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delegates were only bound to vote along with primary results at the 1976 convention and that the requirement was repealed in 1980.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.
no matter what I hope there is enough security at the convention to protect the convention on all sides.
Unless RNC darling Rubio drops out, he could very well be our nominee? Is that how this works?
No. The GOPe plan is to protect Cruz as a plausible conservative while he racks up as many delegates as possible. If Cruz is close to Trump in delegates they will steal the nom from him/us at the convention and present Cruz as a “conservative” alternative.
Gingrich is correct. Any necessary deal can be done in the Convention Rules Committee, whose decisions have to be approved by the whole convention, which will likely consist of at least 1900 combined Trump and Cruz delegates.
If Trump has 90% of the needed delegates and they deny him the nomination, then burn the convention hall down...
Republicans tried it against William McKinley in the 1896 election.
The bosses still hoped to deny McKinley a first-ballot majority at the convention by boosting support for local favorite son candidates such as Quay, New York Governor (and former vice president) Levi P. Morton, and Illinois Senator Shelby Cullom. Delegate-rich Illinois proved a crucial battleground, as McKinley supporters, such as Chicago businessman (and future vice president) Charles G. Dawes, sought to elect delegates pledged to vote for McKinley at the national convention in St. Louis. Cullom proved unable to stand against McKinley despite the support of local Republican machines; at the state convention at the end of April, McKinley completed a near-sweep of Illinois' delegates.[89] Former president Harrison had been deemed a possible contender if he entered the race; when Harrison made it known he would not seek a third nomination, the McKinley organization took control of Indiana with a speed Harrison privately found unseemly. Morton operatives who journeyed to Indiana sent word back that they had found the state alive for McKinley.[90] Wyoming Senator Francis Warren wrote, "The politicians are making a hard fight against him, but if the masses could speak, McKinley is the choice of at least 75% of the entire [body of] Republican voters in the Union".[91]
The ESTABLISHMENT party supersedes the RNC and DNC. They want one of their own in the WH so fully expect the Hag Clinton to be the next president.
“They pull a stunt like that and I will vote for the Democrat (which I have never done) just to spite them and teach them not to f-— with us.”
Exactly what I will down. Vote Hillary and a straight democrat ticket.
bkmk
Trump needs to get ready to 3rd party. The GOP is going to screw him.
Rush talking about this article now..
They will lose all state elections and Congress.
Count on it.
stop referring to them as GOPe elite just refer to them as GOPe extinct
Latest NOVEMBER election poll: Trump getting 38% against Clinton, 37% against Sanders.
Half the People here are ecstatic about Trump getting the nomination.
The world, the conservative world, has gone mad. Hope you Trumpers enjoy losing the Senate and the Supreme Court.
If Haugland and the RNC seriously intend to evoke Rule 39, they’d best have plane tickets and passports in hand and plane engines turning as there are those that will evoke Rules .223, .308, and .50 with terminal results.
BTW, Love your Weapon Shops of Isher reference in your tag - Molon Labe!
Rush talking about this right now!
The GOP won’t just lose in November, they will literally go the way of the whigs.... roughly 40% of their base will evaporate from them.... They will be done.
That isn't a threat, it's a valid concern. Rubio and Cruz weren't even born in 1968. They have no cultural memory of what happened. Kasich should know better....he was 16 then. Romney? He doesn't give a damn since he's not one of us.
Those of us old enough to catch the signs saw Chicago Friday night for what it was. It was a deliberate attempt to cause chaos, burn down a part of Chicago, and blame Trump. Kasich, Cruz and Rubio should've spoken for First Amendment rights. Instead they left mayors and police departments at the rallies that followed on their own to keep things in line. I can't help thinking Kasich would've been okay with chaos breaking out in OH cities....Dayton, Cleveland, Cincinnati, :Youngstown if he could blame Trump.
If the elite get away with this manipulation, it's hard to see how it leads anywhere good.
Nope, I say let it burn, if it comes to that. The people will have be proven to been unworthy of what America is, and the best thing to do would be to put the Republic out of its misery and pray that a remnant survives the ensuing fire storm.
I agree with the poster that said this ignores the state rules, which do bind delegates. But, this notion that Trump is entitled to the nomination if he gets the most delegates is wrong. If he doesn't have a majority then more people voted for someone else instead of him. He needs a majority to have any sort of entitlement. Without anyone having a majority it is properly a matter for the party to negotiate.
I will be one to make sure og it STRIAGHT DEM ticket however THEY don’t give a damn their status quo will STILL be in place and the country be DAMNED!!!
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