GunnyFreedom
06-07-2008, 11:52 PM
Report from the NC State GOP Convention
For the most part, the convention went better than we expected. During the Friday business session, we brought around 40 known Ron Paul supporters, yet we controlled a block of around 100 votes. Attendance on Friday was 408, and while we were probably down to about 250 by the end of Friday's session we never lost the quorum.
We knew by the way the state chair was keeping the national delegate slate secret that they were going to try some shenanigans, so we worked to adopt some rules changes in order to allow us to re-write the presented slate. The attempts were struck down, and the rules were adopted which stated that alternative slates could not be proposed containing the same delegates. We had wanted to propose an alternate slate which maintained the required number of McCain delegates but be able to propose the same slate with the proper number and properly selected Paul delegates.
After that, we moved into the Plan Of Organization. In the POO, there was a set of amendments proposed to initiate a power grab on the part of the central committee. After some debate amongst several factions within the old guard, the amendments were defeated by a number something like the size of the Ron Paul delegation we brought. I think it was 38.
Then came the platform committee. We were able to pass two amendments to the platform from the floor, and sparked the kinds of debates on the convention floor that nobody had ever seen in their lifetimes. The chair of the Platform Committee was very visibly upset to be challenged in the way that he was, and it was truly funny to watch Old Guard Republicans stand up on the floor in debate to justify the need for an income tax and the 16th Amendment.
The Friday session was adjourned before we could address the resolutions. This, in the end, turned out to be a very good thing.
Along comes the Saturday session, Ron Paul brought around 65 people on Saturday, and after some perfunctory business we held the elections for National Committeewoman and National Committeeman. The Old Guard put up Mrs Forrester (a State Representative's wife) for Committeewoman, and it was clear she had the backing of the establishment. She was 'expected' to win. A fine lady by the name of Dr Fischer then nominated herself for the position and ran as an anti-establishment candidate, stating that if we were going to gain any kind of real ground that we needed to make real changes. Dr Fischer, much to the shock and awe of everybody present, won by a vote of 289 to 338, making for a margin of 49 votes.
Did I say Ron Paul brought 65 people on Saturday? Without us that would have been 16 votes in the other direction. National Committeewoman is an unpaid position in which the committeewoman funds her own travel and expenses. We might look towards some kind of chip-in for Dr Forrester seeing that her expenses alone this year may run as high as $50,000.
Then, Ken Nelson graciously nominated me for Committeeman, and I went up to speak. I had to cut two paragraphs off the end of my speech because I was running out of time. I hadn't expected nor timed my speech for applause. It all seemed to go very well, however, and I left the stage to await the voting procedure.
On my way down, someone called for the candidates to state whom they support for President, and I snapped to the nearest microphone at attention awaiting instructions from the chair. I would NOT be ashamed of whom I supported! The chair ruled the motion out of order (the convention chair was supremely fair during the whole convention, by the way) and another person called for an acclimation vote to prevent a tally of votes being made. The whole convention nearly erupted in boos over that one (and I later heard that David Lewis himself said that that was wrong) and his motion was soundly defeated.
The vote was taken and I received 125 votes to Rep Lewis' 484 votes. Unlike the committeewoman election, this was not an open seat. I was running against a well liked, heavy incumbent, currently a member of the NC House, who has raised literally hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars for the NC GOP. He had a full page ad on the back of the convention program, stickers all over the hall, and had sent a mailout to every delegate in attendance asking for their vote.
I was shocked to have received at much as 26% of the vote. I had not really expected to get 125 votes in this (did I say that Ron Paul only brought about 65 people to the Saturday session?) and the fact that I did means that there really is a fracture in the establishment and a pretty profound movement towards change towards strict constructionism.
I went to congratulate David Lewis, and he was very gracious. I actually like the guy, so it felt a little strange to run against him. He promised that he realized they needed us more than we needed them, and when he went on to make his victory speech he actually quoted from Barry Goldwater and sounded like he was reciting OUR agenda! I counted both the higher than expected vote total and the movement towards conservatism as a victory, and sat down quite pleased.
That's when we got to the delegates. I'll make a new post for that one, because that's when everything went ugly. It'll probably be tomorrow, though, so I have some time to reflect -- but it may be tonight if it just keeps burning at me and I have no choice but to talk about it.
For the most part, the convention went better than we expected. During the Friday business session, we brought around 40 known Ron Paul supporters, yet we controlled a block of around 100 votes. Attendance on Friday was 408, and while we were probably down to about 250 by the end of Friday's session we never lost the quorum.
We knew by the way the state chair was keeping the national delegate slate secret that they were going to try some shenanigans, so we worked to adopt some rules changes in order to allow us to re-write the presented slate. The attempts were struck down, and the rules were adopted which stated that alternative slates could not be proposed containing the same delegates. We had wanted to propose an alternate slate which maintained the required number of McCain delegates but be able to propose the same slate with the proper number and properly selected Paul delegates.
After that, we moved into the Plan Of Organization. In the POO, there was a set of amendments proposed to initiate a power grab on the part of the central committee. After some debate amongst several factions within the old guard, the amendments were defeated by a number something like the size of the Ron Paul delegation we brought. I think it was 38.
Then came the platform committee. We were able to pass two amendments to the platform from the floor, and sparked the kinds of debates on the convention floor that nobody had ever seen in their lifetimes. The chair of the Platform Committee was very visibly upset to be challenged in the way that he was, and it was truly funny to watch Old Guard Republicans stand up on the floor in debate to justify the need for an income tax and the 16th Amendment.
The Friday session was adjourned before we could address the resolutions. This, in the end, turned out to be a very good thing.
Along comes the Saturday session, Ron Paul brought around 65 people on Saturday, and after some perfunctory business we held the elections for National Committeewoman and National Committeeman. The Old Guard put up Mrs Forrester (a State Representative's wife) for Committeewoman, and it was clear she had the backing of the establishment. She was 'expected' to win. A fine lady by the name of Dr Fischer then nominated herself for the position and ran as an anti-establishment candidate, stating that if we were going to gain any kind of real ground that we needed to make real changes. Dr Fischer, much to the shock and awe of everybody present, won by a vote of 289 to 338, making for a margin of 49 votes.
Did I say Ron Paul brought 65 people on Saturday? Without us that would have been 16 votes in the other direction. National Committeewoman is an unpaid position in which the committeewoman funds her own travel and expenses. We might look towards some kind of chip-in for Dr Forrester seeing that her expenses alone this year may run as high as $50,000.
Then, Ken Nelson graciously nominated me for Committeeman, and I went up to speak. I had to cut two paragraphs off the end of my speech because I was running out of time. I hadn't expected nor timed my speech for applause. It all seemed to go very well, however, and I left the stage to await the voting procedure.
On my way down, someone called for the candidates to state whom they support for President, and I snapped to the nearest microphone at attention awaiting instructions from the chair. I would NOT be ashamed of whom I supported! The chair ruled the motion out of order (the convention chair was supremely fair during the whole convention, by the way) and another person called for an acclimation vote to prevent a tally of votes being made. The whole convention nearly erupted in boos over that one (and I later heard that David Lewis himself said that that was wrong) and his motion was soundly defeated.
The vote was taken and I received 125 votes to Rep Lewis' 484 votes. Unlike the committeewoman election, this was not an open seat. I was running against a well liked, heavy incumbent, currently a member of the NC House, who has raised literally hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars for the NC GOP. He had a full page ad on the back of the convention program, stickers all over the hall, and had sent a mailout to every delegate in attendance asking for their vote.
I was shocked to have received at much as 26% of the vote. I had not really expected to get 125 votes in this (did I say that Ron Paul only brought about 65 people to the Saturday session?) and the fact that I did means that there really is a fracture in the establishment and a pretty profound movement towards change towards strict constructionism.
I went to congratulate David Lewis, and he was very gracious. I actually like the guy, so it felt a little strange to run against him. He promised that he realized they needed us more than we needed them, and when he went on to make his victory speech he actually quoted from Barry Goldwater and sounded like he was reciting OUR agenda! I counted both the higher than expected vote total and the movement towards conservatism as a victory, and sat down quite pleased.
That's when we got to the delegates. I'll make a new post for that one, because that's when everything went ugly. It'll probably be tomorrow, though, so I have some time to reflect -- but it may be tonight if it just keeps burning at me and I have no choice but to talk about it.