The Convention, The Slate and the Delegation Part II

I received this today. I do not know Bill Ramsey so it's not  personal. I have a problem with the process. In this process, if I make a nomination, no one will get a chance to vote on it unless a majority vote against Ramsey. Once again, I am voting no.

No more comments, here is the e-mail:

Dear National Convention Delegate,

Thank you for the many responses we received from the letter we sent last week. In total we received 31 responses, 27 of them in favor of the proposed changes to the delegation.

One change has occurred since you voted on filling the vacancies on the delegation. Due to various reasons Gopal Krishna will now be unable to attend the convention next week. It is proposed to have alternate John Bloom fill the vacancy on the delegation because he was the alternate for that open delegate position and add Bill Ramsey to fill Mr. Bloom’s now vacant at-large alternate position.

The final proposed change is:

John Bloom to fill the vacancy created by Morris Hurd, Bill Ramsey to fill the vacancy created by John Bloom as an alternate delegate.

Again due to the tight time frame of the convention please respond as quickly as possible indicating your vote. As stated in the first letter, all delegates are free to nominate any other person to fill the vacancy.

If you nominate any person to fill the vacancy, please make sure that that person will attend the 2008 Republican National Convention and have a place to stay if that person is elected to fill the vacancy.

If a majority of the delegates vote in favor of the addition of Bill Ramsey as an alternate delegate, it will be considered that the delegation agreed to fill the vacancy with Bill Ramsey. If the majority of the delegates do no concur with Bill Ramsey, we will conduct an election among all the nominees on August 29, 2008. Please reply to the above email address ( slscheffler@aol.com  ) by stating that you either concur to fill the vacancy or with your nomination before 1:00 P.M. on August 27, 2008. We will inform the delegation of the results August 28, 2008.

Thank you,

Steve Scheffler
Delegation Chair

PS. FYI  Bill Ramsey is a successful realator from Waterloo.  Bill is a long time Black Hawk County Republican Activist and former Black Hawk County GOP Chairman.

Comments

[Nicky Baker]

David-

Thank you for posting. I agree with you on the issue of not having a nominations process and a vote; but instead being told who to vote up or down and then have to do it all over again if people don't want that person. That actually would extend the process much longer than necessary.

If the original email that had gone out stated something that explained the rules a bit and then said we will accept nominations for the vacancies of (fill in the blank here)until Sunday and announce the nominations monday morning; then you will have until wednesday to register your votes to fill the vacancies either by phone or email... this would have been a more open process.

Also, I have been considering this definition of the word 'delegation'. As an alternate who has been excluded from these proceedings, it may seem like I am whining or crying foul. I am not; if that is what was chosen for this year, I am fine with the ruling, no matter how it was arrived at. However, I do wish to voice my opinion on the ruling and my questions concerning it.

My major question, is this, if the definition of 'delegation' in regards to this rule only means the actual delegates and none of the alternates; is the the definition of 'delegation' the same for all venues and regulations during the whole of the convention? In other words, when the 'Iowa Delegation' is invited to a reception or breakfast, are the alternates from Iowa also invited?

Obviously, this question needs to be settled post haste; as the convention starts on Monday. And if I, and my fellow alternates are not going to be welcome at these events because we are not members of 'the delegation'; then we need to know this.

[Brent Oleson]

John Bloom gave $15.00 to the Lightfoot race a decade ago. Still trying to track down his "activism" in terms of financial help.

At least Mr. Ramsey has been somewhat active, by supporting his local legislative candidates.

Again, these delagates don't seem to be very active doing the the "tough" stuff, like raising or donating financial resources to the party, 3rd party organizations that support Republican candidates or the candidates themselves.

Hey Dave, why can't nominations be made by any member of your current delegation or by the SCC. This seems really authoritarian in process!

[i'm anonymous]

Brent, have you checked out all of the other delegates and alternates from the original list? It would be interesting to see what they all look like under scrutiny as well.

[Grant Young]

Woot! John Bloom was one of the best precinct leaders I had for McCain during the Caucuses. He doorknocked his neighborhood, twice I believew in subzero temps.

It's great to see a supporter rewarded for all of his good work.

Congrats John, you deserve it.

[Grant Young]

That is... if it's the same John Bloom I know... hopefully it is.

[Brent Oleson]

Good to see Grant. I hope it is the same guy. We all have contributions to make, and canvassing and volunteering is certainly up there with financial giving to candidates. Just simply pointing out one facet of activism. You don't win elections on hopes and prayers. It takes hard work, long hours, and money. It would be nice to see those who are exceptional in all categories get rewarded with delegate spots.