Libertarian ping! To be added or removed freepmail me or post a message here.
Posted on 06/04/2008 7:51:35 PM PDT by traviskicks
Republican activists' Houston case warned state leaders will try to shut out grass-roots opposition at meeting next week
A Harris County judge on Wednesday ordered the Texas Republican Party to comply with state election law at its state convention in Houston next week after Republican activists alleged that the party illegally uses procedures to minimize grass-root dissent.
Visiting Judge Tom Sullivan issued the temporary restraining order on Wednesday, a few hours after it was requested in a lawsuit filed by activists across the state.
Represented by lawyer Gary Polland, a former Harris County Republican Party chairman, the group alleges that party leaders violated procedural laws at past conventions and plan to do so again. The next hearing on the case is scheduled for Monday.
Texas law says a political party's state convention must choose a permanent chairman before doing most official business. Polland and Wharton County GOP Chairwoman Debra Medina said the party instead elects a permanent chairman late in the convention, shutting off dissent beforehand about the selection of convention delegates and new state party leaders, the adoption of a platform and other actions.
"If they want to exclude the grass roots and control the process it's not right," Polland said.
Medina worked in the primary re-election campaign of her congressman, Ron Paul. The activists she heads call themselves "Goldwater Conservatives, Reagan Republicans, Robertson Crowd, Ron Paul Republicans, and, well, real Conservatives" on their Web site, www.fairconvention.org.
Texas Republican Party spokesman Hans Klingler said the party follows the rules and is willing to address complaints about how the convention is conducted.
"We are a rule-of-law party," he said.
The state convention at the downtown George R. Brown Convention Center will select delegates to the Republican National Convention and hear speeches by top GOP elected officials. Some Republicans in Galveston, Nueces and Parker counties want the convention to block the seating of delegates from those areas on grounds that they were selected in violation of party rules.
Without changing the way the convention is run, Polland said, the party risks alienating some of its grassroots supporters, "and 10 or 15 percent disaffected Republican voters means (Democrat) Barack Obama wins Texas."
Polland and Medina are convention delegates.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed freepmail me or post a message here.
This thread will be a $hitstorm before morning.
As long as he annoys the type of people who go to a political party convention, the guy's OK in my book.
The national GOP convention could be very interesting.
Messing up your country club are they? :)
It's so frustrating...they just don't adhere to the appropriate attire, know how to hold a teacup with the pinkie extended just so, or even the proper etiquette when one is nibbling crustless cucumber sandwiches. Can you believe it?
Simply tragic.
Far be it for us Constitutional “assholes” to get in the way of you and your boy John McTraitor and your new world order. If you’re happy and you know it, shake your chains.
People that reek of awesomeness.
You’re really funny...LOL! [literally.]
Same with Oklahoma and our precinct meetings, County, District, and State Conventions. They received a small percentage of votes but tried to become delegates to vote for Ron Paul on the first ballot when we are a winner take all state. They didn’t intend to play by the Rules and haven’t in most states so far. The Republican Assemblies Crowd in my state joined with the Paul folks but failed and the Oklahoma delegation will follow the rules of Oklahoma for winner take all.
lol, not without Lormand it won’t. (courtesy ping)
Can you imagine that?! How dare those Paulites insist on the law being followed?!
It seems to me that most things annoying come out of Texas; like Ron Paul, Ross Perot, LBJ, the Cowboys, Jim Wright, etc., etc,.
A friend (Huckabee supporter) who has been active in his R precinct for many years attended his TX county convention. He was not and is not a RP supporter, but he had never seen such rule-breaking by the party establishment.
The old guard are a bunch of Tories who definitely put party over principle.
It seems to me you conveniently left one or two recent presidents and a vice-president out. Intentionally?
Your first-hand stories, mostly unsupported by so much as a Daily Oklahoman article, should qualify you as the Queen of Anecdotes on FreeRepublic.
And Mr. SoCalPol has got to be a contender for King, at least for San Diego if not all of California.
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