[Constitution Day]

Thanks for your comments.

Daughtridge is a newly-minted Rep. from Rocky Mount.
He is not in my district, so I couldn't vote for him.
His comments in the local paper lately have made him sound like a RINO in training.

I sure hope you & TaxRelief will post a firsthand account of the convention! Ping me if you do.

CD

[TaxRelief]

I was part of the minority, buoyed by the ridiculous Morgan group, that voted against one of the inane, divisive resolutions.

NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY
Resolution 2003-8
RESOLUTION ON PARTY LOYALTY

• WHEREAS         Republican volunteers, voters and precinct workers, and local Republican clubs, committees, and organizations, devoted hundreds of thousands of hours to elect a Republican majority of State House of Representatives during the 2002 General Election;
  
• WHEREAS         Republicans lost its majority of seats in the House when an elected Republican Representative changed his registration to Democrat, and then voted for a Democrat to be Speaker; and
  
• WHEREAS        the betrayal of the Republican Party and Republican volunteers by this Representative should not be tolerated, condoned, or ignored by the North Carolina Republican Party.
  
  
• NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED     that the North Carolina Republican Party shall target publicly any state Representative or Senator who campaigned as a Republican, but switches party affiliation during his campaign or subsequent term of office, or who votes for Democrats for leadership positions, if Republicans are in the majority, to ensure that any such officials are defeated in either the Republican primary or the General Election.

[TaxRelief]

On the surface this resolution may seem OK, but this resolution actually, has some hidden controls. (I hate controls).

Why did I vote against this resolution?

1. Let's take a close look at part on the resolution:

"The North Carolina Republican Party shall target publicly any state Representative or Senator who campaigned as a Republican, but who votes for Democrats for leadership positions, if Republicans are in the majority."

We are on a mission to weed out RINOs, yet we have no qualms about forcing elected officials to vote for someone simply because they ran on the Republican ticket. [Hail! Hitler!]

2. As Freeper Huber pointed out, The Plan of Organization forbids this type of action:

"Any registered Republican influencing the outcome of any election against a Republican Nominee... may be declared ineligible to hold office under the State Plan of Organization at the State, District, and Precinct level for Party disloyalty by 2/3 vote of the State Executive Committee. Charges of Party disloyalty may be brought by petition of 50 members of the State Executive Committee, or by resolution of a County or District Republican Executive Committee. The State Executive Committee may declare a Republican found to have engaged in Party disloyalty as ineligible to serve in any office under this Plan of Organization for a period of time between 6 months and 5 years."

Playing devil's advocate, what if:

We were in the future in a situation where the party is divided roughly equally on an issue. Let's say half of the elected Republicans cut a deal with the Dems giving leadership of the "Outreach" committee to the Dems in exchange for Republican leadership of the "Judicial Review Committee".

The other half of the Republican officials are furious at this deal, because they wanted leadership of the "Outreach" committee, not the "judicial" committee.

With the help of the NCGOP executive committee, they bring a petition against all Republicans involved and permanently oust them from party politics, further weakening the party in the state of NC.

The plan of organization now gives discipline power, over any Republican, to the NCGOP executive committee.

3. The intent of this resolution was to humiliate the "Morgan 5" without giving them a chance to explain their position. (I hate what they did, but I would have liked to hear what their position was). There was even an attempt to "name names" in the resolution, which would have been even more despicable.

4. The last and most important reason that I voted against this movement: This type of resolution makes the entire party look petty and unprofessional and makes us the laughing stocks of the mainstream media.

Frankly, I was embarrassed to be forced to vote against this (especially with the Morgan group voting my way) at all.

Furthermore, setting ourselves up to be ridiculed,does not help us recruit folks to our way of thinking.