Posted on 10/13/2023 5:39:32 PM PDT by cotton1706
By a vote of 21-13, the committee elected former Ravalli County Commissioner Ron Stoltz as central committee chair over Terry Nelson, who had served in that capacity since 2008. Nelson, a planner and surveyor by trade and Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2016, will continue in his role as state party secretary, a position to which he was elected at a statewide convention this June.
Stoltz was nominated for chair by Sen. Theresa Manzella, R-Hamilton, the chair of the Montana Freedom Caucus and a prominent figure among Republican hardliners in Montana. She noted during Monday’s county party meeting that Stoltz was an early political mentor to her and recruited her to run for a seat in the state Legislature. Some observers say he lost his county commission primary in 2014 (by almost 50 points) because he was “too conservative,” Manzella said. There is, she said, no such thing.
“Some say that his constitutional conservatism will cost us votes as a county,” she said. “That hasn’t panned out to be true in my case. They say to win you have to have a big tent and be much more moderate. And I would say that when we go to our Montana GOP conventions, it is the constitutional conservatives that win the day at our conventions, on pretty much every vote, including our pro-life-without-exception stance.”
The vote was preceded by a successful motion to adopt a variety of quasi-election integrity measures, including a requirement that the vote be conducted in public, that each candidate appoint observers, and that the number of votes counted must equal the number of people allowed to vote.
“A built-in audit, I like it,” Manzella commented.
In brief remarks prior to the vote, Stoltz asserted that the county party has been “asleep” and led by a “burnt-out” chair.
(Excerpt) Read more at montanafreepress.org ...
“Republican hardliners”
There’s that “hardline” word again reminiscent of the Soviet politburo.
Good news? Could any Montana FReepers comment if it great news!
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