Delegate Stories (A compendium of shared RP delegate experiences)

[John F Kennedy III]

bump

 

[PolicyReader]

This is not a story, this is current as of 4/7/2012 PLEASE respond if you know anyone.

UPDATE: If you are in Vermont please contact me via PM, or
Paul Dame
Essex Junction, VT
802-318-7544
[email protected]

We need to hear from our people in Vermont ASAP. Please if you or any Paul supporter you know has friends/family in Vermont there are DELEGATES at stake.

RPF'ers please keep this thread on the first page until Monday.

repost here so it's visible on this page.

 

[PolicyReader]

anyone with stories from MO to share?

 

[PolicyReader]

Updates made

 

[PolicyReader]

Bump for input

 

[ninepointfive]

shared this on Facebook. Hopefully it helps!

https://www.facebook.com/RonPaulDelegates2012

 

[PolicyReader]

Dear fellow Ron Paul supporters in the 9th District,

I wanted to "debrief" everyone on the things that happened at today's 9th District GOP Convention. I want to do this, first of all, to thank you for being a part of it -- I was very, very proud of how we conducted ourselves today. But second of all, to encourage you -- some of you don't realize just how good we did.

I've had several people ask me, "What happened? Why didn't we challenge their slate from the floor? What happened to a vote on Convention Chair? Why didn't we fight?

Let me make this perfectly clear:

NO ONE WANTED A FIGHT MORE THAN ME. I was ready to fire off all rounds today. You see, many of you don't know this, but I have burned my bridges in this State; I used to be part of the "establishment" myself at one time, but because of my support of Ron Paul, I am now one of the most-hated men by the Georgia GOP, from the State Party down to District and County parties. So I don't care any more; there's no going back for me, so I was ready to empty both barrels.

So why didn't I? Why didn't WE?

Because the simple fact is: WE DID NOT HAVE THE NUMBERS.

I told you for the last couple of weeks that, if we had near-100% turnout, we could run the convention. But, a bunch of our people - many with legitimate excuses - did not come. And our motion to get all of our alternates moved up to delegate, which would not have given us a majority but could have made it much closer, was rejected out of hand by the Parliamentarian, who pointed out the State rule that disallowed it (in their interpretation, which would have taken 2/3 to overrule).

Once the Ron Paul Leadership figured out we didn't have the numbers, we made the strategic decision to not challenge their slate from the floor, since we would have needed a lot of establishment people to come to our side for each one. I say strategic, because they were EXPECTING us to cause a LOT of trouble... but we didn't, which gave us some unexpectedly good results. For example, Ron Johnson (the short guy at the front who chaired the Nominating Committee, and who tries to overcompensate for his obvious shortcomings by bragging about being a former cop and former military and other assorted BS) came up to me before the convention, grabbed me, and told me he was threatening me with being hauled off by the cops if we disrupted anything. I responded that he was full of crap, that he didn't have a clue what he was talking about, and that I was threatening HIM with having his entire slate disqualified if they violated a single rule. Which, by the way, they did... but that's another story. The point is, I also heard from several other sources that the District GOP was expecting a very very unruly crowd of Ron Paul supporters today.

But when we didn't cause all that trouble they were expecting, many of them came up to our people afterwards and made many positive comments. As a result, I've already been hearing about how several county GOPs are wanting to work WITH our people now, and move them up the ranks quickly in the party. The fact is, because we didn't have the numbers, we couldn't have won, and because the State GOP had actually implemented a new rule, they didn't even have to have a vote for Convention Chair that we wanted to try for; but because of the strategic decision we made based on our numbers, we set up our people in the county parties for good stuff in the near future, including getting nominated at the State Convention next month to go to Tampa in August. Yes, that's happening, too.

AND, to top it all off, we got one of our people elected as an Alternate, another Alternate who is a closet Paul supporter and will vote for him at Tampa, and a Delegate who specifically told one of our people afterwards that she supports Paul -- even though she isn't on any of our lists.

In other words, we still took half the slate today! Combined with results we're hearing from other Districts around Georgia, some who did well and some who took some hits, Sue Everhart's promise that "not one single Ron Paul supporter will make it as a delegate or alternate to Tampa" has already fallen flat -- and we are making plans so that she'll fall even flatter at the State Convention, too.

Overall, this was a difficult day, because we came itching for a fight we thought we could win -- but because of very strategic reasoning on the part of Leadership, we didn't get to fight it, yet still took half the slate. I call that not too shabby, and I'm INCREDIBLY PROUD of our people who took the time to participate today. THE ESTABLISHMENT SAW THAT -- and I can tell you, they respect that we had those kinds of numbers, even if some of them don't like it.

I'm proud of y'all, and of our leadership team. Now, let's gear up for the State GOP Convention -- where the plans being put in place could change everything for us in Georgia, both for this delegate process, and for our future involvement in the GA GOP. THIS IS GOING TO BE EXCITING!

THANK YOU again, so very very much, for all you've done and continue to do to get Ron Paul elected President! SEE YOU IN COLUMBUS NEXT MONTH!

Bill Greene
9th District Co-Coordinator
Georgia for Ron Paul

Quoted here because I don't trust facebook to maintain information properly. (I'll spare you all the rant lol)

 

[drummergirl]

I've been going to conventions for awhile now. The most important things you can do are 1) SHOW UP - get your people there; set up a baby sitting pool if need be for young moms, make the emails, texts, phone calls, and get them to the meeting. 2) KNOW THE RULES - read your state party rules ahead, get on the rules committee if you can. And know RRO. Especially how to vacate the chair if you have any anticipation of a real fight.

If you don't have the numbers and you don't know the rules you will not succeed at taking over the meeting. You must have both. If they see that only one guy knows the rules, even if you have the numbers, they could make an end run to get him/her kicked out by the sargent at arms. So you need more than 1 person versed in the rules.

If you can't take over the meeting, don't tip your hand as a Ron Paul supporter needlessly. Do what you can to get on the delegate list; especially emphasize your desire to see Obama out. Catch more flies with honey than vinegar...

If possible, go to republican club events before the convention. Google "republican" and your city/county/ state and find your local pachyderm club, republican club, republican women's club, etc. and go to their events. These are usually some sort of monthly get together at a local restaurant or sometimes they'll have a barbecue fundraiser or something (these are usually pretty accessible, like $20 a plate type of things). Go; introduce yourself and express interest in getting rid of Obama. You might even meet some other Ron Paul supporters. Learn about the local races and candidates and get involved. If you learn they need help with the local convention (even if it's just the refreshments committee), volunteer to help out.

Nominations committees are looking to send delegates that will go to the next level convention and return to strengthen and work with the local party. If you are not seen as a team player, you won't get a spot. That doesn't mean you can't be a Paul supporter and get a spot, but they have to have some reason to expect you'll be around to get out the vote, run the party headquarters, put up and take down signs, etc.

 

[NDGirl1959]

Thank you for this post, it was very informative.

I just posted the 'RP delegates were intimidated and harassed at the RNC (stories from 2008)' to the RP CO FB page asking the CO Campaign Staff to prepare our CO National Delegates for the severe tactics being used by the RNC at '08 Convention. Reading this reinforced why McCain always gave me the willies when I seen and/or heard him speak. Right out of the Adolf Hitler playbook.

 

[PolicyReader]

I've been going to conventions for awhile now. The most important things you can do are 1) SHOW UP - get your people there; set up a baby sitting pool if need be for young moms, make the emails, texts, phone calls, and get them to the meeting. 2) KNOW THE RULES - read your state party rules ahead, get on the rules committee if you can. And know RRO. Especially how to vacate the chair if you have any anticipation of a real fight.

If you don't have the numbers and you don't know the rules you will not succeed at taking over the meeting. You must have both. If they see that only one guy knows the rules, even if you have the numbers, they could make an end run to get him/her kicked out by the sargent at arms. So you need more than 1 person versed in the rules.

If you can't take over the meeting, don't tip your hand as a Ron Paul supporter needlessly. Do what you can to get on the delegate list; especially emphasize your desire to see Obama out. Catch more flies with honey than vinegar...

If possible, go to republican club events before the convention. Google "republican" and your city/county/ state and find your local pachyderm club, republican club, republican women's club, etc. and go to their events. These are usually some sort of monthly get together at a local restaurant or sometimes they'll have a barbecue fundraiser or something (these are usually pretty accessible, like $20 a plate type of things). Go; introduce yourself and express interest in getting rid of Obama. You might even meet some other Ron Paul supporters. Learn about the local races and candidates and get involved. If you learn they need help with the local convention (even if it's just the refreshments committee), volunteer to help out.

Nominations committees are looking to send delegates that will go to the next level convention and return to strengthen and work with the local party. If you are not seen as a team player, you won't get a spot. That doesn't mean you can't be a Paul supporter and get a spot, but they have to have some reason to expect you'll be around to get out the vote, run the party headquarters, put up and take down signs, etc.

Thanks for contributing

I just posted the 'RP delegates were intimidated and harassed at the RNC (stories from 2008)' to the RP CO FB page asking the CO Campaign Staff to prepare our CO National Delegates for the severe tactics being used by the RNC at '08 Convention. Reading this reinforced why McCain always gave me the willies when I seen and/or heard him speak. Right out of the Adolf Hitler playbook.

Glad it was helpful, thank you for spreading the information.

 

[PolicyReader]

few more updates