Magicman
03-09-2008, 11:40 PM
I'm truly in shock. I suspected this could be dirty, but not this blatant.
At our convention today we were given a ballot with the names of only the "official" nominees to the State Convention, who were all pre-approved by the SD63 "nominating committee." No Ron Paul supporters were on this list.
The Chair of the convention, Tim Erlander, said that everyone would have a chance to be nominated if they were not on the list, and, if people wanted to, they could write in extra names on their ballot. However, they were reminded by Rob Hewitt (SD63 BPOU coordinator) that the pre-selected nominees were carefully chosen. As a result, all of the people whose names were on the pre-approved nominee list, and whose names were officially on the ballot, were selected as delegates. Everyone else, including all of the Ron Paul supporters, were selected as alternates.
Further, Tim Erlander, Chair of the convention, ignored a motion to strike the ballot, and refused to allow discussion on the matter, or on the matter of the unfairness of the ballot.
I do want to congratulate and applaud our organizer, Jonathan Morey, for his diligent efforts to combat this unfairness. He spoke up several times, and was prepared to argue rules of order, however the Chair, Mr. Erlander, in some instances simply refused to acknowledge concerns about the fairness of the process, and moved on without allowing discussion or voting.
Personally, I am not only shocked, but also very angry, and I am considering whether we have a legal recourse to challenge this convention, and to unseat all delegates from it. If anyone knows more about this, please let me know.
Finally, though, I want to say that I am proud to be a part of this group. Our votes were ignored today, but our voices were heard, and the status quo was challenged. Many people outside of our ranks are beginning to understand that the leaders in government and in both parties have sold out. And that freedom is becoming more and more popular.
Jon Wilson
Just like how King George and his men ignored our pleas. This is only the beginning, we have no where to go but UP. We are all learning how to organize, combat their childishness and we will lead and eventually we WILL PREVAIL and WIN.
The economy is faltering fast and is on the verge of collapse. Many people who stuck their head in the sand will now be open to the truth. We need to stay organized and continue the fight...it's going to be a long drawn out competition to regain our freedoms, our political power and our nation. God Help Us! Truely.
- Show quoted text -
Next email:
I'm truly in shock. I suspected this could be dirty, but not this blatant.
At our convention today we were given a ballot with the names of only the "official" nominees to the State Convention, who were all pre-approved by the SD63 "nominating committee." No Ron Paul supporters were on this list.
The Chair of the convention, Tim Erlander, said that everyone would have a chance to be nominated if they were not on the list, and, if people wanted to, they could write in extra names on their ballot. However, they were reminded by Rob Hewitt (SD63 BPOU coordinator) that the pre-selected nominees were carefully chosen. As a result, all of the people whose names were on the pre-approved nominee list, and whose names were officially on the ballot, were selected as delegates. Everyone else, including all of the Ron Paul supporters, were selected as alternates.
Further, Tim Erlander, Chair of the convention, ignored a motion to strike the ballot, and refused to allow discussion on the matter, or on the matter of the unfairness of the ballot.
I do want to congratulate and applaud our organizer, Jonathan Morey, for his diligent efforts to combat this unfairness. He spoke up several times, and was prepared to argue rules of order, however the Chair, Mr. Erlander, in some instances simply refused to acknowledge concerns about the fairness of the process, and moved on without allowing discussion or voting.
Personally, I am not only shocked, but also very angry, and I am considering whether we have a legal recourse to challenge this convention, and to unseat all delegates from it. If anyone knows more about this, please let me know.
Finally, though, I want to say that I am proud to be a part of this group. Our votes were ignored today, but our voices were heard, and the status quo was challenged. Many people outside of our ranks are beginning to understand that the leaders in government and in both parties have sold out. And that freedom is becoming more and more popular.
Jon Wilson
--
Dear Folks:
I was there. I was the guy in the suit and sportcoat with John Morey (my dear friend). I am also an attorney and was the parliamentarian at another BPOU Convention on Thursday. This convention was rife with neocon fascist tactics. The people listed on ballot beforehand did not exactly make them delegates at that time, but it essentially had that effect when handed out to everyone. I just wanted to clarify that. My convention, also run by neocons, was remarkably fair and well run compared to this one.
I think that the absolute most disgusting attack today was that of while the state ballots were being collected, someone who was collecting the ballots (acting with no recognition from the Chair, much less with the effect of a properly adopted motion), yelled "Hurry up, you have two minutes to hand in your ballots," (just about 5 minutes after they had been handed out) and the people running it supported him (I think one of our people objected and the chair supported him). There were old people, at least one blind person, and perhaps other people with some other physical limitations there. The only place the alternates were listed were on an impossible-to-read whiteboard on the stage. To hurry everyone this way reminds me of the Nazi's contempt for the infirm and the elderly and frankly scares the hell out of me. I do not write this to be overly dramatic - this sort of disrespect for those who may be weaker in some ways than us certainly is a hallmark of tyranny. Jonathan Morey bravely raised a point of order (complaint) about this before the CD voting, and a little more care was taken - he seemed to gain some support of some of the more senior people attending (people who had attended many times in the past). Even so, the damage was done.
This is a complaint that needs to be made to the Republican party. This sort of behavior is entirely unacceptable in our society.
We need to stand strong and be persistent. We cannot go away. We must not be run by these people anymore.
We must send people to the National Convention - even though I have been told it is impossible, we must try. We must be heard by this audience of true-believers (many of whom I think probably have good hearts) who regularly attend these conventions.
Please come to the state convention if you can. We must persist or this will continue.
At our convention today we were given a ballot with the names of only the "official" nominees to the State Convention, who were all pre-approved by the SD63 "nominating committee." No Ron Paul supporters were on this list.
The Chair of the convention, Tim Erlander, said that everyone would have a chance to be nominated if they were not on the list, and, if people wanted to, they could write in extra names on their ballot. However, they were reminded by Rob Hewitt (SD63 BPOU coordinator) that the pre-selected nominees were carefully chosen. As a result, all of the people whose names were on the pre-approved nominee list, and whose names were officially on the ballot, were selected as delegates. Everyone else, including all of the Ron Paul supporters, were selected as alternates.
Further, Tim Erlander, Chair of the convention, ignored a motion to strike the ballot, and refused to allow discussion on the matter, or on the matter of the unfairness of the ballot.
I do want to congratulate and applaud our organizer, Jonathan Morey, for his diligent efforts to combat this unfairness. He spoke up several times, and was prepared to argue rules of order, however the Chair, Mr. Erlander, in some instances simply refused to acknowledge concerns about the fairness of the process, and moved on without allowing discussion or voting.
Personally, I am not only shocked, but also very angry, and I am considering whether we have a legal recourse to challenge this convention, and to unseat all delegates from it. If anyone knows more about this, please let me know.
Finally, though, I want to say that I am proud to be a part of this group. Our votes were ignored today, but our voices were heard, and the status quo was challenged. Many people outside of our ranks are beginning to understand that the leaders in government and in both parties have sold out. And that freedom is becoming more and more popular.
Jon Wilson
Just like how King George and his men ignored our pleas. This is only the beginning, we have no where to go but UP. We are all learning how to organize, combat their childishness and we will lead and eventually we WILL PREVAIL and WIN.
The economy is faltering fast and is on the verge of collapse. Many people who stuck their head in the sand will now be open to the truth. We need to stay organized and continue the fight...it's going to be a long drawn out competition to regain our freedoms, our political power and our nation. God Help Us! Truely.
- Show quoted text -
Next email:
I'm truly in shock. I suspected this could be dirty, but not this blatant.
At our convention today we were given a ballot with the names of only the "official" nominees to the State Convention, who were all pre-approved by the SD63 "nominating committee." No Ron Paul supporters were on this list.
The Chair of the convention, Tim Erlander, said that everyone would have a chance to be nominated if they were not on the list, and, if people wanted to, they could write in extra names on their ballot. However, they were reminded by Rob Hewitt (SD63 BPOU coordinator) that the pre-selected nominees were carefully chosen. As a result, all of the people whose names were on the pre-approved nominee list, and whose names were officially on the ballot, were selected as delegates. Everyone else, including all of the Ron Paul supporters, were selected as alternates.
Further, Tim Erlander, Chair of the convention, ignored a motion to strike the ballot, and refused to allow discussion on the matter, or on the matter of the unfairness of the ballot.
I do want to congratulate and applaud our organizer, Jonathan Morey, for his diligent efforts to combat this unfairness. He spoke up several times, and was prepared to argue rules of order, however the Chair, Mr. Erlander, in some instances simply refused to acknowledge concerns about the fairness of the process, and moved on without allowing discussion or voting.
Personally, I am not only shocked, but also very angry, and I am considering whether we have a legal recourse to challenge this convention, and to unseat all delegates from it. If anyone knows more about this, please let me know.
Finally, though, I want to say that I am proud to be a part of this group. Our votes were ignored today, but our voices were heard, and the status quo was challenged. Many people outside of our ranks are beginning to understand that the leaders in government and in both parties have sold out. And that freedom is becoming more and more popular.
Jon Wilson
--
Dear Folks:
I was there. I was the guy in the suit and sportcoat with John Morey (my dear friend). I am also an attorney and was the parliamentarian at another BPOU Convention on Thursday. This convention was rife with neocon fascist tactics. The people listed on ballot beforehand did not exactly make them delegates at that time, but it essentially had that effect when handed out to everyone. I just wanted to clarify that. My convention, also run by neocons, was remarkably fair and well run compared to this one.
I think that the absolute most disgusting attack today was that of while the state ballots were being collected, someone who was collecting the ballots (acting with no recognition from the Chair, much less with the effect of a properly adopted motion), yelled "Hurry up, you have two minutes to hand in your ballots," (just about 5 minutes after they had been handed out) and the people running it supported him (I think one of our people objected and the chair supported him). There were old people, at least one blind person, and perhaps other people with some other physical limitations there. The only place the alternates were listed were on an impossible-to-read whiteboard on the stage. To hurry everyone this way reminds me of the Nazi's contempt for the infirm and the elderly and frankly scares the hell out of me. I do not write this to be overly dramatic - this sort of disrespect for those who may be weaker in some ways than us certainly is a hallmark of tyranny. Jonathan Morey bravely raised a point of order (complaint) about this before the CD voting, and a little more care was taken - he seemed to gain some support of some of the more senior people attending (people who had attended many times in the past). Even so, the damage was done.
This is a complaint that needs to be made to the Republican party. This sort of behavior is entirely unacceptable in our society.
We need to stand strong and be persistent. We cannot go away. We must not be run by these people anymore.
We must send people to the National Convention - even though I have been told it is impossible, we must try. We must be heard by this audience of true-believers (many of whom I think probably have good hearts) who regularly attend these conventions.
Please come to the state convention if you can. We must persist or this will continue.