StrictConstruct

The Nevada State GOP Convention began yesterday - in what was intended to be a one day event in which all 31 National Delegates were selected. But all did not go as plan, and frankly, it devolved into one confusing mess. I have looked at some videos of the event, news articles, as well as first hand reporting, and the following is how I have made sense of it.

At the convention, both Mitt Romney and Ron Paul were slated to speak. Mitt Romney’s speech stated that it was his job to “help McCain become the next President” and called on delegates to vote for McCain. This was followed with a speech by Ron Paul, who argued that Republicans should stand for principle - small government, following the constitution - and reject the path that the Republican Party has taken in recent years away from this. The speech received a very enthusiastic response, both from Ron Paul supporters and many others.

Afterwards, delegates began to select the 9 District Delegates (of the total 31) who would go on to the National convention. An issue of contention arose over the list of candidates for national delegates. The list, containing roughly 200 people, was was feared to exclude candidates who supported Ron Paul - a fear largely fueled by the fact that the list would not be shown until voting commenced. When 2/3 of those in attendance, including many undecided voters, voted to allow each delegate to select their own candidates, the rule was amended - though not until a lengthy and, reportedly, chaotic debate took up much time. It was later learned that, in fact, the original list had only a couple Ron Paul Supporters listed - confirming the original fears.

But with the amendment clarified, those there broke into groups of their congressional districts, and voted for the delegates of their choosing. Votes began to be counted - and reportedly, Ron Paul’s delegates were performing extremely well. Each district received three delegate slots, and at least 6 of these were won by Ron Paul’s delegates.

However, it came to an abrupt end at roughly 6:00, when the chairman recessed the convention - to be resumed at a later date. This move was done unilaterally, when recess can only be called by a majority vote - thus it was a clear violation of the rules. Nonetheless, lights were turned off, and the chairman was escorted out of the convention, leaving a general state of chaos and uncertainty which largely remains currently. Though some delegates left, many stayed and sought to resume the convention by calling a quorum. They had yet to vote on the remaining 22 delegates, and though the room had not been reserved originally for after 6:00 (the initial explanation given,) they had received permission from the hotel for another 3 hours, free of charge. However, because McCain’s delegates were instructed by their coordinators to leave and abstain from the attempt to reach a quorum, and many others had left prior to this point in the chaos, a quorum was not reached - and thus, the convention remains “recessed.”

Though there was speculation that it would be resumed early this morning, this simply did not bear out. It remains totally unclear when, and where the convention will resume - though one cannot help but hope that it does. The chairman’s actions are both highly questionable and outright against the rules - the fact he made little effort to contact the hotel to see if they could get an extension, instead simply breaking the rules and calling a recess before leaving the premises, is a total embarrassment. Given various conversations that occurred at the time, including one by a McCain coordinator who planned to “quarter” the convention by pulling McCain supporters out, there is a very strong case for the idea that this was an intentional effort to sabotage a convention by Party Leaders, and McCain supporters - both unhappy with the outcome. As noted earlier, an extension was achieved when others took the reigns of the convention, and they could have stayed to conclude it. But a combination of the chaos created by the early recess and exit by the chairman, and the fact that many McCain supporters refused to resume the convention when they were clearly in the minority, meant that the convention was unable to conclude as planned.

This is definitely something that needs to be followed, especially for those of us who are preparing for the Maine Convention this Friday and Saturday. Just as one would hope Nevada’s resumes, one would also hope that this scenario does not play out there as well.

(Photo credit to joemacjr.)