patrickdsg
03-16-2008, 12:25 PM
Fayette County Convention – The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
Today (March 15th) I attended the Fayette County Convention. Here is how it went down from my perspective.
There were 120 people in attendance and I believe about 30-40 were Ron Paul supporters. Not quite enough to get anything accomplished, but certainly enough to make our presence felt.
For many, if not all us, it was the first time we’ve participated in this manner. It was certainly a learning experience. We made no secret about our support of Ron Paul, which may have been a mistake as the “establishment” did seem a bit hostile or at least gave me the feeling of being some “fanatic” infiltrator.
While some will argue, and maybe rightly so, that this means we should be much more covert in our participation, I think it actually misses the real problem.
What is the real problem? PARTICIPATION, PARTICIPATION, PARTICIPATION. Don’t get me wrong, I was ecstatic that 30-40 supporters took the time to participate. But look at these numbers! 30-40 Ron Paul supporters and 80-90 “establishment” party hacks?
This is not only our problem, but it is also the GOP’s problem. There are about 66,304 registered Republicans in Fayette County. The “party hacks” at the convention accounted for 0.13% of those registered, and we accounted for 0.06% of those registered.
Today’s turnout didn’t even represent two tenths of one percent of the registered Republicans in Fayette County! “I mean, what’s going on here?”
If Ron Paul only receives 4% of the vote in this county, he will receive approximately 2600 votes. Where were those people today? Could you imagine if we had just 10% of them show up to participate? There are 219 people signed up to the local meet-up for crying out loud! The GOP is ripe for the taking! The best “they” can do is turn out 90 people and elect “absentee” delegates? We only have ourselves to blame if we don’t take our party back.
I personally knew of five people that confirmed their intent to attend only a couple days prior that did not show. Two of those five actually donated to one or both of the major “money bombs.” Another supporter that donated to the campaign told me “I don't think I'm up for participation in the conventions…I think I'll remain on the sidelines.” He’s going to write in “Ron Paul” in November. Thanks. I obviously didn’t do enough to get them there. While I can’t confirm this, I’m willing to bet that most of the others in attendance would probably share a similar experience. I can only imagine what the outcome would have been if all who committed actually showed.
Well there are the numbers and the big problem as I see it. Now here’s what happened at the convention.
We didn’t have the majority and we weren’t incognito. This probably hurt us since they seemed to think we were there just to “crash the party.”
We did force a hand (or standing) vote count since it was tough to determine accurately based solely on the “yays and nays” by voice only. It appeared as if they haven’t had to do this in quite a while as it created a bit of confusion.
We had submitted all the names of our delegates to the county chair prior to the convention. They seemed to know something was up so all our people were put on the alternate delegate list. Had we been a little more low key, we would have likely been delegates as the county chair emailed me only a couple of days prior to the convention informing me there were more delegate slots.
A slate of 166 delegates and 24 alternate delegates was proposed and ratified. Obviously not all of the delegates on the slate were in attendance. We unsuccessfully attempted to challenge this, but I don’t think we really knew how. At this point, if we don’t raise a ruckus, keep a low profile and just show up to the district and state conventions; we will likely be delegates as I seriously doubt all those 166 delegates on their list will actually show.
We came prepared with resolutions we would have liked to pass on issues such as limited government, tax reform, abortion, gun control, etc. However, we were not given the opportunity to propose them for a floor vote.
We respectfully listened to the proposed resolutions from their resolution committee and voted appropriately. Of course we voted against a resolution of support for John McCain that could have easily been entitled “He’s The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread.” It passed by majority vote, however.
After proposing our resolution in support of a Constitutionally Limited Government, it was actually voted down by the majority in attendance. I don’t think it was really that they are so against the idea of limited government as they were voting against our perceived “party crashing.”
We didn’t get a chance to propose any more resolutions. The Chair actually recognized another supporter who was about read another resolution for consideration when another person motioned that we end all consideration for any resolutions. This caused a great deal of confusion as it seemed we already had the floor, but they wanted to vote on the motion that interrupted us. There was also some confusion as to whether a 2/3 majority was needed to end all resolution proposals that was never quite clarified to my satisfaction. Even after a plea and request just to be heard, we were effectively silenced with 66 votes against us. If they in fact needed 2/3, they didn’t get it, but I don’t know the rules. Everything seemed to happen very quickly.
I’m not well versed on the Robert’s Rules of Order, but I can assure you that I will know the rules backwards and forwards before the next convention. I think we all need to know how the process works so we can participate more effectively and be less intimidated. We could have quickly cleared up some confusion for them as well. I purchased my own copy of “Robert’s Rules Order” to study right after the convention. Knowledge is power, but this would have easily been overcome if were the majority (which we should have been).
To sum it all up, I’ve seen the “elephant.” It’s not nearly as big or intimidating as I expected. The GOP IS ours for the taking, but only if we really WANT it! I and a few others I know are more fired up than ever to continue our participation and recruitment. I only hope others don’t get discouraged by the day’s events and walk away. We can make a difference! We can affect change! Just look at the numbers! Hindsight is 20/20 and if I had fully understood the lack of participation in the GOP, it would have been worth 10 times more effort on my part to claim a victory. We certainly aren’t doing all we can!
I can only hope that this account of events as I saw them will serve as a warning and encouragement to others who have not yet held their conventions. Do whatever you can to get your people there! If you think you’ve done all you can, do more! If you even think about not attending, forget it! SHOW UP! You’ll only regret it if your convention turns out like mine. If your conventions and caucuses have already passed you by, start working now to participate in GOP activities and recruit others to join you and you can be the majority next time! We really can change the party from the inside out!
Today (March 15th) I attended the Fayette County Convention. Here is how it went down from my perspective.
There were 120 people in attendance and I believe about 30-40 were Ron Paul supporters. Not quite enough to get anything accomplished, but certainly enough to make our presence felt.
For many, if not all us, it was the first time we’ve participated in this manner. It was certainly a learning experience. We made no secret about our support of Ron Paul, which may have been a mistake as the “establishment” did seem a bit hostile or at least gave me the feeling of being some “fanatic” infiltrator.
While some will argue, and maybe rightly so, that this means we should be much more covert in our participation, I think it actually misses the real problem.
What is the real problem? PARTICIPATION, PARTICIPATION, PARTICIPATION. Don’t get me wrong, I was ecstatic that 30-40 supporters took the time to participate. But look at these numbers! 30-40 Ron Paul supporters and 80-90 “establishment” party hacks?
This is not only our problem, but it is also the GOP’s problem. There are about 66,304 registered Republicans in Fayette County. The “party hacks” at the convention accounted for 0.13% of those registered, and we accounted for 0.06% of those registered.
Today’s turnout didn’t even represent two tenths of one percent of the registered Republicans in Fayette County! “I mean, what’s going on here?”
If Ron Paul only receives 4% of the vote in this county, he will receive approximately 2600 votes. Where were those people today? Could you imagine if we had just 10% of them show up to participate? There are 219 people signed up to the local meet-up for crying out loud! The GOP is ripe for the taking! The best “they” can do is turn out 90 people and elect “absentee” delegates? We only have ourselves to blame if we don’t take our party back.
I personally knew of five people that confirmed their intent to attend only a couple days prior that did not show. Two of those five actually donated to one or both of the major “money bombs.” Another supporter that donated to the campaign told me “I don't think I'm up for participation in the conventions…I think I'll remain on the sidelines.” He’s going to write in “Ron Paul” in November. Thanks. I obviously didn’t do enough to get them there. While I can’t confirm this, I’m willing to bet that most of the others in attendance would probably share a similar experience. I can only imagine what the outcome would have been if all who committed actually showed.
Well there are the numbers and the big problem as I see it. Now here’s what happened at the convention.
We didn’t have the majority and we weren’t incognito. This probably hurt us since they seemed to think we were there just to “crash the party.”
We did force a hand (or standing) vote count since it was tough to determine accurately based solely on the “yays and nays” by voice only. It appeared as if they haven’t had to do this in quite a while as it created a bit of confusion.
We had submitted all the names of our delegates to the county chair prior to the convention. They seemed to know something was up so all our people were put on the alternate delegate list. Had we been a little more low key, we would have likely been delegates as the county chair emailed me only a couple of days prior to the convention informing me there were more delegate slots.
A slate of 166 delegates and 24 alternate delegates was proposed and ratified. Obviously not all of the delegates on the slate were in attendance. We unsuccessfully attempted to challenge this, but I don’t think we really knew how. At this point, if we don’t raise a ruckus, keep a low profile and just show up to the district and state conventions; we will likely be delegates as I seriously doubt all those 166 delegates on their list will actually show.
We came prepared with resolutions we would have liked to pass on issues such as limited government, tax reform, abortion, gun control, etc. However, we were not given the opportunity to propose them for a floor vote.
We respectfully listened to the proposed resolutions from their resolution committee and voted appropriately. Of course we voted against a resolution of support for John McCain that could have easily been entitled “He’s The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread.” It passed by majority vote, however.
After proposing our resolution in support of a Constitutionally Limited Government, it was actually voted down by the majority in attendance. I don’t think it was really that they are so against the idea of limited government as they were voting against our perceived “party crashing.”
We didn’t get a chance to propose any more resolutions. The Chair actually recognized another supporter who was about read another resolution for consideration when another person motioned that we end all consideration for any resolutions. This caused a great deal of confusion as it seemed we already had the floor, but they wanted to vote on the motion that interrupted us. There was also some confusion as to whether a 2/3 majority was needed to end all resolution proposals that was never quite clarified to my satisfaction. Even after a plea and request just to be heard, we were effectively silenced with 66 votes against us. If they in fact needed 2/3, they didn’t get it, but I don’t know the rules. Everything seemed to happen very quickly.
I’m not well versed on the Robert’s Rules of Order, but I can assure you that I will know the rules backwards and forwards before the next convention. I think we all need to know how the process works so we can participate more effectively and be less intimidated. We could have quickly cleared up some confusion for them as well. I purchased my own copy of “Robert’s Rules Order” to study right after the convention. Knowledge is power, but this would have easily been overcome if were the majority (which we should have been).
To sum it all up, I’ve seen the “elephant.” It’s not nearly as big or intimidating as I expected. The GOP IS ours for the taking, but only if we really WANT it! I and a few others I know are more fired up than ever to continue our participation and recruitment. I only hope others don’t get discouraged by the day’s events and walk away. We can make a difference! We can affect change! Just look at the numbers! Hindsight is 20/20 and if I had fully understood the lack of participation in the GOP, it would have been worth 10 times more effort on my part to claim a victory. We certainly aren’t doing all we can!
I can only hope that this account of events as I saw them will serve as a warning and encouragement to others who have not yet held their conventions. Do whatever you can to get your people there! If you think you’ve done all you can, do more! If you even think about not attending, forget it! SHOW UP! You’ll only regret it if your convention turns out like mine. If your conventions and caucuses have already passed you by, start working now to participate in GOP activities and recruit others to join you and you can be the majority next time! We really can change the party from the inside out!