Conservatives Must Fight Romney’s New Rules

The Romney camp is pushing new rules that would strip grassroots activists of any meaningful ability to participate in presidential politics. The process has always been bottom-up, but Romney officials have rewritten the rules so that the nominee can stifle any dissent on the platform committee and even unseat delegates. Make no mistake, this will weaken the process by which Republicans chose their candidate for president and push the grassroots out of the party process. (FreedomWorks)

From Buzzfeed reporter Zeke Miller: “The Republican National Convention Rules Committee voted 63-38 to approve a new rule allowing granting the Republican National Committee — and Mitt Romney — sweeping new powers to amend the governing document of the GOP.

What it really means is that Romney can now control anyone who disagrees with him such as Ron Paul, the Tea Party, and any stray libertarians who might infiltrate the GOP. Because Team Romney can amend the party’s rules without a vote by the full RNC, they can do pretty much anything they want to do. (Remember, we are talking about a candidate who was calling himself a “progressive” in 2002. Link.)

And this isn’t just upsetting to Ron Paul supporters. True conservatives are uniting to fight these changes. Nel’s New Day explains:

The entire process is in contradiction to Rule No. 38, Unit Rule of the current Republican Party Rules, which states “No delegate or alternate delegate shall be bound by any attempt of any state or Congressional district to impose the unit rule.” The unit rule is intended to prevent states from binding all delegates to a particular candidate, forcing them to vote as a unit. While many states do this, there is historical precedence that the RNC does not recognize such binding at the Convention.

The second part of the change would require all future delegates to be approved by presidential candidates, lessening the chances of technically pledged delegates voting for a different candidate.

Another rule change increases the nomination threshold from five to eight. A candidate must have control of eight state delegations to have the name placed in nomination at the convention. None of that pesky minority candidates like Paul, who came very close to getting five states.

Morton Blackwell, Virginia delegate, was one person with enough sense to see what Romney had done. He called it “the most awful proposed amendments I’ve seen presented to this committee” referred to it as “a power grab.” South Carolina delegate, Drew McKissick echoed Blackwell’s objection, warning that nearly any rule could now be amended by three-fourths of the RNC. “Once you let the genie out of the bottle they can do anything.”

The move came at the encouragement of Mitt Romney supporters on the committee, including Romney’s top lawyer Ben Ginsberg, who stressed that it would grant “flexibility” to Romney and the committee to adapt to changing political environments. The rule allows the RNC to amend the party’s rules without a vote by the full Republican National Convention. And it offers the Republican Establishment a new tool to keep at b[a]y Tea Party initiatives that threaten to embarrass or contradict party leadership and stray from a planned message.” (emphasis added)

Please locate the phone number of your State Republican Party Headquarters below, call them immediately, and tell them to oppose Romney’s new rules that strip grassroots activists of the ability to participate in the Republican platform process:

Alabama (205) 212-5900
Alaska (907) 276-4467
Arizona (602) 957-7770
Arkansas (501) 372-7301
California (916) 448-9496
Colorado (303) 758-3333
Connecticut (860) 422-8211
Delaware (302) 668-1954
District of Columbia (202) 289-8005
Florida (850) 222-7920
Georgia (404) 257-5559
Hawaii (808) 593-8180
Idaho (208) 343-6405
Illinois (312) 201-9000
Indiana (317) 635-7561
Iowa (515) 282-8105
Kansas (785) 234-3456
Kentucky (502) 875-5130
Louisiana (225) 389-4495
Maine (207) 622-6247
Maryland (410) 263-2125
Massachusetts (617)-523-5005
Michigan (517) 487-5413
Minnesota (651) 222-0022
Mississippi (601) 948-5191
Missouri (573) 636-3146
Montana (406) 442-6469
Nebraska (402) 475-2122
New Hampshire (603) 225-9341
North Carolina (919) 828-6423
Oregon (503) 595-8881
South Dakota (605) 224-7347
Vermont (802) 223-3411
Wisconsin (608) 257-4765
Nevada (702) 258-9182
New Jersey (609) 989-7300
North Dakota (701) 255-0030
Pennsylvania (717) 234-4901
Tennessee (615) 269-4260
Virginia (804) 780-0111
Wyoming (307) 234-9166
New Mexico (505) 298-3662
Ohio (614) 228-2481
Rhode Island (401) 732-8282
Texas (512) 477-9821
Washington (425) 460-0570
New York (518) 462-2601
Oklahoma (518) 462-2601
South Carolina (803) 988-8440
Utah (803) 988-8440
West Virginia (304) 768-0493