Slap on state party smarts in a state McCain needs

By Michael Mishak
Fri, Aug 29, 2008 (2 a.m.)

With Republicans descending on St. Paul, Minn., to nominate Ariz. Sen. John McCain, his organization must be wondering what kind of support he’ll find in Nevada now that the national party has deemed the state party inept.

A Republican National Committee panel said this week it was “deeply troubled by the ineptness of the state party” in selecting delegates to the national convention. The state party, it said, used a “flawed, inadequate and unacceptable” process.

The upbraiding stems from the fallout from the party’s failed state convention in April. Supporters of Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican, flooded the convention and essentially out-organized the party establishment, which sought to rally delegates behind McCain. The Paul insurgents won a key procedural vote on the rules, but their boisterous presence created significant delays, causing the convention chairman, Bob Beers, a state senator from Las Vegas, to recess the convention without selecting delegates.

The Paul group selected its delegates in June, but the state party fell far short of a quorum for its follow-up convention in July. The state party’s executive committee appointed its own slate of delegates.

Republican activist Mike Weber, with the help of Paul supporter Wayne Terhune, filed an official challenge with the national party, whose contest committee recommended this month that neither group’s slate should be seated. Both sides objected and argued their cases on appeal before the committee in Minnesota on Sunday.

The committee upheld its ruling Tuesday, then laid into the state party for failing “to demonstrate that it accomplished any of the tasks required of it.” It also chastised the party for officials’ treatment of the Paul supporters.

The committee recognized Nevada’s right to send 34 delegates and 31 alternates to the convention, recommending a list of delegates that largely mirrors the McCain slate put forth by the state party. Committee officials said the action “should not be interpreted as an endorsement of, or support for, the conduct of the state party.”

Tell that to Weber and the Paul supporters.

“I’m very disappointed that they chose not to deal in justice but issued an inside-the-Beltway power move on this,” Weber said. “This decision is not a just decision ... and the party is going to have to pay the consequences for that.”

As Terhune put it, “They said it was illegal but then rubber-stamped it.”

The mounting frustration could result in Republicans defecting to third party candidates, such as Libertarian Bob Barr. Weber, a one-time McCain supporter, said he’s looking around. Terhune, a die-hard Paul fan, is looking, too.

Paul himself is fomenting that frustration. He’s planning a rival convention in Minneapolis. The message, according to his Web site: “The power brokers are convinced that they can maintain control with no serious challenge. They have it wrong! We will challenge them on all fronts — in every state and at all levels of government. Individual liberty must be our goal.”

Paul spokesman Jesse Benton condemned the Republican National Committee’s decision. “We don’t know why the party feels the need to use dirty tricks,” he said. “Republicans should be concerned how these activists new to the party have been treated.”

Benton said the 1.2 million voters who supported Paul in the primaries, many of whom were new to the political process, could be a potent force in November, but “a decision like this makes it difficult to think they’ll be energized to vote for Sen. McCain.”

... entire article: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/aug/29/slap-state-party...