CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
July 29, 2008 – 5:11 p.m.
Nevada GOP Delegate Fight over Candidate Paul Ends With Whimper
By Marie Horrigan, CQ Staff
The protracted fight between Ron Paul activists and the Nevada Republican Party over Nevada’s delegates to the Republican National Convention is finally over.
Last week, the state party’s executive board decided to appoint the delegates recommended by its nominating committee.
In a statement announcing the decision, state party Chairwoman Sue Lowden said appointing delegates “was the best course of action.”
“We had every hope to reconvene the State Convention but feel strongly the nominating committee has chosen a wide range of delegates who will make our party proud,” Lowden said.
Nominees were not asked which presidential candidate they supported, the party said.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the Jan. 19 Republican caucus with 51 percent of the vote; Paul placed second with 14 percent and (now-presumed) Republican nominee John McCain was third with 13 percent of the vote.
Republicans ended their April 26 convention without finalizing the 34 delegates to the national convention after procedural maneuvering by hundreds of well-organized Ron Paul supporters grounded the convention to a halt.
In early June, the state party announced it would reconvene the convention on Saturday, July 26, to finish the party’s business. However, Lowden announced a week before the planned do-over convention that an insufficient number of credentialed delegates confirmed they would attend, leaving the party without a quorum.
“With so many people concerned about the economy, it simply wouldn’t fair for us to ask delegates from all over the state to spend money to attend a convention if we know that a quorum won’t be present,” Lowden said.
The party instead called a special meeting of the executive board to handle the issue.
Paul officially ended his presidential bid in June, but a spokesman for his ongoing movement — the Campaign for Liberty — told CQ Politics they were disappointed.
“It’s our position and our hope that the delegate votes should be counted and counted fairly, and it’s disappointing that apparently they have not done so,” spokesman Jesse Benton said.
Comments
Oh Marie, May the truth set our soul free...
Yes, It is always better for the elites to decide rather than the masses. Status quo continues. Not much time left. Let Them Eat Cake !!!
The author Marie Horrigan states, "Republicans ended their April 26 convention without finalizing the 34 delegates to the national convention after procedural maneuvering by hundreds of well-organized Ron Paul supporters grounded the convention to a halt." This is a complete falsehood. The reality is that the April 26 proceedings ground to a halt as a result of the Sue Lowden's and Bob Beer's desire to prevent the final vote count from being completed. In fact, the Paul delegates in attendance were scrupulously following normal procedures and after it became clear to the GOP leadership that Paul would likely win the majority of the delegates to the National convention, they shut it down without a vote (even turning off the lights with people still in the hall). I encourage Ms. Horrigan to research what actually happened more carefully before electronically publishing disinformation. John H. Huckans, Ph.D.
Will we readers ever know whether the Ron Paul supporters at the initial convention intended to grab the majority of Nevada's delegates, or just the 14% reflected in the general primary vote, plus a few more from the defunct Romney camp? In any case, what the Nevada GOP has done so far seems very unfair to candidate Paul and his delegation.
Gee whiz, aren't we lucky to have guardians of the American Way of Life like Ms. Lowden to guide us toward the light. Thank goodness, she and others like her are here to protect us from nominating the "wrong" person.
I have been a member of the GOP for over 20 years. I have always considered myself to be a man of honor and I'm very concerned with the way Ron Paul has been treated by his own party. It only proves one thing: The party is corrupt at the core. It's time the party is returne to its founding ideals or may the party die a slow death as it already has by promoting Global minded W". Nevada, GOP has only proved they do not desire to give up the power they have obtained. I think the head of the GOP in nevada should be sent to jail for unjust attempts to undermine the popular vote of Paul during the primary season. I'm a local party chair and I'm proud to support Ron Paul and will again in 2012 and I can't wait to attend Paul's function early September.
Obama=McCain=More of the Same. Dr. Ron Paul = Truth. Nevada GOP = Sadness. Corruption. Dr. Paul won. Peoples choice. He would be all voters choice if his words were allowed to be heard. Thanks a lot "news and un-biased information services".
First off, I am(was) a NV Republican State Delagate and have attended the original state convention and the reconvene that was held in June (totally ignored by this article). This was NOT a separate convention, but a reconvene. There was no need for a quarum since we were coming out of a recess - not starting a new convention. So I feel qualified to offer my opinion. What the party has done here is ILLEGAL and against NV state law which states we must elect delegates to the National Convention at the State Convention (not appointed - elected). TTo say that the reason for the recess was due to procedural maneuvering by Ron Paul supporters is a blatent lie. When it became apparent to the Party that the vast majority in attendance (comprised of supporters of ALL the candidates) were dedicated to fairness, they stalled by fluff speeches and presentations, then illegally called a recess with no vote. Then they beat feet off the premises. The most staunch supporter of fairness and legality was a John McCain supporter, Dr.Terhune. He paid for the reconvene out of his own pocket because he wanted the selection of the delegates to be legal and fair and in accordance with the rules that were adopted and approved during the first half of the convention.. The so-called "maneuvering" was the adoption of a rule that allowed for the selection of national delegates by the state delegates to include nominations from the floor, and was approved by the required number. The party originally had a hand-picked slate of delegates supporting McCain for the attendees to vote on. This list was not voted on and excluded nominations from the floor. The reconvene voted delegates to the national convention according to proper rules of the convention and in conformity with state law. What the Party is doing here is in clear violation of state law. Here is the list of duly-elected NV delegates to the National Convention : http://nevadagopconvention. com/
That's ok... The party has chosen to lose in the next election anyway. The next goal for the NV Ron Paulers will be to replace the NV leadership ASAP.
What a shame that America is manipulated by both the two party's and the media. When will American's wake up and realize the dirty back door representation? It is a shame to see Obama win but this will need to happen so the GOP will wake up. I will be writing in Ron Paul or voting Chuck Baldwin. God Bless Ron Paul and ALL supporters!
Any remember what happened to Joseph Smith when he was mayor of a town in Illinois & shut down the Free Press newspaper in his city because they printed negative info about him? Yeah... He's no longer living. he died at the hands of Americans that had courage & were critically thinking & hard core patriot activists who loved their freedom, rights & liberties. This is travesty of justice in our country & that it happened once -1918 signing of the Federal Act by an ILLUMINATI president- & countless times afterward is abhoring to any true american left. Now, excuse me, Paris Hilton is on MTV...
Why did it take you old people so long to realize your political parties are a scam? How come so very few people understand this until they are too old to care to do anything about it? There are not two parties here. Just two factions of the Neoliberal Global Fascists. A second party would be nice. You know, a choice. A reason for an election.
Wow, so instead of allowing the people to choose, they picked for them. How undemocratic of them. They don't even follow their own rules. They wasted the peoples money and time to getting to the first one. If you where following along with this you can find video evidence of what was happening. That Paul was getting the most votes before they stopped the count. Also those who supported Paul where questioned even if they where Republican which was crazy. This is a prime example of the people not getting to vote, and corruption runs rampant in the GOP.
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