NC state convention updates

[NCGOPer_for_Paul]

I am one of the National Delegates who was put on the Chairman's slate. I'm looking forward to Tampa and seeing what we'll actually be able to do toward platform, vice-Presidential nominee, and if we'll have any influence on the RNC going forward. Or, does Romney even have the 1144?

As for the Ada Fisher vs. Mary Frances Forrester race...a lot of "establishment" people like Ada too. She has done an outstanding job as our National Committeewoman and there was absolutely no reason to change that.

The Hayes' elector slate had only one easily recognizable name on it - Scott Stone from Charlotte, as 1st Alternate. He ran for mayor last year.

 

[aclove]

The vote was about 650 to 435, probably a bigger margin than in '08. I was kind of surprised how much of a blowout this race was. Had we known the margin beforehand we could have suspended the rules, called for Division, and saved the 50 minutes it took to distribute and count the secret ballots .

One curious thing about MFF - she had a hospitality suite on Friday night but I don't think she advertised it. I knew about nine Friday night hospitality suites (David Lewis, Property Rights Coalition, NC Values/Amendment One, John Blust, Triad GOP, Conservative Voices PAC, Conservatives 4 Guilford, Dan Forest, Tony Gurley) via a combination of emailed invitations, swag-bag flyers and leaflets posted in the hotel elevators, but knew nothing about Forrester's until Saturday. Turns out she bought 17 jugs of wine to make sangria and still has 16 left.

Very strange, and amateurish. The only conclusion I can draw is that she genuinely didn't expect Fisher to run again (did she nominate herself, or have someone else do it?) and took it for granted that she would be unopposed, like David Lewis. As a result, she got her clock cleaned again, which must have been humiliating.

As far as the 17 jugs of wine goes, I'm sure she's good for it.

 

[aclove]

I want to mention that the National Campaign, specifically Dave Pridgen, thought the alternate Tea Party slate was a good idea and we had nothing to lose. His only concern was the handful of 2008 people throwing a fit about it.

Putting together the alternate slate and having it ready to go in case Hayes screwed us was a good idea. Introducing it even if Hayes gave us what we were entitled to by the results of the primary wasn't. Part of effectively using grassroots pressure on a politician is not bringing him pain if he does what you want him to do. If you go for the throat all the time, no matter what, you give the opposition absolutely no incentive to work with you or listen to a word you say.

What happened is exactly what should have happened. We were prepared for things to go south, but they didn't, so we played nice and wound up with not only all 6 RNC delegates we were entitled to, but a a Santorum slot as a bonus.

As I've said elsewhere, no one has anything to bitch about.

 

[devil21]

Fisher nominated herself.

 

[Jeremy D Adams]

This was real confusing. I myself was torn between the two ideas. I wanted to get more delegates while not losing the ones we were already guaranteed to have. I was especially encouraged after you announced that an alternate slate is what the national campaign wanted too. But then, no one else heard of the campaign saying such a thing? Sharon, Glen, Pat, David Williams, Jeff, Howard..no one knew about this. How come, Jeremy? How come you alone was in the know? And in the end, the alternate slate didn't happen either. A lot of us left scratching our heads. Did Pridgen just thought an alternate slate was a good idea on a personal note or was that the official word from the campaign? I think you need to clarify this because a lot of people want to know.

Seeing that there were a total of 1200 something delegates and in that maybe 200 Paul folks, any alternate slate would have been torn to shreds anyway.

The reason that Dave was behind it was because we wouldn't have lost the two (well one delegate and one of our people pledged for Santorum) even if the alternate slate was a wash. The campaign itself wasn't putting forth the alternate slate and that is all Dave wanted, was that it was a grassroots effort to put forth an alternate slate and not have the campaign do so. Which was exactly what was being proposed with the Tea Party slate. He thought that was an excellent idea and we both agreed that there was no down side and lots gained by allowing freshmen delegation to participate in more than just debate. The "official word" at the end was simply that we should go forth with any efforts to defeat violations of RNC Rule 11 and that the campaign was not going to tell any one, including members of the campaign like myself or Sharon, what to do about an alternate slate and that if I personally wanted to put one forth, that I was allowed to do so.

It didn't happen because enough of the 2008 crowd complained enough that people started to drop off the slate.

 

[Jeremy D Adams]

BTW I thought your point of personal privilege to Hayes regarding the slate negotiations came off perfectly to the establishment types, and then the "few hundred friends, most of whom are under forty" comment was one of the best instances of multi-layered gallows humor I've ever encountered.

In the past, I've told speaking engagement audiences that they were going to die of old age and we would be left running the party, but I thought a bit less directness was in order.

 

[Jeremy D Adams]

Putting together the alternate slate and having it ready to go in case Hayes screwed us was a good idea. Introducing it even if Hayes gave us what we were entitled to by the results of the primary wasn't. Part of effectively using grassroots pressure on a politician is not bringing him pain if he does what you want him to do. If you go for the throat all the time, no matter what, you give the opposition absolutely no incentive to work with you or listen to a word you say.

What happened is exactly what should have happened. We were prepared for things to go south, but they didn't, so we played nice and wound up with not only all 6 RNC delegates we were entitled to, but a a Santorum slot as a bonus.

As I've said elsewhere, no one has anything to bitch about.

Have you done the math for the other non-Romney delegates? Romney got more than his fair share of delegates in North Carolina.

I am not complaining about not putting forth the alternate slate myself because I know it wouldn't have passed. But what about all those first timers that didn't even get a chance to see their vote count (even in a loss)? Will they be motivated to come back next year? Especially after the harsh treatment by the old-timers who dismissed their opinions as if they were mere plebeians? That is what motivated me to get them involved with the alternate slate, even if it wouldn't have won.

Glen suggested to me later that I ought to have just ran someone as Committeeman. I think that was a good idea. Even though there is no way we would have won against Lewis, then at least we would have had a chance for our guys to vote for something and participate and realize how important their votes were.

But that idea was based on the previous years' conventions. We actually had the unique experience, because of our massive numbers, to actually debate the platform and some of the resolutions. According to Glen, that hasn't happened in 20 years. So that was a big win for us, just being able to debate the platform. And while we only got a few changes, one of them, in my personal opinion, was the biggest one that could possibly have happened: reducing the blatant discrimination in the platform. We can come from a small homogeneous group of xenophobes to creating the NC Republican party to once again be the party for all that love freedom and liberty.

So all in all, I call this convention a win. I just hope we can convince everyone who came to come back next year and grow our numbers instead of like what has happened to the 2008 folks where only handful of them showed up this year.

 

[Jeremy D Adams]

It would be helpful if I knew who all these folks are posting here. Send me a PM with your identity so I don't feel silly please.

 

[MozoVote]

You know before this election I had no idea that so much politicking occurred at these conventions. I guess if I thought about it it would have been obvious but I'd just never really given that much thought that much about delegates before.

Intraparty politics is like a Shakespearian play, or Japanese drama. There is a long backstory of shifting alliances, who backstabbed who, who partnered with whom, who spilled a secret, who broke a deal, who is making amends, etc.

Cultivating repect and reputation matters at these events. People remember so-n-so from previous conventions (positively or negatively), and when so-n-so stands up to offer an amendment, second a motion, or a make a nomination, that "colors" the outcome.

 

[profg]

So here's my understanding

So here's my understanding: Ron Paul supporters got 25% of the slate (delegates and alternates) going to the RNC in Tampa.

Paul supporters got 7 Delegates out of 55, which would mean that Paul supporters also got 20 Alternates out of 52.

Not a bad day overall.

 

[musicmax]

So here's my understanding: Ron Paul supporters got 25% of the slate (delegates and alternates) going to the RNC in Tampa.

Where do you come up with that?

Paul supporters got 7 Delegates out of 55,

Correct. 5 elected at district conventions. Two seated at state convention, though one is bound to Santorum on first ballot.

which would mean that Paul supporters also got 20 Alternates out of 52.

Were that many RP alternates chosen at district conventions? Only two (again with one bound to Santorum) were seated at state convention.

 

[MozoVote]

I have heard different rumors on the alternates, but yes we rocked the house on those. It's definately umpteen or more. C'mon, how many people want to spend the money to be Romney alternates? The NCGOP will be very aware of who is in the "back of the bus".

NC tradition (dating back to the 1800s) is that every alternate is allowed to be seated as a delegate to vote on something during the national convention. So it's not a totally powerless position, like some states.

 

[juvanya]

Where do you come up with that?



Correct. 5 elected at district conventions. Two seated at state convention, though one is bound to Santorum on first ballot.



Were that many RP alternates chosen at district conventions? Only two (again with one bound to Santorum) were seated at state convention.

I read somewhere we got 15. What districts did we get what?