the most restrictive states to get on the ballot -- Oklahoma. I have also looked at the Libertarian Platform. I like the former Republican Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson who is running on the Libertarian ticket. I also like Buddy Roemer, former Republican Governor of Louisiana who looks to be in the lead for the Reform Party nomination. Does it strike you odd that two former Republican Governors are running in third parties after they were candidates for the GOP nomination but in Roemer's case he was kept out of all debates and Johnson they only let in two until Perry got in the race.
Why didn't the RNC want Perry, Roemer, and Johnson all either a current or former Republican Governor from the southern part of the Country on stage with their MA hero Romney? You can also throw in John Huntsman, former Governor of Utah, into the mix who was ignored by the media which we assume now was at the direction of Karl Rove.
Will someone tell me why any conservative should remain a Republican because the leadership of Republicans in the Senate and House show they are not for limited government which is what most of us believe. Former Majority Leader of the Senate Trent Lott went so far as to state recently that they have to change the minds of new members who believe in limited government. Knew I didn't like Lott but it sure explains why he didn't like the former Oklahoma Senator Don Nickles.
Why are Republicans this time so quick to break the rules for Romney? Have they morphed into Democrats?
Oklahoma GOP continues national trend of disenfranchising Paul supporters Published: 5:31 PM 05/17/2012
The shenanigans I witnessed at the Oklahoma State Republican Convention a few days ago ranged from petty, to absurd, to unjust, to downright violent, irreparably damaging the legitimacy of the Oklahoma Republican Party leadership and, by extension, the Republican presidential nominating process those leaders so brazenly abused.
Over the past several days, social and news media erupted with clips of Ron Paul supporters being physically assaulted by Mitt Romney followers and of Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin being drowned out by chants of “Ron Paul!” after pejoratively referring to Paul and his supporters in attendance as “Obama lovers.” As is often the case in today’s media, however, the most sensational controversies that erupted in Norman, OK, on May 12 were also the least consequential. Tensions run high, passions run deep. Heated exchanges and a raucous atmosphere are inevitable. Such behavior, while not altogether acceptable, is at least understandable.
The real story that should come out of the convention is the state party’s abdication of its most basic responsibilities toward the convened delegates and toward dissenting voices within the Republican Party.
A sampling of the more egregious violations of party and convention rules:
● Delegates checking into the convention were not asked to show ID to collect their badges. Aside from the obvious potential for manipulation in such a loose credentialing process, it struck many of us as odd that a party hell-bent on pushing voter ID laws couldn’t be bothered to ID voters at its own convention.
● The delegates were seated around 11:00 a.m., but the convention was delayed while “problems” with the credentials were handled. The credentialing committee eventually did present its report around 1:30 p.m. (roughly three hours late). At this time, there were approximately 1,200 delegates, according to the report. After the reading of the credentials report, State Vice-Chair Pam Pollard admitted that the count was inaccurate and that there were some 22 delegates that needed to be added due to some confusion at the county level. When the new counts were announced, more than 200 delegates had been added. Points of order were made regarding this. They were dismissed. No motion was ever made to properly amend the credentials report and no vote was ever taken accepting the final report. As a result, those delegates should have never been seated. The party leaders opted to move on without a proper vote on or acceptance of the credentials. Ultimately, the permanent roll of the convention was not certified until roughly 6:00 p.m.
● The election of 25 delegates and 25 alternates to the Republican National Convention (the primary purpose of the convention) was conducted by voice vote and standing vote, in clear violation of party rules. State Party Rule 18.D explicitly states, “Election of the Delegates-at-Large and Alternates-at- Large shall be by roll call vote.” That plainly did not happen, and points of order demanding the rules be followed were simply ignored. This rule is as plain as it gets, and the party has yet to offer any explanation. As a result, and in order to prevent the entire delegation from being discredited by the RNC, those of us who continued the convention outside held a proper roll call vote (by written ballot) on the delegate slates at approximately 7:00 p.m.
● Massive improprieties that occurred at the Congressional District 1 (Tulsa area) convention were brought to the floor at about 4:45 p.m. (ironically, the biggest impropriety in the CD1 convention was the refusal of its chair to take a roll call vote as required by the rules). Before a proper vote could be taken, hotel personnel (on orders from the GOP, a hotel employee told us) began moving mobile partitions into the room, literally blocking roughly a third of the delegates (including the very delegates whose district was at issue) from the view of Oklahoma GOP Chair Matt Pinnell, Convention Chair Marc Nuttle, and the rest of the room. Incredibly, Nuttle held a vote on how to resolve the District 1 issue while many delegates from District 1 were behind a wall and out of Nuttle’s view. Matt Pinnell spoke in favor of tabling the issue, and, unsurprisingly, Pinnell got his way on that vote. Appeals and calls for a division of the house (i.e., a formal vote) were not heard, in violation of the rules.
● With the walls still shutting out a third of the convention, Pinnell entertained a motion to adjourn the convention. The motion clearly failed the voice vote. Undeterred by the wall preventing a third of the convention from being seen, Nuttle then ordered a standing vote on the motion, from which he promptly declared the motion passed, absconded from the stage, and turned out the lights as he fled the room (As you can see here, the panels move into place on the left side, and the motion to adjourn obviously fails both the voice vote and the standing count before the lights go out). Having never properly adjourned the convention, both Nuttle and Pinnell abdicated, leaving the delegates to continue with business in the parking lot.
That is by no means an exhaustive list of improprieties on the part of the Oklahoma Republican Party. The entire process was riddled with a pernicious mixture of corruption and incompetence. There were hundreds more votes cast and counted than there were delegates in the hall, and Pinnell repeatedly disregarded the most explicit rules, and the delegates were forced into the parking lot in order for any official business to be done properly.
Excerpt: Read more: The Daily Caller
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