Posted on 03/15/2016 8:26:42 AM PDT by TigerClaws
Republican National Committeeman Curly Haugland of North Dakota sent a letter on Friday to fellow RNC officials arguing that current party rules allow 2016 Republican National Convention delegates to vote for the presidential candidate of their personal preference during the first round of voting, rather than voting along with the will of voters in their states.
Haughland wrote in a letter published by The Daily Caller that the party’s Rule 38, also called “Unit Rule,” specifically allows Republican convention delegates to vote their conscience in every vote at the convention.
“Every delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention is a completely free agent, free to vote for the candidate of their choice on every ballot at the convention in Cleveland in July. Every delegate is a Superdelegate!” claimed Haughland, who also pointed out that he has “been defending the right of the delegates to the Republican National Convention to vote according to their personal choice in all matters to come before the Republican National Convention, including the vote to nominate the Republican Candidate for President, for several years.”
Haughland, who is a member of the RNC’s Standing Rules Committee, claims that convention delegates were only bound to vote along with primary results at the 1976 convention and that the requirement was repealed in 1980.
He said that Tom Josefiak of the RNC’s Counsel’s Office gave a 2006 presentation to the Standing Rules Committee in which he counseled, “One of the important rules changes over the last 50 years has been the unit rule prohibited… that change was made so that an individual delegate can vote his or her conscience.”
Haughland, who told The Daily Caller that he believes Trump will not obtain enough delegates to win the nomination, said, “The nominee of the party must receive a majority of the votes of the permanently feted delegates of the convention. That means it doesn’t make any difference what has happened in terms of primary voters, because they don’t count at the convention. It’s only the delegates at the convention whose votes matter.”
News of Haughland’s effort to convince the RNC of his interpretation of convention rules comes on the heels of a Truth in Media report that the GOP establishment is working to force a brokered convention by attempting to deny frontrunner Donald Trump the delegates necessary to clinch the nomination during the first round of voting at the convention in hopes that another candidate will prevail in a subsequent round.
8 months ago, the GOP primary national polling had Trump at 18% and Jeb Bush at 15%, Scott Walker had 10% and no one still in the race besides Trump was above single digits.... look how that turned out?
Citing some hypothetical poll today as indicative of what will happen 8 months from now is borderline insane.
If you think for one minute that if you put Hillary on the same stage as Trump for 2 or 3 hours live, that Hillary is going to win that battle, you haven’t been paying attention for the last 8 months.
So we should just drink the KoolAid and get used to being treated like unwelcome step=children by the establishment?
This is a pretty private list of co-horts, I’ve searched and can’t find other members of Curly’s elite committee. I guess the RNC keeps everybody covered. I certainly wanted to blast off some emails.
I FIRMLY believe Trump can win 3rd party !!! He is NOT depending on their money!!! HE is the ONLY one that can do it!!!
“If the establishment picks anyone other than the person who won the most delegates, the GOP will lose in November.”
Indeed. And lose big time at that.
So you think that a person who gets FEWER votes than Trump should get the nomination?
We are down to this: the republican establishment is going to do the same thing that got them in this mess... to not listen to the voice of the people and overrule our vote. They have to be stopped!.. taken apart!.... the establishment consists of both parties and the media... they have chosen the candidate for so many years... it has to end.
Every state makes their own rules. In some states, this is exactly what happens. The State Republican Party rule-makers get there by election. The people that vote in those elections for state officials are the people that actually show up for caucuses, something Trumpers are too arrogant to do.
In my March 1st precinct caucus (Colorado), there were only 4 Trumpers that showed up. They were unprepared, had done nothing to understand the process, had to have everything explained to them. Out of fairness, I tried to help them, one of them did try to run for higher position, but had little support. Cruzers pretty much seized the apparatus because they were the only ones who were serious enough to try. So live with it, Trumpers. Rallies are fun (but more time-consuming) than caucus attendance, but there's a price to be paid for focusing on "feel-good" politics. Trump will not win Colorado's delegates, Cruz will. Because his supporters cared.
If they manage to screw Trump or Cruz out of the nomination I will be sleeping late the first Tues. after the first Mon. in November.
The GOP would evaporate if that happened.
This is a very enlightening view into GOPe attitudes though. We have seen exactly that attitude in the last two elections, get the House, get the Senate, get the same old sh!t.
They really are that bloody stupid, that completely ignorant of today’s environment outside of their sterile little pocket of corruption in DC!
They really are. Until these friggin’ idiots started shooting their mouths off the past few months, I thought the democrats were stupid. Misguided, zealous ideologues who were following their tribe (socialism) despite the evidence. But now?
But would he be able to get on the ballot in enough states at that point?
Since this supposedly has been the set up since 1980.....inquiring minds want to know how many times have they used this "rule" to override a primary?
If they screw the voters, I will drag myself to the polls to pull the D lever on every down ballot candidate. We can all play that game. Either way, lots GOPe’s will be out of a job.
If loser Mittens is appointed, me and mine will sit out the election.
How’s he gonna get on enough ballots at this point?
Bingo!!
If they are really stupid enough to pull this shenanigan, then it would lay bare the fact that the votes of the people are irrelevant. They're nothing more than a little show to provide people the illusion they control the government.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.