Posted on 08/31/2008 11:23:20 AM PDT by lqcincinnatus
CORPUS CHRISTI — A group that wants the Nueces County Republican Convention declared illegal sued local party leaders and others this week, saying the elected delegates should be barred from participating in the national convention.
Visiting Judge Richard Terrell on Friday denied a request from the group to grant a temporary restraining order that would have kept the national delegates from attending next week's Republican National Convention in Minnesota.
About 40 people walked out of the Nueces County Republican Convention on March 29, with some accusing local party leaders of violating several rules, including illegally seating delegates. The group conducted its own meeting, known as a rump convention, and elected its own delegates to the state GOP convention.
Robert Heil, the plaintiffs' attorney, said the group plans to continue with its suit and has evidence to prove its claims that party rules and the law were not followed.
"What my clients are really interested in is preserving the democratic process," Heil said.
The seven plaintiffs who filed the suit are Kay Fischer, Vanessa Cahill, Joe Cavazos, Darryl Smith, Stacey Smith, Judson Smith and Maria Hultgren. There are 17 defendants named in the suit, including Nueces County GOP Chairman Mike Bertuzzi, Michael Bergsma, Joel Yowell and Kendall Peterson.
The suit asks that the plaintiffs be awarded an unspecified amount for attorney's fees and other damages, including for travel expenses for going to Austin "in their attempt to clarify the situation of illegally placed delegates." The group's efforts failed to convince the state party to recognize its rump convention at the state meeting in June, and nearly the entire Nueces County delegation was seated.
A state committee that month stripped Peterson's credentials, finding him responsible for adding delegates against party rules. Peterson had chaired the county credentials committee. The committee, however, cleared Bertuzzi and a dozen other local delegates of any wrongdoing.
Fischer also was a plaintiff in a lawsuit in Harris County that sought but failed to change the order of business at the state convention in Houston.
Bertuzzi said Friday that the suit has no merit.
"None of it's true," Bertuzzi said of the allegations in the suit. "They're the ones who don't understand the rules."
Attorney John Bell, who is representing three of the people named as defendants, called the suit against his clients "frivolous," saying they had no idea their names were placed on list of delegates.
"They didn't even go to the county convention," Bell said.
Staff writer Denise Malan contributed to this report. Contact Mary Ann Cavazos at 886-3623 or cavazosm@caller.com.
The power of the people and the peoples' vote was usurped and the Dhims are p!$$ed !!
They have turned on each other and like vampires, have infected each other with the evil blood and curse of anarchy.
The assault on Republicans will be brutal ... way more than the rhetorical "selected not elected"
Even with Palin, we may see the end of our beloved representative Republic after all ... no matter whom wins.
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