Wake County delegates to not be seated at the 2012 NC GOP Annual convention?

[lib3rtarian]

Got this email yesterday night. Still trying to figure out what this all means. The person who sent this CC'd everyone, so there have been a lot of protest emails to this.

North Carolina Republican Party Credentials Committee


Jason Lemons, Chairman





April 15, 2012

Dear Wake County Republican,

Thank you for your activism in our party. I am contacting you in regards to your recent Wake County Republican Convention.


The North Carolina Republican Party Credentials Committee has denied the Wake County Republican Party credentials to the State Convention. In other words, the Wake County delegation has not been seated to be delegates at the North Carolina Republican Party Annual convention for 2012.


The leadership of the Wake County Republican Party did not properly submit all required credentials information. While the delegation as a whole will not be seated as presented by the Wake County Republican Party leadership, each person who attended the convention may appeal this decision at the NCGOP Convention, June 1-3, 2012.

If you wish to attend the North Carolina Republican Party Annual Convention in Greensboro and you properly attended the Wake County Republican Party Convention, you may present yourself at the State Convention to appeal the decision directly to the Credentials Committee. I encourage all Republicans who can prove proper attendance to the Wake County Republican Party Annual convention consider participating in our NCGOP annual convention this year in June.


Thanks again for your activism. If you have questions, please contact NCGOP staffer [email protected] for questions.


Jason Lemons

Credentials Chairman, 2012
North Carolina Republican Party

 

[musicmax]

I'd contact the Raleigh News & Observer. Let them contact the Wake GOP and NC GOP to clarify. This smells bad.

 

[lib3rtarian]

If all the Paul folks individually appeal this decision and got through, but the neocons sat on their ass and doesn't make it, could we turn this to our advantage by sending a higher percentage of Paul folks to the convention?

 

[MozoVote]

First things first ... is this legit? Or some kind of misinformation or prank? Maybe it's fake and only mailed to known "Paul" people. It would make us look bad to start complaining about something that isn't true... get us to develop a bad "rep" in the party. Or maybe it was meant to suppress turnout?

 

[lib3rtarian]

First things first ... is this legit? Or some kind of misinformation or prank? Maybe it's fake and only mailed to known "Paul" people. It would make us look bad to start complaining about something that isn't true... get us to develop a bad "rep" in the party. Or maybe it was meant to suppress turnout?

Does not seem to be a prank, although it's possible that they sent this to a wider audience than they intended to, as this is causing widespread confusion at the moment. There were 550 unique email IDs in the CC list, which is close to the number of delegates that convened at the Wake County Convention (that was 577 IIRC). So I am guessing this was sent to all Wake County delegates. I recognize several mainstream/establishment/candidate names in the CC list, so definitely not sent to just the Paul folks.

There was a follow-up email:

From: Scott Laster

To: Scott Laster

Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 7:57 AM

Subject: Follow up to email you may have received from Credentials




Dear Wake County Delegates,

You may have received an email from Chairman Jason Lemons of the NCGOP Credentials Committee regarding the seating of Wake County Delegates to the NCGOP state convention.

Please know that the NCGOP staff and leadership are working tirelessly with the Credentials Committee to resolve all issues.

We will provide you with an update as soon as we can. In the meantime, please direct any questions you may have directly to me.

You can reach me on my cell phone at 919-923-7908 or email at [email protected].

Thank you for all you do and on to Victory in 2012!!!

Scott

Scott Laster
Executive Director
North Carolina Republican Party
1506 Hillsborough Street
Raleigh, NC 27605
(919) 828-6423 office
(919) 923-7908 mobile
(919) 899-3815 fax

This may turn out to be a non-issue after all. Question is, what should the Paul folks do? Nothing? Let the Wake County party work it out with NC GOP?

 

[musicmax]

This may turn out to be a non-issue after all. Question is, what should the Paul folks do? Nothing? Let the Wake County party work it out with NC GOP?

I told you what you should do. Have you done it? Use the media to ferret out what's going on here. The N&O would love nothing better than to portray the Wake GOP as incompetent boobs (if the emails are legit) or the Establishment GOP as exclusionary frauds (if it's a hoax designed to keep RP supporters from attending the convention).

Tell us which reporter you speak to and what their action plan is.

 

[lib3rtarian]

Just got this email. Is it still worth going to a reporter?

Dear Wake County GOP Delegates:

Last night you received an email from Jason Lemons, the Chair of the NCGOP Credentials Committee notifying you of your status as a Delegate to the State Convention. I am pleased to tell you that today there was an Arbitration Hearing at my request which unanimously reversed the decision of the Credentials Committee.

Upon proper registration with the NCGOP, you will be seated as a duly certified delegate from Wake County. We have a close working relationship with Chairman Robin Hayes and his Executive team, and look forward not only to a successful State Convention in Greensboro on June 1 - 3, but to celebrating great Republican victories in November. I am sorry for any confusion generated by earlier communication, but now that this is settled, I recommend your registering for the State Convention at your earliest convenience.

I am including the Memorandum from the NCGOP explaining the resolution. Thanks for your patience. Susan Bryant, Wake GOP Chair




MEMO

[TABLE="align: left"]
[TR]
[TD]To:
[/TD]
[TD]Wake County Republican Party Chairwoman Susan Bryant
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]From:
[/TD]
[TD]Scott Laster
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]CC:
[/TD]
[TD]Chairman Robin Hayes, Vice Chairman Wayne King, National Committeewoman Dr. Ada Fisher, National Committeeman Rep. David Lewis, General Counsel John Branch, Deputy General Counsel Paul Foley, Credentials Committee Chairman Jason Lemons
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Re:
[/TD]
[TD]Final Decision Concerning Activities at the Wake County GOP Convention
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]










Dear Chairwoman Bryant,

Earlier today, you submitted a controversy to be heard by the North Carolina Republican Party Arbitration Committee (the “Arbitration Committee”) concerning the delegates elected at the Wake County GOP Convention (the “Delegates-Elect”) held on Thursday, March 22, 2012 and a subsequent ruling by the 2012 State Credentials Committee (the “2012 Credentials Committee”). Specifically, you asked the Arbitration Committee to review the ruling by the 2012 Credentials Committee not to seat the Delegates-Elect at the 2012 NC GOP State Convention (the “Convention”).

Background

In an email to the Delegates-Elect, Jason Lemons, the 2012 Credentials Committee Chairman, explained that the 2012 Credentials Committee’s decision not to seat the Delegates-Elect was based upon the Wake County GOP allegedly not properly submitting all required credentials information to the 2012 Credentials Committee and, in particular, the Wake County GOP’s failure to provide a physical sign-in sheet to the 2012 Credentials Committee. Phillip Strach, who served as Presiding Chairman of the Wake County GOP Convention, personally witnessed and was a participant in the Wake County GOP's process for registering delegates to the convention and checking them in at the convention itself. In a written submission to the Arbitration Committee, Mr. Strach attested to the rigorous process utilized by Wake County GOP to ensure that its delegate list was accurate and that no one was checked in unless they were properly credentialed. Mr. Strach further explained that because the Wake County GOP has so many delegates and potential delegates to its county convention, it has, by necessity, used an electronic process to register and check in delegates.

Decision

Pursuant to its authority under Article VIII(C) of the North Carolina Republican Party Plan of Organization (the “Plan”), which empowers the Arbitration Committee to make the final decision on controversies such as this, the Arbitration Committee has unanimously voted that the Delegates-Elect, as a whole, and as presented to the 2012 Credentials Committee shall be seated at the Convention upon their complete registration as delegates following the guidelines established by the North Carolina Republican Party. This decision is based on the following factors: (1) the fact that the Plan does not require a delegate to the county convention to sign in as a requirement for attending the Convention; (2) the Plan does not contain any language requiring the county parties to obtain signatures as a condition for seating their delegation; and (3) the representations of Mr. Strach regarding the rigorous process used by the Wake County GOP to ensure the integrity of its credentialed delegates.

This matter is considered closed. We welcome the Wake County Delegates-Elect to register for state convention in joining with other delegates from across our state. We commend the Wake County Republican Party and the Credentials Committee for their hard work and passion towards electing Republican candidates both local and state wide.



Jeff Morse Jr.
(919) 302-3726 Cell
[email protected]

 

[MozoVote]

Sounds like Jason Lemons would have been better off to wait for the arbitration committee decide the situation, if it was only a matter of hours away. He probably caught a lot of grief over that announcement.

I expect we will see some amendments to the state plan of organization in Greensboro, after this embarrasment for Wake county.

WRAL has a blurb on it:

http://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/blogpost/10996637/

 

[musicmax]

Looks like it got worked out. Glad the media jumped on it and did the work of clarifying it before some of our folks started screaming "conspiracy".

Well now RP supporters have an extra arrow in our quiver: "Elect us to leadership positions: We know how to fill out paperwork!"

 

[Titus]

Is there a link to the arbitration letter online or a source that states these delegates will definitely be seated? I need the whole story in order to publish this on my website. Right now, the only source is stating the delegates won't be seated. I tried looking to no avail.

 

[lib3rtarian]

Is there a link to the arbitration letter online or a source that states these delegates will definitely be seated? I need the whole story in order to publish this on my website. Right now, the only source is stating the delegates won't be seated. I tried looking to no avail.

Only the email I got. Is that not enough?