Have they no Shame?

If you read my earlier post about my first experience attending a GOP county convention, you'll remember that I was satisfied overall with the way we were treated. My county has gone out of their way to welcome the fresh faces. Perhaps they're following the addage about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer; I don't really know at this point. They did not blatantly railroad us, though, and they let us be heard. If, according to Robert's Rules of Order (the rules that govern the conventions per state GOP rules), we called for a 'Point of Order' or a 'Point of Information', our County GOP Chairman recognized us and answered the question in accordance with the rules.

In Nueces County, Texas (and many other conventions across the country), the people attending their conventions because of their support for candidate Ron Paul and his message of limited government, humble foreign policy, sound money, and strict adherence to the US Constitution, were ignored, humiliated, and otherwise trampled upon. Rules of the conventions were aggregiously broken, and according to state party rules, those conventions and their outcomes SHOULD not be recognized.

The patriots in Nueces County knew the rules and played by them. They knew when the Chairman was breaking the rules, and they called 'Point of Order'. According to state party rules, delegates and alternates to the next highest convention are elected at the previous convention, and NO NAMES can be added after the fact. The only requirement to be eligible is that you voted in the party's primary that year. In Texas, you could have voted early or voted on primary day, March 4th. After the polls closed on March 4th, each precinct held their Precinct Conventions. You do not have to present at the convention to be nominated and then elected to serve as a delegate or alternate from your precinct to the next highest convention (either a county convention or senate district convention). You do, however, have to be nominated and elected AT THE CONVENTION. In our case, we brought a list of known RP supporters to our precinct convention and nominated them. If it turned out they didn't actually make it out to vote in the primary, they were refused by us - or if we didn't catch it, they were refused by the Credentials Committee. Once we voted on our slate of delegates and alternates to our county convention, it was understood by all that no names could be added.

In Nueces County, the Credentials Committee broke every rule in the book! Apparently, some good ole party faithful failed to get themselves elected at their precinct conventions, but showed up at the county convention wanting to be delegates anyway. The Credentials Committee read their report during the convention proceedings and listed dozens of names of delegates they had added and asked for a vote to approve them. They stated that, since they all voted in the primary, they were eligible. Unless they were nominated and elected at their precinct convention, they were definitely NOT eligible under the party rules!

Listen to the audio recording of this portion of their convention at the end of this post. You can hear repeated calls for 'Point of Order' and 'Point of Information'. The Chairman MUST recognize these and address them without a 'second' and without discussion or a vote. These people were trying to stop the breaking of the rules, but were ignored entirely. They then did the only thing they could do: They left and held their own convention outside, ran it according to the rules, and turned in the appropriate paperwork to the Texas GOP. I will watch what happens next and post an update here on Naked Liberty. At the state convention in Houston in June, I'll find the Nueces County delegation and find out which set of delegates actually gets seated. If it is the slate of delegates put forth by the rules-breaking convention, our elections process is under attack even more than I imagined!