Broken Convention: The Paulmas Are Revolting
When Ron Paul effectively suspended his campaign the other week, presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney may have drawn a sigh of relief at signs of concession from his last remaining primary opponent. But as we’ve noted before, the parallels with the 2008 Democratic primaries continue, and it’s “Not so fast there, Mitt” from the Paulmas:
SANTA ANA, Calif. (CN) - In a revolt against Romney, at least 40 more national convention delegates asked to join 123 previous plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Republican National Committee, and their attorney said hundreds more may soon follow suit.
The first 123 delegates, all from the 9th Circuit, sued the RNC, its Chairman Rince Priebus, and every state party chairman in the 9th Circuit in Federal Court on Monday, demanding the right to vote for the candidate of their choice on every ballot at the Republican National Convention, including the first.
The delegates claim the party violated federal law by forcing them to sign loyalty affidavits, under threat of perjury, to vote for Mitt Romney, though he is not yet the official nominee.
They also claimed that state party chairmen are fixing elections at state conventions and changing ballots so that all votes cast count for Romney.
...
Gilbert said that the public is unaware that the party is rigging elections and committing voting fraud. But he said he has more than 100 signed affidavits from delegates to support these allegations.
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“In Arizona, the voting machines were rigged so that Ron Paul votes were counted as Mitt Romney votes. It was so intentional that a Romney delegate refused to certify the vote count, and for that he got thrown off the convention.”The Party’s Rule 11 prevents changing rules within 30 days of a convention, but Gilbert said that chairmen and organizers often change rules the day before a convention - and sometimes in the middle of one - to deny a quorum or rig an outcome.
The delegates say in their complaint that the defendants threatened violence against those who don’t support Romney, and had men in dark clothing come to conventions and physically remove people who refuse to vote for him.
Ron himself is still playing up the number of delegates he may have at the GOP Convention:
“We stand to send nearly 200 bound delegates” to Tampa, Fla., Mr. Paul said, a number that “shatters the predictions of the pundits.” According to The Associated Press, Mr. Paul currently has 137 bound delegates, behind Newt Gingrich. There are still 261 delegates up for grabs: 40 delegates in Utah’s June 26 primary and 43 “super delegates,” with the balance coming from states that have held nominating contests but will not assign all their delegates until local and state conventions.
As might be expected, there are also counter-claims of misbehavior by Paul supporters. Earlier in June:
An attempted bloodless coup by Ron Paul supporters during last weekend’s Louisiana Republican State Convention in Shreveport has resulted in a competing list of delegates for the Republican National Convention in August in Tampa.
Henry Herford of Delhi was arrested and injured shortly after Paul supporters tried to engineer his election as convention chairman after trying to oust seated Chairman Roger Villere.
But party officials said the actions by Paul supporters were a carefully planned hijacking of the convention and that the state’s executive committee decisions trump any traditional parliamentary rules.
Louisiana Republican Party executive director Jason Dore said officials had expected Paul supporters to try to take over the convention.
“We were aware of the tendency of Ron Paul supporters to cause disturbances at conventions,” Dore said. “We received letters from other states where Paul supporters created chaos in order to prevail. Unfortunately, they lived up to their reputations and did the same in Louisiana. That is why we had a team of state troopers and Shreveport police on hand to keep order.”
As you can imagine, this is rousing hearty cheers and straw-clutching at places like the Daily Paul and Free Republic, where Mitt has yet to make the sale to some factions in the Republican Party. Judging by one Freeper’s reaction, their enemy’s enemy ... erm, well, is their enemy:
we need to support the paulbots like never before. i am looking into it locally with donations. THEY ARE USEFUL IDIOTS!! If they can blow the convention wide open we will get a decent candidate. IT WONT BE PAUL! he will prob get a VP nod which is fine the top of the ticket will be santorum most likely. It is are last and only hope to get away from the lying cultist myth.
5 posted on 16 June 2012 07:13:08 by onetruelord (I will not vote for the lesser of 2 evils. I will not vote for evil.)
Fans of irony may enjoy the fact that the case will be heard by Judge David Carter, who’s had his patience over-tested by Orly Taitz more than once too often. Courthouse News Service notes:
Legally, the case may hinge on whether the judge accepts the plaintiffs’ claim that the nominating convention is a “federal” election. Courts have traditionally given the two major political parties considerable leeway in managing their own affairs, for instance, in whether state parties may hold open or closed primaries.
That’s all I’ve got at the moment. Consider this an open thread if there’s any news you want to share or anything else you want to talk about ...
Posted by YAFB on 06/18/12 at 11:04 AM • Permalink
Categories: Politics • Election '12 • Mittens • Nutters • Teabaggery • Skull Hampers •
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