GOP chairman thwarts takeover (by Ron Paulistas in Nueces County, Texas)

CORPUS CHRISTI — Nueces County Republican Chairman Mike Bertuzzi survived a potential convention takeover.

At the group's county convention Saturday, a man began causing a scene while committees were making reports. Republican county conventions nominate delegates for the state convention based upon the ratio decided in the March 4 primaries.

"We were able to stop that and take care of business," Bertuzzi said. "I don't know what their purpose was. They claim they were Ron Paul supporters. I can't imagine Ron Paul would put people up to this."

Paul, a U.S. representative from Texas and presidential candidate, is far behind presumptive nominee Sen. John McCain. The scene at the Nueces County convention appeared to be part of a larger effort by Paul supporters to gain delegates to the Republican National Convention. The Kansas City Star reported his supporters took over a county convention there March 17 and elected 170 of 187 delegates.

Bertuzzi, who chaired the meeting, said he did not recognize the group to speak and some members were escorted out by the sergeant at arms. Then about 40 members of the faction convened in another room in what's known as a "rump convention."

Rump conventions are a separate meeting conducted by a group that feels it has been disenfranchised. Participants can form their own committees and elect their own delegates, then send a report to the state party, which then decides which convention to recognize from that county.

Bertuzzi said he knew about the potential takeover attempt and how to handle it. A successful takeover of a Nueces County convention in 1988 split the party for years, he said.

"There was no way when I'm chairman that I'm going to let that happen," he said.

About 200 people stayed in the original convention, and 184 were elected to state. Bertuzzi said he expects the other faction to challenge his delegate status at the state convention.

Drusilla Knight-Villarreal, who organized this convention, was county chairwoman during the 1988 takeover. She described the scene Saturday as chaotic.

"I've never seen anything like it," she said. "And I've been involved my entire life."

I’m in Hays County and I think that is part of SD 25. They did not win in Hays.

The 1st vote was to take over the county chair, that went to voice, standing and then a ballot vote. I would have sworn they would have won. They lost that by 40 votes. Thank God for the good ones who showed up. And Stayed.

Surprisingly they didn’t get too tough on the Delegates but there were several ballot votes on the resolutions. They lost most biggies but we killed 2 resolutions, one very important to them (declare war before going to war) and the other minor to both sides in the grand scheme of things. .. (limit the increase of the budget to increase of population + inflation).

but then we DID have 2 that were unanimous, oppose the Obama Global proverty act and
no matter what happens in CD vs Heller Texas should protect our 2nd amendment rights.

It was certainly not boring.

Normally our convention lasts 4 hours. This year it went 6 1/2 hours. I hear Travis county went 12 hours. anyone have details about Travis?

More on the Travis SD-14 convention is at Travis Monitor, just posted the links ... two live-blog reports.

It went 13 hours. I was there for the first 8 hours and had to go home. Once the ‘renegades’ lost on a test vote on changing the rules, the ‘regulars’ were able to run the convention. But it dragged on. Egads, I couldnt stay until the bitter end.

Travis Monitor:
http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/

Liveblog on SD-14:
http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2008/03/sd-14-convention-live-blog.html

Another report on the SD-14 attempted takeover:
http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2008/03/another-report-sd-14-convention.html

Other
takeover reports:
http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2008/03/not-just-in-travis-ron-paul-convention.html

I was a delegate to the Nueces County Republican Convention also. The disruption was not about Ron Paul. It was about failing and refusing to follow the rules... Any prudent person, determined to participate in a lawful manner, suspecting that the rules are not being followed, would make preparation hoping that they would not be necessary.
I was very confused by what I saw at the time, but I now believe that the Chair made the assumption (without verification) that an email he saw by some means was connected in some manner with people who requested access to open records and/or attended the convention. And then, instead of asking if these people if they had anything to do with this referenced email, the Chair apparently decided that the appropriate response was to willfully break the law by intentionally obstructing access to open records, thereby blocking timely challenge at a county convention level to ineligible delegates that had been added; then railroading the county convention, and denying the rights of delegates who had the duty to correct falsified records.
If the chair had intended for anyone to have a voice, where was the microphone that is usually present for people to use? In conventions all over the state the rules were followed, all people were included, and the party is stronger - but not in Nueces!!!

..And the credentials committee said: “let there be delegates,
and behold there were delegates, and they said it was “all good”
and it was the evening and the morning of tyranny.

Since new pieces of mis-information continue to appear,
I think it is important to open the windows to let some fresh air of truth
take away the stench produced by propaganda.

Today the Caller Times Reports:

“Texas Republican Party rules state that a delegate to the county convention does not have to attend the precinct convention. The credentials committee can add delegates of its choosing, as long as they voted in the primary, said Joel Yowell, convention parliamentarian who has served on state rules committees.”
http://www.caller.com/news/2008/apr/01/rump-group-members-protest/

It would have been so great if this reporter had asked the convention parliamentarian: which rule gives the credentials committee the power to “add delegates of its choosing”?.

According to the rules of the Party, delegates are chosen at the precinct convention, where their eligibility is first established and then voted upon. It is true you do not need to attend the precinct convention, but your name and eligibility must be first established by the precinct convention and voted upon so that you can become a duly elected delegate. (see rules 21 for the precinct convention.)

There is no other mechanism to select delegates. The credentials committe has not been given any power to add delegates in violation of rule 21. (http://www.parkergop.org/1998%20Texas%20Rules.htm) Their job is to assess challenges against delegates, not to create them out of thin air. If the credentials committee could “add delegates of their own choosing” there would be no need for a precinct convention, in fact there would be no need for primaries either as such “committees” would have the power of divine appointment to bypass the democratic process.

But even if the credentials committe had been given such almighty powers, the chair is still bound to follow parliamentary rules and I guess, the good parliamentarian, if he retains any degree of conscience, must be having trouble sleeping at night.

Behold Rule 6:

“6. b. At any convention, a motion to move the previous question or to close nomination concerning the election of delegates and alternates shall not be in order until there has been reasonable opportunity for additional nominations, debate and/or amendment.”

But instead the caller times “informs” us : that the chair is “within his rights as chairman to decide whom to recognize.”
Again, it would have been so good if the caller times reporter would have enlighten us as to where in the world these almighty powers had been bestowed upon
the chair, to become the sole arbiter of freedom of speech ignoring Party Rules, the Law of the state and parliamentary laws of due process for the assembly.
Where does he got the divine right and omniscient knowledge to rule against points of order without hearing them?
The majority of the assembly had no idea of what was going on thanks to the chair.
They were deprived of their right to know the truth so that the manipulation can go on undisturbed.
(BTW this is the first convention in my life where in a floor sitting hundreds of people there was no means of amplification for the floor. In other words, there was nothing democratic going on that day.)

I was never told that the Republican party acted upon the same principles ruling the courts of a medieval absolute monarchy.
But I guess now we know better. But as long as I have a voice and a choice between freedom and tyranny, I know where my choice will stand.

I will not bother you further, these are only some of the most obvious rules broken that morning, and the subsequent window dressing of the caller times.
There are many other rules and procedures trampled upon previous to the convention and are thoroughly documented, in the challenge against the chair which the credentials committee conveniently dismissed with its fiat and unbounded power, but you will not read any of that in the Caller Times.

Again feel free to share this information with anyone you think may profit from it.

Truth is the best defence against tyranny, because it is the one thing which darkness can never overcome.

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