Dirty Tricks from 2007/08 State GOP Conventions. How not to lose. Very important!
Submitted by joeinmo on Fri, 12/23/2011 - 00:51In 2007/08 in Missouri, even though we didn't win the State Primary, the Delegates to the National convention are elected by county, District and finally to State Conventions.
By sneak attack We Won a majority of the County Caucuses in the state. But through dirty tricks we lost the state convention and most of the National Delegates to the National Convention. The delegates to the GOP National Convention elect the nominee, not those that voted in the primary. also ultra important in a brokered convention.
Here are some of the most important things to know:
If State GOP sends out a survey to you, always say you are a "Republican," never say you are a Democrat, Libertarian, Conservative, Constitutionalist or Independent Etc. If you have Facebooks sites, Web Pages etc. saying you are one of the above, change it to Republican. You have to remember that the GOP is a club, and the club writes their own rules and one of the rules states you must be a Republican. If they can get something on YOU off the net or from anywhere else "like campaign contributions to the Libertarian Party" they will get you disqualified and you will not be allowed to vote. You cannot complain to the state, the SOS will just say they have their own rules and have no involvement in State Political Parties.
Also become a GOP committeeman/women in your district - very important.
Next, at these conventions you always need someone that knows Roberts Rules of Order and also you need to get a copy of your local GOP county, District and State Convention Rules (For 2012) so you can know how to play the game.
The Convention Delegates as a first vote will elect a Convention Chair and Parliamentarian. - These are the two most important positions at the convention, if you can get your guys elected, you WILL win, you get one of the 2 and you have a chance to win. If you don't get either elected, YOU JUST LOST YOUR STATE for Ron Paul.
Many GOP County Chairs will try and hide the location and date of that County's Convention. If they feel that the convention might get overrun by Ron Paul supporters, they might cancel it and then reconvene at a later date and different place. Keep up with it, and if the convention never gets held hold your own and then try to get recognized at the district and state events for your county event.
Take hidden cameras and recordings. Most GOP conventions will not allow "visible" cameras.
Once a convention is started and a quorum is known, if the Convention chair is being unfair, count how many delegates are on your side. If you have enough to walk out and lose the quorum, DO IT! You will need to leave a couple people behind. 1.) To ask the question - Is there a quorum?
2.) To write down/Record what happens next. This way, those enemy delegates that remain Cannot finish the convention.
Do Not wear Ron Paul T shirts, this will single you out - go stealth. However people need to recognize other Paul supporters so use something like an American Flag button or "Pro Life Pin" that all Ron Paul supporters are given ahead of time. Also leaders should all wear the same color ball cap (bright color) Note at the Iowa Caucuses it's ok to wear Paul gear, it's not a convention.
Get there early
Pre Determine your leaders and who will handle what.
More if I can remember
UPDATE: Try to volunteer for the Different conventions for things like "Check in"
UPDATE 2: In Missouri, if you were a "challenged" delegate, mainly to see if you were a true Republican you were notified that you were to show up at State headquarters during the middle of the day, during the week, when most people are working. This was mainly used to cause confusion and to cause the Ron Paul supporters to get discouraged. Bottom line the state convention always over rules everything. Many people never showed up to the state Gestapo like interrogations and were allowed to vote at the state convention, but we were actually put into a special holding pen at first so we could be paraded in front of the rest of the convention so we could be identified.
Bump!
!
Most of these tricks are
Most of these tricks are known, You guys are gonna have to get your best clothes on, long sleeve shirts, nice dresses etc.. Suits preferred..
Once you get selected as a Delegate, Deactivate your FB twitter etc..
It is seriously not hard for me to go through your posts FB twits etc and find out if your a RP supporter..
Ignore the Pen if they put you in it..
Simply walk over to the guy who looks like a Romney supporter and say WTF are those the Paulbots?
They know almost every trick as it has been pulled it some areas before..
They invented half of the tricks... And the Dems invented the other half..
Stealth mode's already been activated...
I am not on Facebook. I don't Twitter. I was the second best dressed person at the Monday lunch meeting. Given it was my first time attending and based on my attire, I was asked by two attendees if I was the guest speaker for the day!
I've been a securities broker in my (much) younger days, worked for one of the good ole boys companies that started in this area for 12 years. I can relate to anyone honestly and I know how to play the new guy naive card looking for some big dogs to follow and feed some egos if necessary. All that matters is my seat in Tampa.
"Criticizing Ron Paul for not passing bills in Congress is like criticizing a nun in a whore house for not turning tricks. He was there to stop the "whoring," not become one!" ~ Blake Buffington
This should be REQUIRED reading!
I can't thank you enough after reading this Joeinmo.
I plan on linking this to my latest thread trying to make a last ditch effort to meet up with other supporters in my county to prepare for the precinct convention this weekend.
I was fortunate enough to have emailed the county GOP chairman asking how I could help leading up to the convention and on the day of the convention and I was asked if I had a laptop that I would be willing to use to help with registration/check in. Needless to say I said yes!
I also thought it a good idea to attend the Monday county lunch meeting this past Monday to try and show my face at the very least and see if I could meet a few folks. Much to my good fortune, the first person I met turned out to be the 79 year old co-chair of the the same precinct/district I live in! I genuinely had a good time talking with my new friend that we spent 2 1/2 hours after the meeting talking about everything! She will also be working check in on Saturday so I will see her again and hopefully be able to get some of her horsepower behind me being selected as a delegate.
I'm being as honest as I can be without disclosing too much unnecessary information when I talk with folks, I've reviewed Robert's Rules videos and will be taking reference sheets with me so I don't worry about saying the wrong thing and have printed the county GOP rules that have been posted on their site. These are from 2009 and am not sure how to get an advanced copy before the convention as it states these are voted on at the convention. If I were connected earlier I imagine I should be able to get this if available. It might not be readily handed out.
Mostly 60+ age group at this Monday lunch with 100-200 estimated to be attending the precinct convention according to the co-chair I met.
Thanks again for a great information thread. INVALUABLE!
"Criticizing Ron Paul for not passing bills in Congress is like criticizing a nun in a whore house for not turning tricks. He was there to stop the "whoring," not become one!" ~ Blake Buffington
no problem
hope you can use this, it's all a big learning curve, but it's doable.
I notice people are having trouble with this
so I am bumping
Bump
Bumping for great points, Ron Paul can afford to lose the beauty contests but he MUST win the delegate battles!
"The true Patriot will repeal the Patriot Act..." - Ron Paul.
Bump
Bump for the winning
"Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid." - Ronald Reagan
FreelancePR.com Public Relations Services
Bump...
Important info in the upcoming delegate process.
We must WIN the DELEGATE game.
Ron Paul 2012 for Peace
Bump for the Virginia GOP oath
thats one of the dirty tricks
The big lesson we learned
The big lesson we learned from the 08 delegate wars is that a 55 to 45 win against the machine is a loss. When you push in blackjack against the dealer you loose. We need to do exactly what Jackson County did in the KC area. They overwhelmed the machine by bringing a landslide number of RP supporters to the county and district. .004% of the population is the average turnout for MO caucus. We showed up with .0042% and technically won last time until we all know what happened. This time we need way more than those numbers. Keep a list of all RP registered voters so that find so that you can contact them this Spring for the primary and the caucus/convention.
Games like this led directly to my decision to run 3rd party...
...in 2008[I just had to get on the ballot, be a factor(but not a threat), and get to say my piece on behalf of our guys at the debate]
Afterwards though; our STRONG Ron Paul conservative delegates (half the members of the Executive Committee at the county level) were all bounced at a convention,; as the incumbent State Senator and his cronies had brought in a parliamentarian from the OUTSIDE who maneuvered successfully to take away their right to a SECRET BALLOT...their precinct delegates ended up winning, since our guys were not trained/rehearsed and ready to counter properly.
READ MORE HERE as one non-active Executive Committee member still encourages those who are interested, and those who have simply fallen away to get back in the game as the State of Michigan is going to hell...under the leadership of RINO Republicans in the State Legislature with their transparent liberal/big government voting records - the chief RINO now being the Senate Majority Leader from the district he and I ran in; who the author of this weekly watchdog publication ran against in 2010.
Had this State Senator not gotten some 6,000 Democrats to crossover in the primary(to make it look like a landslide); R Al Bain might have won...this is the GAME, this is their system...very important!!!
http://trustronpaul.com
Good article
Thanks for sharing
This is exactly what happened to me at Webster Co MO
Our county GOP canceled the meeting twice. We held the meeting anyway and tried to get out delegates recognized at the State Convention. It was a joke. Short story. We were denied. This time I am trying to get involved early in the GOP, but right now I they don't even have an office open. All I can say, is get involved early, try to become county chair or vice chair, and learn those Robert Rules of Order as if you life depended on it. Thanks for posting joeinmo.
Webster County, Missouri. If you are in Webster County Missouri please send me an email.
meetings
Typically county GOP has monthy meetings. Are you attending those to get involved?
http://FlipFlopRomney.blogspot.com
Right next to
You in Greene County
We thought we saw all their dirty tricks last go around
But with Ron Paul making so much more headway this election we are going to see even more dirty tricks. So we really need to be watchful and alert.
Do not leave the convention early!!!
Do not leave the convention early!!! You need to have this mindset: "I'm bringing my sleeping bag, and I'm not leaving until the meeting is adjourned."
*****The Federal Reserve is neither.*****
convention battles
Pen-size flashlight.
Watter bottle.
Enery bars.
Notes on Robert's Rules of Order.
http://FlipFlopRomney.blogspot.com
Thanks Joe
I can relate totally to what you wrote.
The last Maine state republican convention was a first for most of us getting involved in the political machine and I am sure it was not just Maine.
Most of us had never even heard of Robert's Rules of Order.
And we all find out how dirty they DO play. They hate OUR guy and what he represents and will do ANYTHING to maintain their Status Quo hold on the GOP. They want to keep the party just the way it is and just the way they want it.
Our MSC was a microcosm of DC. I am sure. It was horrifying to see the McCain bots foaming at the mouth talking about war and clapping at our 2 Senators - Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins - who both repeatedly regurgitated the party line.
So, what we learned is that the ONLY way to WIN is to beat them at their own game.
And that is doing just what you wrote.
Thanks for that.
Ron Paul is My President
BUMP
Everyone needs to know this. They will play lots of dirty tricks.
Bump
If memory serves, the most egregious examples of dirty tricks in 2008 were Nevada and Louisiana and Missouri, but reading some of these posts persuades me that the dirty tricks are far more extensive than I had otherwise known. Be ready for RINO ratbags. Then crush them.
Those were the worst
In Missouri we are now working within the Party over the last 3 years we have become committeemen and women and county chairs, won't let it happen this time.
This is so True
I was dismayed by the cold shoulder Ron Paul supporters got from the Delaware Republican Party in '08. 'Old boy network' is the best way I can describe it.
We were thrown a bone when one of ours was made a delegate to the State Convention, IIRC. From there it was downhill.
Robert's Rules of Order - Mastering the Important Motions
Robert's Rules of Order - Mastering the 3 Most Important Motions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYwKX_P8YkU
http://www.robertsrulesmadesimple.com/
Paul ante portas.
Sounds like some kind of Banana Republic.
Thank you for this.
Please share this widely.
Paul ante portas.
This is wonderful advice, and
This is wonderful advice, and a recipe for success rather than failure-it would be a good idea to copy this to paper to take with you and reread whenever necessary-it helps to have a guide especially if you are new to this type of thing, because things can get a little tense at the conventions and best to keep your cool-(always easier when you have a clear plan of action) thanks for posting this!!!
will try and link to a PDF for printing
I am sure I'm forgetting stuff, but will update when I get it all put together
update bump
update
update 2
update 2