Trying to nominate Dr. Paul
We, the
Ron Paul/Liberty/Constitutional Republicans, came to this convention with one goal in mind: gather enough
signatures from enough states--a plurality of delegates from 5 states,
according to the RNC rules--to enter Ron Paul's name into nomination. Also according to their rules, this would require the
RNC to give him a 15-minute speech. (The RNC did offer to let him speak,
but only on the conditions that he would (1) endorse Romney and (2)
allow them to approve his speech. Dr. Paul declined the offer.) We
simply wanted a fair process and an opportunity to get Dr. Paul's
message of liberty, peace, sound monetary policy, and constitutional
government out to the world. Fairness is something we experienced very
little of in this process. As Ben Swann reported in this installment of his Reality Check, we knew even before the convention began, it would be an uphill battle--the RNC, and Mitt Romney's lawyers would go to any length to prevent us from getting the pluralities we needed.
But do you think that stopped us from trying?
By Monday night, word came that despite all the RNC had done to prevent it, we'd been successful in getting a plurality of delegates not just in 5 states, but in 6! Our task for Tuesday would be to deliver the signatures to the Secretary of the RNC. Although the RNC shuttle bus picked us up from our hotel almost an hour later than the scheduled time and took a circuitous route to the convention hall, we did it! I'm very proud that Oregon joins Nevada, Iowa, Minnesota, Alaska, and Virgin Islands in following the rules and entering Dr. Paul's name into nomination! It's unfortunate that, once again, the RNC did not follow its own rules, and they chose to simply ignore our petitions. The only public recognition we have of our success is the off-script, and very brave, announcement by the Nevada delegation Chair, Wayne Terhune, of the six states that had nominated the champion of the Constitution, Congressman Ron Paul for President of the United States! Because he was not "officially" nominated, none of the votes for Dr. Paul that were announced by the various delegation chairs were counted. And more importantly, he was not given a chance to speak at the convention.
Oregon Ron Paul supporters had their own form of protest during the announcement of our votes by our delegation chair (starting 1:05 in this video.) Check out the sign just behind the chairman--Thaddeus Gala, you rock!
But do you think that stopped us from trying?
By Monday night, word came that despite all the RNC had done to prevent it, we'd been successful in getting a plurality of delegates not just in 5 states, but in 6! Our task for Tuesday would be to deliver the signatures to the Secretary of the RNC. Although the RNC shuttle bus picked us up from our hotel almost an hour later than the scheduled time and took a circuitous route to the convention hall, we did it! I'm very proud that Oregon joins Nevada, Iowa, Minnesota, Alaska, and Virgin Islands in following the rules and entering Dr. Paul's name into nomination! It's unfortunate that, once again, the RNC did not follow its own rules, and they chose to simply ignore our petitions. The only public recognition we have of our success is the off-script, and very brave, announcement by the Nevada delegation Chair, Wayne Terhune, of the six states that had nominated the champion of the Constitution, Congressman Ron Paul for President of the United States! Because he was not "officially" nominated, none of the votes for Dr. Paul that were announced by the various delegation chairs were counted. And more importantly, he was not given a chance to speak at the convention.
Oregon Ron Paul supporters had their own form of protest during the announcement of our votes by our delegation chair (starting 1:05 in this video.) Check out the sign just behind the chairman--Thaddeus Gala, you rock!
Battles Over Credentials and the New Rules
The fight to get Dr. Paul's name introduced into nomination was not the only one we fought on Tuesday. We'd also have battles over the credentialing of unseated delegates and over the new rules that will govern the party for the next 4 years. This video shows how the objections made by delegates on the floor to the Credentials Report were dismissed by the RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, prompting members of the Maine delegation and other delegates in solidarity with them, to walk off the floor in protest. The unseating of so many liberty delegates was a maneuver meant to prevent us from nominating Dr. Paul, and the new rules are meant to prevent anything like this from happening again.The Rules Committee, the members of which were elected by their own state delegations, met the week before the convention to craft the new party rules, and would present these to the entire body for a vote on Tuesday. We got word ahead of time, through a letter from Virginia delegate and long-time Rules Committee member, Morton Blackwell, that these new rules would diminish the grassroots effect in the convention process. His full letter is worth reading, but here is an excerpt:
Some of the most important work of the convention will take place on Tuesday where you and I will be voting on rules that could fundamentally change our Republican Party for the worse.New rules will be voted on that have been designed to silence state Republican parties and Republican grassroots in favor of party insiders and Washington, D.C.-based consultants.The vote will take place at Tuesday’s convention session, and I’m counting on you join the growing effort to defeat these new rules.Please vote to adopt the Minority Reports on Rules and urge your delegation to call for a roll call vote on all Rules-related votes.This fight is too important for us not to make a stand.
And make a stand, we would. Many state delegations coordinated Monday night to come up with a plan: Morton Blackwell would make a motion to present the Minority Reports to the body and we would vote "yes" on these. Then, whether the Minority Reports passed or not, we'd vote against the entire set of rules. Since we knew the convention chair, John Boehner, would probably not count our votes properly--"the ayes have it"--our next step would be to call for "division," a roll call vote. It was a good plan, but we would not have an opportunity to implement it.
First, the RNC bus carrying Morton Blackwell and the Virginia delegation to the convention would circle the convention center over and over, until they finally demanded to be let off the bus and walked to the convention. He was too late to make the motion to introduce the Minority Reports and we never had the opportunity to vote on them. When the new rules came up for a vote, and Boehner announced they'd passed, hundreds of delegates stood and shouted "division" over and over (you can see me doing just that at about 3:20 in this video) only to be drowned out by a chant of, "USA, USA, USA"--Boehner ignored our calls and simply continued on with the next order of business.
Once again, you can see all this reported by the intrepid Ben Swann, one of the few friends of liberty in the mainstream media. The most damning bit of evidence was a video posted on YouTube by our own Duane Taylor, showing that the results of the voice votes were on the teleprompter prior to the voice vote being taken. There would be no dissent allowed.
We'd been railroaded again. I expected it, but still I felt like I'd
been hit by a truck. I felt ready to go home, boycott the rest of this
sham of a convention, but soon realized, that wasn't what I was
elected by the PCPs of Oregon to do. It was time to decide our next
move.
On Wednesday, while the rest of our liberty delegation headed out for various events--a luncheon with Rand Paul and PayPal co-founder and RP supporter Peter Thiel, an activist training put on by the Republican Liberty Caucus, or a happy hour with Congressman Justin Amash--the delegation representatives met nearly all day, only adjourning in time to make it to the 7pm convention start. We stayed at the convention long enough only to view the Ron Paul tribute video and to hear Rand Paul speak.
We handed our badges over to the alternate delegates and headed to Whiskey Joe's (the adopted restaurant of the Ron Paul delegates.) Jon reported to us over dinner that a press release was being drafted and a press conference had been called for the following day, an hour before the start of the final day of the convention--we would try to get our story out to the world. There would be no walk out. Rather, we would remain respectful, as Ron Paul always does, even in the face of ridicule.
The full text of the grass roots' press release can be found here at DailyPaul.com and the video below shows the full press conference. My estimate is that there were more than a hundred people gathered at the main entrance of the convention hall with many reporters and cameramen recording the event. Those gathered held signs that read, "I am Grassroots" while several representatives gave their statements to the press. I've been in a little convention bubble, so I'm not sure how much of this actually made it on television. If anyone has seen any reports, I'd love for you to post a link in the comments.
Many Republicans, not just Ron Paul supporters, were upset about the new rules. One member of our delegation told me he thought it was the, "most damaging thing the party could have done." Many of the grievances discussed in the press conference were not just our grievances, Tea Party members and grassroots conservatives alike were against these rules.
Even the former chairman of the RNC agrees that we were not treated fairly. In this episode of the Daily Show, Jon Stewart discusses with Michael Steele how the Republican Party "did their best to minimize the grassroots element." At 3:40, Michael Steele explains why the RNC's treatment of Ron Paul and his supporters is the height of "rudeness and stupidity." He's right, of course.
First, the RNC bus carrying Morton Blackwell and the Virginia delegation to the convention would circle the convention center over and over, until they finally demanded to be let off the bus and walked to the convention. He was too late to make the motion to introduce the Minority Reports and we never had the opportunity to vote on them. When the new rules came up for a vote, and Boehner announced they'd passed, hundreds of delegates stood and shouted "division" over and over (you can see me doing just that at about 3:20 in this video) only to be drowned out by a chant of, "USA, USA, USA"--Boehner ignored our calls and simply continued on with the next order of business.
Once again, you can see all this reported by the intrepid Ben Swann, one of the few friends of liberty in the mainstream media. The most damning bit of evidence was a video posted on YouTube by our own Duane Taylor, showing that the results of the voice votes were on the teleprompter prior to the voice vote being taken. There would be no dissent allowed.
To Walk Out or To Stay?
Tuesday night hundreds of delegates met at Whiskey Joe's to debate and discuss our options. For several hours people stood and gave various arguments for what they believed would be the best next move. Some form of protest was called for--these disgraceful actions could not be allowed to stand. Should we stage a mass walk out the next day? After all, any further participation in the convention process would only legitimize it, some argued. Or, should we do a "walk in," to show our numbers and symbolize that, no matter how they try to keep us out of the process and party, we are here to stay. Many wondered, what would Ron Paul want us to do? By the end of the night, the only decision we'd made was that each delegation would elect a representative to attend a meeting the following morning to continue hashing things out. Oregon elected Jon Antione (who would have been a CD 1 Alternate Delegate had their state convention voting been allowed to continue) and two of our Delegates, Larry Erikson and Judy Morrise, opted to join him for that meeting.On Wednesday, while the rest of our liberty delegation headed out for various events--a luncheon with Rand Paul and PayPal co-founder and RP supporter Peter Thiel, an activist training put on by the Republican Liberty Caucus, or a happy hour with Congressman Justin Amash--the delegation representatives met nearly all day, only adjourning in time to make it to the 7pm convention start. We stayed at the convention long enough only to view the Ron Paul tribute video and to hear Rand Paul speak.
We handed our badges over to the alternate delegates and headed to Whiskey Joe's (the adopted restaurant of the Ron Paul delegates.) Jon reported to us over dinner that a press release was being drafted and a press conference had been called for the following day, an hour before the start of the final day of the convention--we would try to get our story out to the world. There would be no walk out. Rather, we would remain respectful, as Ron Paul always does, even in the face of ridicule.
The full text of the grass roots' press release can be found here at DailyPaul.com and the video below shows the full press conference. My estimate is that there were more than a hundred people gathered at the main entrance of the convention hall with many reporters and cameramen recording the event. Those gathered held signs that read, "I am Grassroots" while several representatives gave their statements to the press. I've been in a little convention bubble, so I'm not sure how much of this actually made it on television. If anyone has seen any reports, I'd love for you to post a link in the comments.
Many Republicans, not just Ron Paul supporters, were upset about the new rules. One member of our delegation told me he thought it was the, "most damaging thing the party could have done." Many of the grievances discussed in the press conference were not just our grievances, Tea Party members and grassroots conservatives alike were against these rules.
Even the former chairman of the RNC agrees that we were not treated fairly. In this episode of the Daily Show, Jon Stewart discusses with Michael Steele how the Republican Party "did their best to minimize the grassroots element." At 3:40, Michael Steele explains why the RNC's treatment of Ron Paul and his supporters is the height of "rudeness and stupidity." He's right, of course.
I Learned A Lot/Our Network is Strong!
A newspaper reporter from Portland asked me before the convention what I hoped to bring back. I told him that I had two goals: (1) to learn as much as possible about this part of our political process; and (2) to strengthen the network among the liberty-minded activists so that we might increase our effectiveness for future political activism. I couldn't have hoped for more success on either front.
I learned so much about what the Republican National Convention has become since 1976 (the last time a nominee was actually chosen by the delegates.) It is a tightly scripted event and deviating from the script is not tolerated by the party elite--it is merely an illusion of having a choice in who our nominee is. This must be changed, and the way we will do it is by working to get principled people into positions of power in the RNC. It will be a bottom-up effort, first electing as many precinct committeemen and committeewomen as possible so that we then will be able to fill the positions of county chair and vice chair in every county of every state. This will give us the power to elect the National Committeemen and Committeewomen who make up the Republican National Convention, so we can undo these egregious power grabs and return the political process to the dedicated, hard-working grassroots activists.
As for our successes at the convention...yes, we lost when it came to getting Dr. Paul nominated, yes we failed to get our improperly unseated delegates seated, yes, we failed to stop the rules changes. But, our greatest success--and I have come to realize over this week that THIS is precisely why Ron Paul implored us to get to the convention--was in getting to know one another. We now have connections with liberty-minded activists all over the country. With a network this strong, we will be able to accomplish much as we toil together to preserve our freedoms and bring our government back to its Constitutional roots.
We never gave up. Even until the final hours of the convention we were attempting to gather enough signatures to call for a voice vote on the rules--we needed a majority of delegates from 7 states to sign a petition and Oregon succeeded in doing so (3 delegates who are not Ron Paul supporters even signed!) However, in 3 of the states we were counting on, several of their delegates had gone home and so we could not make our numbers. I believe we can return home with our heads held high, knowing that we fought hard, followed the rules, and did all we could.
Another grand success is that we made our presence known--our unwillingness to just lay down and go along was heard loud and clear by those in power. They will not easily forget us.
I am truly amazed at how wonderful every single Ron Paul person I met at the convention was. Though we are a diverse group who disagree with one another on many issues, our belief in freedom brings us together. In every interaction, I felt welcomed, accepted, supported in friendship, and loved. May the LOVEolution live on!
I learned so much about what the Republican National Convention has become since 1976 (the last time a nominee was actually chosen by the delegates.) It is a tightly scripted event and deviating from the script is not tolerated by the party elite--it is merely an illusion of having a choice in who our nominee is. This must be changed, and the way we will do it is by working to get principled people into positions of power in the RNC. It will be a bottom-up effort, first electing as many precinct committeemen and committeewomen as possible so that we then will be able to fill the positions of county chair and vice chair in every county of every state. This will give us the power to elect the National Committeemen and Committeewomen who make up the Republican National Convention, so we can undo these egregious power grabs and return the political process to the dedicated, hard-working grassroots activists.
As for our successes at the convention...yes, we lost when it came to getting Dr. Paul nominated, yes we failed to get our improperly unseated delegates seated, yes, we failed to stop the rules changes. But, our greatest success--and I have come to realize over this week that THIS is precisely why Ron Paul implored us to get to the convention--was in getting to know one another. We now have connections with liberty-minded activists all over the country. With a network this strong, we will be able to accomplish much as we toil together to preserve our freedoms and bring our government back to its Constitutional roots.
We never gave up. Even until the final hours of the convention we were attempting to gather enough signatures to call for a voice vote on the rules--we needed a majority of delegates from 7 states to sign a petition and Oregon succeeded in doing so (3 delegates who are not Ron Paul supporters even signed!) However, in 3 of the states we were counting on, several of their delegates had gone home and so we could not make our numbers. I believe we can return home with our heads held high, knowing that we fought hard, followed the rules, and did all we could.
Another grand success is that we made our presence known--our unwillingness to just lay down and go along was heard loud and clear by those in power. They will not easily forget us.
I am truly amazed at how wonderful every single Ron Paul person I met at the convention was. Though we are a diverse group who disagree with one another on many issues, our belief in freedom brings us together. In every interaction, I felt welcomed, accepted, supported in friendship, and loved. May the LOVEolution live on!
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| Wendy Frome, me, with a White House ice sculpture |
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| James, Thad, and David, looking spiffy |
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| Judy and Les |
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| Cliff and Delia |
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| Looking star struck with Senator Rand Paul |
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| From left to right: Me, Tony Miller, Judy Morrise, James Atherton, Luke Wilms, Thaddeus Gala, Les Moore, Cliff Hutchison, David Scott, Larry Erikson and Allison Scott |
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| Tracy, Megan and me in our new shirts (made by the TX delegation, showing all the states that had delegates and alternate delegates unseated: TX, LA, MN, LA, MA, and OR) |
