Posted by
Lady Logician on Tuesday, June 03, 2008 10:40:34 AM
Because of circumstances beyond my control, I was not at last week's Republican Party State Convention. I gave up my seat to a newcomer since I was not sure that I was going to be here for the convention or not (more on this later). However, I was following the action thanks to AM 1280 the Patriot and TN contributors AAA,
Chief,
Kevin,
Martin and SCSU Scholars King and Janet. So even though I was not there in person, I do think I have a good take on what happened last weekend and because of that I am dismayed at the actions of my "fellow Republicans".
One of the first things that I heard about was Friday's attempt by the State Executive Committee to totally usurp the autonomy of the individual BPOU's. Andy has a letter posted from one of the BPOU leaders that was the target of this take over. Shortly after I heard about that, I read a story from the Star Tribune that quoted one of the "newcomers" from my district that I gave up my seat for.
"You had your shot," said former state representative Fran Bradley, who was chairing the convention. "What happened is the will of the majority and it's time to move on."
That irked Paul supporters who said they were victims of an undemocratic process. "We've been completely shut out of the process," said Lara Witte, a Paul supporter from Savage.
Emphasis mine. The irony of that statement is apparently lost on Ms. Witte (who has yet to show up for ANY activities in our BPOU other than the conventions and we have had LOTS of volunteer activities in the Savage Lands). She is so wrapped up in HER agenda that she does not see (none of the Paul supporters apparently see) that they are not the only ones being "shut out" by the State Party! Either that or she was so busy basking in the glow of her candidate's presence (more on THAT later) to pay attention to the floor battle on the Rules and Constitutional changes.
However, the State Party was not completely at fault. Yes, they made all the "right" procedural moves - moves that were guaranteed to shut ALL dissenting opinion out, but the Paul campaign does hold some blame for their being shut out of the Rules.
First and foremost was Marianne Stebbens (chair of Congressman Paul's MN Campaign) should have known to have someone parked at the Credentials table waiting for published copies of the agenda and the rules to be put out. After all, Marianne is (so she claims) to be a long time Republican Party activist. I have only been involved in the party for 6 years and I know that. She supposedly has 20 years on me - so why did she not know that? Her counterpart in Nevada certainly did. If she was going to wage an effective floor fight on the rules she needed to have her forces on the floor. Instead they were ALL out getting their pictures taken with their candidate. Then, when it was too late to make changes to the rules, the Paul supporters did everything in their power to turn the rest of the floor (many of whom were sympathetic after witnessing the Executive Committee's naked power grab and realizing that they could be next) against them and their candidate.
One of the first givens of politics is that it is a numbers game. He who has the most votes WINS. If you don't have the numbers, you are not going to win your battles - whether it is at the ballot box or on the convention floor. If the Paul campaign was smart, they would have had their candidate speak at a reception for supporters Thursday night so that their members could have all been on the floor, fresh and ready for the fight. If Ms. Witte wants to blame anyone for shutting the Paul supporters out, she needs to at least turn one eye toward the Paul campaign!
But again, the State Party needs to bear some of the blame. They made took every advantage that they had and used it against the Paul people. They made sure that agendas and copies of rules changes got out as "late" as possible so that as few convention attendees had them as possible. That should upset more than just the Paul supporters. They also made sure that there were no scheduled breaks. There was not even a break in the action for lunch! By manipulating what information got out and when and by manipulating the schedule, convention organizers made sure that the deck was always stacked in their favor.
One thing that was cemented in my mind as a result of the convention is this. The MNGOP is not about helping get Republicans get elected. If it was, they would be working with the BPOUs instead of against them. No, the state party - in it's current incarnation - is only out for itself. Self preservation is not always a bad thing, but in this case it does not instill much faith in the state party at all. I don't kno