Posted on 04/18/2016 3:34:47 PM PDT by AuntB
A member of the Republican National Committee rules panel accused his own party leadership of “institutional tyranny” on Monday, another escalation in the growing internal battle over the party’s arcane parliamentary procedures.
Solomon Yue, the Oregon committeeman and member of the RNC’s Rules Committee, sent a more than 1,300-word email, obtained by POLITICO, to members of the rules panel on Monday morning, charging that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and his allies had improperly tried to scuttle Yue’s proposal to change the underlying rulebook for what could be the party’s first contested convention in 40 years this summer.
Yue is the man behind the controversial proposal to switch the Cleveland convention from the rules of House of Representatives, which have been used at party conventions for decades, to Robert’s Rules of Order, which are common among many civil groups.
Yue's idea is expected to be tabled this week, as Republican Party officials gather for their spring meeting in Hollywood, Fla. But in his email, Yue outlined numerous complaints about how the party leadership handled his proposal and its importance.
"I believe in democracy and majority rule of the delegates and am concerned that almost dictatorial power the House Rules give the chairman of the convention will lead to confusion, chaos, manipulation, and revolt at the convention,” Yue wrote to his colleagues on Monday.
Yue believes his plan would make it harder for the chair of the convention to bring in a so-called “white knight” — an outsider that could break a deadlocked convention. Not everyone agrees and neither the Donald Trump nor Ted Cruz campaign have weighed in on the plan.
Publicly and privately, Priebus has opposed changing the rules in any significant way, fearing it would lead to added mistrust in a system that Trump has whaled against almost daily as “rigged."
“I don’t think that it’s a good idea for us next week, I mean, before the convention to make serious rules changes or recommendations of changes right now,” Priebus said Sunday on CNN.
A spokesman for the RNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sean Spicer, the party’s chief strategist, dismissed talk Monday that Trump would replace Priebus, if he were the nominee.
“Under this chairman we've put together the best resource and staff and equipped political party in the history of the United States,” Spicer said on CNN. “We are the gold standard of political parties. I think any candidate would be lucky to have Reince Priebus as a chairman, and they should be begging him to keep continuing the success that he's had.”
In his email, Yue accused the party’s leaders of trying to “discredit me” with reporters and RNC counsel John Ryder of privately whipping against his proposal and not included it on the panel’s pre-submitted agenda. At one point, he outlines a conversation he had with Priebus last week in which he says the chairman repeatedly –and unsuccessfully – tried to pressure him to withdraw his proposal.
"This has caused me great alarm. There was a concerted effort to kill my proposal by manipulating the power of the Counsel's office. If this can happen to me, what about the average delegate at our convention?” Yue wrote.
Yue, who noted in his missive that he has served on the RNC for 16 years, said he had won his reelection this year by campaigning to open up the convention’s proceedings through Robert’s Rules of Order.
The chairman of the Rules Committee, Bruce Ash of Arizona, sent a note to rules panelists accusing the party of “a major breach of trust” in their handling of Yue’s proposal.
Yue cited Ash in his email Monday: "When I complained to Chairman Ash, all my concerns got confirmed. I told Mr. Ash that when an institutional power, including Counsel's office, unfairly and systematically is used to crush a member's dissenting voice, we have institutional tyranny.”
The back-and-forth adds fresh drama to what was already expected to be an eventful meeting in Florida with the backdrop of the closest GOP presidential race in a generation.
"Looking forward to seeing all of you in FL,” Yue ended his email.
B T T T
Same here.
“I” will quit the GOP
“As soon as I vote in November, It will turn into an ‘I’....”
I will wait and until President Trump fires every rectum in the GOP upper levels.
When that happens, I will get active again in the local Republican Party (haven’t been since Reagan) and help to clean out the rectums at that level.
“Might as well have Satan in charge of the convention.”
Or have Bill Clintoon in charge of the dying GOPe convention.
When I lived in PA, I was heavily involved in the Senate Campaign of Santorum...politics isn’t for the faint hearted, not is it bean bag games, if you want to get anywhere you have to get in the gutters with the slimes your running against and throw slimier mud than they do...
We had all of PA red until voting night, we lost to Philly, Harrisburg and Pittsburg...so I’ve been in the gutters, I know what Trump is doing, I know what moves need to be made and I won’t do it again, once in my lifetime is enough...
Trump is my man, he’s the only one to save America and it’s people, he isn’t using phy-ops, he’s not in the gutter, he is a True Blue American Man and if people can’t see that, their loss, but remember America is at stake here, not some ‘gravy train lazy asshole’ that doesn’t want to make an honest living...
“Or have Bill Clintoon in charge of the dying GOPe convention.”
Bill is holding out for President of the Girl Scouts.
Note: this topic is from 4/18/2016. Thanks AuntB.
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