Month: June 2008

Last April the Nevada Republican party held the state convention to elect delegates to the national convention. The convention didn’t go as scripted by the party bosses and the Ron Paul faction of the party was able to pass a rules change that said all nominated delegate candidates should be voted on. Soon after that the convention chairman abruptly recessed the convention, saying it would be reconvened at a later date.

I am a  state Republican delegate and since the April convention I have received announcements about two different attempts to reconvene the convention. The official party date to reconvene the convention is Saturday July 26.

Yesterday a splinter group of Republicans who feel that the state party is trying to disenfranchise them reconvened the convention on their own. Most, if not all, of them are Ron Raul supporters who feel that the Nevada Republican bosses are trying every trick in the book to make sure that the Nevada delegates to the national convention are McCain supporters.

I received the announcements about the alternate convention. I didn’t want to contribute to their numbers and to their ability to get a quorum but I was curious about  the convention so yesterday I went to it, got a visitor badge and listened for a while.

It certainly wasn’t a diverse cross section of Republicans. There was unanimous support to nominate and elect Mike Weber as chairman. I called Weber a jerk in an earlier post. I’m sorry about that. You have to admire someone who cares so passionately about politics and who is wiling to work so hard for what he believes in.

It was very clear that Weber and his friends had scripted this convention to take the steps that they believe will allow them to make a case for their delegates being recognized by the national Republican Party. Weber said that to make the case for yesterday’s convention being official they have “a small hole to get through”.

They made a big deal of the fact that a list of the delegates to the April convention was never released. They announced that delegates not present at yesterday’s continuation of the April convention are in dereliction of their duty and therefore the 352 delegates present yesterday constituted a quorum. I left before they elected delegates but Local So-and-So another Republican blogger who attended yesterday wrote a good post about the convention .

While I was there I did get interviewed by the Associated Press reporter, Martin Griffith and I got quoted in this mornings paper.  As I said to Griffith it doesn’t bode well for McCain’s chances in Nevada that 352 Nevada Republicans were willing to go through all that was necessary to make this alternate convention happen.

On the other hand, there were 1,347 delegates at the April convention. If the 352 delegates present yesterday were enough to reconvene then wouldn’t 5 also have been enough to reconvene. It doesn’t seem to me that the delegates elected yesterday should be seated at the national convention. I wonder how many people  will attend the ‘official ‘ state convention at the end of July. This saga will be continued.

Mike Weber being interviewed by AP reporter Martin Griffith.

The rest of my pictures from the convention are on Flickr  here.

There is a fight going on in the Nevada Republican Party. It is certainly entertaining to watch although it seems rather a tempest in a teapot that doesn't really matter in the scheme of things. 

As I described in my posting about the Nevada Republican Party Convention the April 26 state convention which was abruptly adjourned without selecting delegates to the National Republican Convention. Since the convention was adjourned, two different groups have announced different dates and places for the convention to reconvene. Both groups are claiming to have no agenda other than fairness and both groups are being disingenuous and are insulting our intelligence.

The official call to reconvene the convention comes from Sue Lowden, Chairman of the Nevada Republican Party. The convention scheduled by Lowden, representing the party elected officials, is scheduled for July 26. Nowhere in the letter announcing the new date does she acknowledge that others are also trying to reconvene the convention. I assume that the party insiders are figuring that there will will not be quorum on July 26 and that as a result the insiders i.e. the central committee will have to appoint the delegates. How else can you explain the delay from April to just a month before the convention to reconvene. To give the insiders credit, they do ask in their letter for us (the delegates) to indicate if we would prefer a mail in ballot instead of reconvening.

The other call to reconvene the convention is from a group of people who have sent an email to delegates asking us to attend a reconvened convention this Saturday June 28. They claim that  "This is not about one candidate vs. another; this is about our rights as state delegates to
have our voices heard, and finish the process we started on April 26th."  Give me a break. These people are Ron Paul supporters who are angry at the Republican establishment.  Who can blame them. George Bush represents the party establishment and I am angry at him. If I am representative of Republicans then many of us are angry at the establishment. But I certainly don't support Ron Paul. Others just don't feel represented by McCain and want to make a statement. By claiming to not have an agenda the rogue group  insult my intelligence just as much as the party establishment.

It seems to me that the party insiders have the rules on their side. Sue Lowden (chairman of the Nevada Republican Party) makes her case on her pseudo blog here. I call it a pseudo blog because she clearly doesn't seem to understand that a blog is supposed to be about conversation. Reading the comments on her blog makes it clear that polite dissenting opinions voiced in comments have been deleted. Lowden's argument for the alternative convention being illegal is well stated but she should have just posted it clearly on the web site. Don't start a blog if you want to dictate. Blogs are for discussion not laying  down the law. Lots of companies and groups don't get this. Allowing people to be heard is how you build support for a position. I can get behind a position I don't agree with but first I need to feel that my opinion and dissenting position has been heard. That is basic leadership. Sun Microsystems where I started blogging understood this in spades but my last employer certainly didn't get it and I don't think the Nevada Republican Party understands it at all. Apparently they only understand  laying down the law. I would love to blog for the party and apply the principals of change management that I learned in my corporate life.

Ah well….. the fight is entertaining to watch.  I'm sure there will be a fight in the credentials committee at the national convention but who cares… really what does it matter?? McCain is the candidate.

I haven't decided if I will attend the Ron Paul convention on Saturday. It might be entertaining to watch but I don't want to help them reach a quorum. Unfortunately I will be out of town when the official convention meets at the end of July so I won't be helping them reach a quorum either.

I applied to be a delegate to the national convention but assume that I will not be elected. It is interesting to see how the National Republican Party is handling bloggers. I wish I had applied to be an independent blogger to the national convention but the applications closed May 15 long before I knew whether I would be a delegate. To be honest I never thought I would be a delegate I just didn't get my application in in time. I guess if I accuse others of being disingenuous I'd better be crystal clear myself about my motives.

This soap opera will be continued in a future blog!