Breaking: Ron Paul supporters
takeover Louisiana Republican State Convention
Published On: Jun
02 2012 05:46:19 PM CDT Updated On: Jun 02
2012 11:06:23 PM CDT
Delegates to represent
Louisiana at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL were chosen today,
but not without issue. Ron Paul supporters took control of Louisiana's
Republican State Convention Saturday, starting their own. It's a trend Paul
supporters are doing around the nation, and it's leaving the Republican party divided.
"A majority of
the folks at the convention elected him as chairman," Connie Barnard said,
referring to Henry Herford. That 58% majority supports Ron Paul. They broke
away from the Republican State Convention, turning their chairs away from the
main podium and starting a convention of their own. Barnard, who is the vice
chairman of the majority convention, says this separation was caused by
convention rule changes.
"When those rule changes were released to several of the delegates on
Friday, they were not in keeping of ideas of liberty and democracy," she
said. Ron Paul supporters claim the new delegation rules make selecting
delegates for the national convention in Tampa unfair.
"For example, one
of the rule changes were that 1/3 of the delegation would constitute a
quorum," Barnard said. "Nowhere does any public body or any seated
body does 1/3 constitute a quorum."
The minority
convention claims otherwise.
"All we're saying
is the Republicans of Louisiana are going to know what we did, they are going
to accept what we did," Minority Convention Credential Committee Chairman
Jeff Giles said. "They're going to say, oh, y'all were being fair. Y'all
were making sure Romney got his 5 delegates and Santorum got his 10."
Giles says the rule
change was to prevent Ron Paul supporters from stealing Romney and Santorum
delegates.
"We just
tightened up the rules. We made it more responsible so that delegates for those
candidates would be elected," he said. "Instead of
Ron Paul people posing as supporters of those candidates."
However, Ron Paul
supporters are the majority, and he won four of the six caucuses in April.
"The majority of
the state delegates statewide, who were elected by the registered republicans,
elected Ron Paul supporters," Barnard said.
Giles admits Paul's
caucus wins but claims the minority convention is protecting Republican Primary
votes.
"Ron Paul got
nine thousand three hundred something votes," he said. "Santorum got
ninety thousand votes. Those voters need to be represented in Tampa."
As for now the
Republican Party in Louisiana remains divided, and both conventions have
selected delegates for the national convention. The Republican National
Committee of contests will hear the case of both conventions in Tampa come
August. That national committee will then decide which delegates will represent
Louisiana during the national convention. Police say Henry Herford was charged
with one count of entering and remaining after being forbidden, a misdemeanor.
Herford claims to of been injured during his removal.
No comments:
Post a Comment