Baptist
03-16-2010, 11:10 PM
I discovered Ron Paul in October of 2007. By December of 2007 I decided that I wanted to be a delegate for Ron Paul. I officially joined the Republican Party by paying my $35 dues and paid an extra $50 fee so that I could be a delegate to the district and state conventions.
Here is my experience with the Republican Party of Virginia.
County Level:
In December 07 or January of 08 the County Party had a mass meeting where they were electing a new chairman, as well as confirming new delegates. I would say that 300+ people showed up to the meeting. Patty Manthe was the only person "running" for a new chairman spot. Well, when the retiring chairman asked if anyone else was running against her, a young, charismatic guy spoke up and stated that he had just filled out the form and that he wanted the chairmanship also. There was a look of bewilderment on the sitting chairman, vice chairman, treasurer, and the rest of the insiders.
All the delegate forms were submitted and confirmed with "yeas" with no opposition. Then it came time to vote for the new chairman. The young guy (forgot his name) smoked Patty Manthe and won the spot. The crowd erupted into applause and within twenty minutes the building was cleared out because everyone wanted to get home. I'd say only twenty people stayed behind: myself, two other Ron Paul supporters, the new chairman elect, and all the county party insiders. I then sat through an hour long session of the insiders tearing into this new guy saying that they were not going to support him and help him run the party because he didn't come to their little click and get permission to run for chairman. They were all pissed off because they wanted their friend Patty to have the spot. I gave the new chairman my number and said that if he needed any help to give me a call. I then left thinking that this was a huge opportunity for us Ron Paul people to run the county party.
I found out later that week that the insiders pressured the guy to step down and they then decided that Patty Manthe was the chairman. The elite butt-buddies overruled the will of the people.
District Level:
Me and other Ron Paul supporters tried to find out how to become delegates to National but nobody in the county party would tell us how (they had no idea we were Ron Paul people either). Patty Manthe told my friend multiple times that she would try to get the information to him. Well, she finally did, AFTER it was too late for us to become delegates.
We went to the District 9 convention to elect national delegates (sent 3 out of like 7 who ran) and one of our county insiders won. Our chairman would not tell us how to run for national delegate, probably because that would have been more competition for HER (that's right, she was one of the ones running) and her friend. On a side note, she came up to me and the other Ron Paul people (still not knowing we were Ron Paul people) and during our short conversation said "we have to be careful, the Ron Paul people are trying to disrupt our conventions."
While at the district convention we met this awesome guy named Jeff Frederick (32) who was running for state party chairman against 72-year-old John Hager. Hager was UBER insider, and a few years ago his son married Jenna Bush. I asked Jeff his thoughts on Ron Paul and he said "Ron Paul is great! My wife voted for him!" He said that one of his goals as state chair would be to bring the Ron Paul people into the political process.
State Level:
Long story short is that Jeff Frederick was young, charismatic and had a huge grassroots following. The party insiders at the state convention had "technical difficulties" with microphones n' such (could not hear when it was time to vote for Jeff), and my fellow Ron Paul people told me that the party insiders were hard at work trying to make sure that Frederick did not win. Jeff Frederick beat the old insider anyway.
Well the reason I made this post is because I just received a letter from the state party addressed from a different chairman. I wondered what happened to Jeff Frederick so I Googled him and found out that he was only chairman for a matter of months before the party insiders used some procedural moves to remove him as chairman.
Picture of Jeff and his wife who voted for Ron Paul:
http://va52.com/about.asp
Jeff's letter explaining how the insiders run the party:
http://votejeff.org/news.asp?docID=219
National Level:
I did not go but we all saw Kokesh with his sign. We all saw Ron Paul delegates being intimidated or lead out of the building by secret service.
At EVERY level I have witnessed, the Republican Party is a complete joke. It is a party for insiders. They do everything in their power to keep the grassroots out. I have personally seen corruption at the county, district, state, and national level. I saw the people elect a county chairman, only to have the insiders run him off and install another insider. I saw the the people elect a state chairman, only to have the insiders remove him months later so that another insider could control the state party. This party is a joke.
Here is my experience with the Republican Party of Virginia.
County Level:
In December 07 or January of 08 the County Party had a mass meeting where they were electing a new chairman, as well as confirming new delegates. I would say that 300+ people showed up to the meeting. Patty Manthe was the only person "running" for a new chairman spot. Well, when the retiring chairman asked if anyone else was running against her, a young, charismatic guy spoke up and stated that he had just filled out the form and that he wanted the chairmanship also. There was a look of bewilderment on the sitting chairman, vice chairman, treasurer, and the rest of the insiders.
All the delegate forms were submitted and confirmed with "yeas" with no opposition. Then it came time to vote for the new chairman. The young guy (forgot his name) smoked Patty Manthe and won the spot. The crowd erupted into applause and within twenty minutes the building was cleared out because everyone wanted to get home. I'd say only twenty people stayed behind: myself, two other Ron Paul supporters, the new chairman elect, and all the county party insiders. I then sat through an hour long session of the insiders tearing into this new guy saying that they were not going to support him and help him run the party because he didn't come to their little click and get permission to run for chairman. They were all pissed off because they wanted their friend Patty to have the spot. I gave the new chairman my number and said that if he needed any help to give me a call. I then left thinking that this was a huge opportunity for us Ron Paul people to run the county party.
I found out later that week that the insiders pressured the guy to step down and they then decided that Patty Manthe was the chairman. The elite butt-buddies overruled the will of the people.
District Level:
Me and other Ron Paul supporters tried to find out how to become delegates to National but nobody in the county party would tell us how (they had no idea we were Ron Paul people either). Patty Manthe told my friend multiple times that she would try to get the information to him. Well, she finally did, AFTER it was too late for us to become delegates.
We went to the District 9 convention to elect national delegates (sent 3 out of like 7 who ran) and one of our county insiders won. Our chairman would not tell us how to run for national delegate, probably because that would have been more competition for HER (that's right, she was one of the ones running) and her friend. On a side note, she came up to me and the other Ron Paul people (still not knowing we were Ron Paul people) and during our short conversation said "we have to be careful, the Ron Paul people are trying to disrupt our conventions."
While at the district convention we met this awesome guy named Jeff Frederick (32) who was running for state party chairman against 72-year-old John Hager. Hager was UBER insider, and a few years ago his son married Jenna Bush. I asked Jeff his thoughts on Ron Paul and he said "Ron Paul is great! My wife voted for him!" He said that one of his goals as state chair would be to bring the Ron Paul people into the political process.
State Level:
Long story short is that Jeff Frederick was young, charismatic and had a huge grassroots following. The party insiders at the state convention had "technical difficulties" with microphones n' such (could not hear when it was time to vote for Jeff), and my fellow Ron Paul people told me that the party insiders were hard at work trying to make sure that Frederick did not win. Jeff Frederick beat the old insider anyway.
Well the reason I made this post is because I just received a letter from the state party addressed from a different chairman. I wondered what happened to Jeff Frederick so I Googled him and found out that he was only chairman for a matter of months before the party insiders used some procedural moves to remove him as chairman.
Picture of Jeff and his wife who voted for Ron Paul:
http://va52.com/about.asp
Jeff's letter explaining how the insiders run the party:
http://votejeff.org/news.asp?docID=219
National Level:
I did not go but we all saw Kokesh with his sign. We all saw Ron Paul delegates being intimidated or lead out of the building by secret service.
At EVERY level I have witnessed, the Republican Party is a complete joke. It is a party for insiders. They do everything in their power to keep the grassroots out. I have personally seen corruption at the county, district, state, and national level. I saw the people elect a county chairman, only to have the insiders run him off and install another insider. I saw the the people elect a state chairman, only to have the insiders remove him months later so that another insider could control the state party. This party is a joke.