GOP Convention — Rules

The buck stops here. (At least concerning the convention rules — I am still not in charge of seating!)

I served as chairman of the State Rules Committee for this year's convention. While this is the first time I have ever served on the committee — I am a rules guy. The controversy of course was over rule 26:

26.	There shall be no nominations from the floor for delegate-at-large, alternate delegate-at-large or presidential elector-at-large.

In 2004 (the last year we elected convention delegates) the rule read:

23.

There shall be no nominating or seconding speeches for Delegates-at-Large or for Alternate Delegates-at-Large.  No nominations may be received from the floor but the report of the Committee on Nominations may be amended by substitution motion duly seconded and adopted by a majority of votes actually cast.

Speaking for the committee, our rule 26 was never intended to prevent the convention from modifying the slate of delegates by a majority vote. One of our goals was to simplify the rules and remove those things that are clearly defined in Robert's Rules.

Since the report of the Nominating Committee is a committee report, it can be amended from the floor by majority vote like any other committee report. The proof of the matter is that even though the rule was not deleted, the Convention chose by majority vote to replace Gopal Krishna with John Ortega on the slate.

As a lesson learned, if it can be established in our institutional memory, I will do my best to see that our 2012 rules make it clear that the nominating committee presents a list of delegates but it is the convention that has the final say.

As for the election rules, I have heard several people suggest that there should be a question and answer time with the National Committeeman and Comitteewoman candidates. In this case you had Steve Roberts, an incumbent with a long record of service at the RNC. The three credible challengers, Sandy Greiner, Kim Lehman (spelled with an 'N' not an 'M' as on her stickers) and Steve Scheffler are among the most well-known and recognizable activists in our party. All of them went out of their way to state clearly where they stand. They and their surrogates also worked hard to frame their opponents' views in their terms. All four were highly visible and available on the convention floor. If anyone came to the convention undecided, there were ample opportunities to learn about the candidates and make an informed decision.

I would certainly welcome input and on the rules throught the comment selction of this blog or the e-mail link on this page.

Comments

[Chelle Adkins]

I thought our rules went over very well. I think they were very well simplified and there were no chances of anyone playing games with them. I did make a couple of notes should I be elected to serve on the rules committee again. Shoot me an email and I'll throw out my ideas :)
frogge@cfu.net