An interesting e-mail I got yesterday from a local Republican county party

[a2liberal]

I'm not sure how I got subscribed to Repub e-mail lists, but I'm on a bunch of them. Here's an e-mail I just got begging for support to fight off tea party/Paulite crazies. Should be a popcorn-worthy scene

If you care about where our Party is headed and have been elected as a precinct delegate on August 7th
we cannot stress how important is to attend the County Convention Thursday the 16th at <location removed, I can put this back in if hosts say it is ok>
Time for the convention is 7:30 pm

A rogue few are working state-wide to overthrow all of the Republican leadership throughout Michigan!
These rogues aren't discriminating between what they deem as good and bad Republican leaders. These folks want ALL Republican leaders thrown out. Do we really want toddlers taking over the town?

I regret having to send you this long diatribe, it, however is why I am imploring you to attend the Thurs. Aug 16 County Convention. The email that follows has been received by hundreds of people all over Michigan. It has not been edited or altered. If you have questions, call me (<name removed> ) at <phone number removed>
Here it is, the reason all those who want to get rid of Stabenow, Obama and all other Liberal leaders in Oakland County. You NEED to attend the County Convention to make your reasoned and prudent voices heard!

Long Diatribe, Unedited from a couple folks in Michigan leading sheeple without a real leader:

Dear Michigan Patriots,

This Thursday, county Republican parties will be meeting all across the state to hold their county conventions.

This is a tremendous opportunity for you, the grassroots activists for Liberty, to strongly improve our position inthe Republican party, by expanding the number of Ron Paul, liberty-supportin gPrecinct Delegates in the body.

It might make all the difference,down the road.

In January and February, Republican precinct delegates will decide who they want to be their leaders--who they wantto represent them--in the party.

The precinct delegates elect the district committees. They elect the state committee. This committeein turn elects the state party leadership.

In other words, all the cronyism,all the mangling of rules and records that we were subjected to, all of these things can be prevented next time--if and only if we have the precinct delegates, come January, to win.

Read on: there are dirty tricks the party might play that you must be aware of.

The precinct delegates with this authority to vote at county convention were elected last week. I hope you were successful in becoming one.

But at the conventions coming upThursday, you have a great opportunity to bring in your friends as precinctdelegates--and if you don't take it, chances are, the opposition will.

First, know the time and location ofyour convention and the rules.

To its credit, the state party hasbeen helpful in this respect. Simply visit this link and you can find thelocation of your county convention and download the convention packetdistributed to the convention officers.

All county conventions are called toorder at 7:30pm, this Thursday the 16th.

Don't attempt to understandeverything in the rules document linked above.

The purpose of the county conventionis to elect state convention delegates for the convention in Grand Rapids nextmonth (Friday September 7th and Saturday September 8th.)

But what is far more important to usis that any voter in the county who attends Thursday's convention might beeligible to fill in a precinct delegate vacancy for the remainder of the 2-yearterm--and thus be a voting delegate at the more important county conventionscoming up later.

Read on, though: there aredirty tricks the party might play that you must be aware of.

Here's how it works:

Once the state delegates are chosen,the body (consisting of precinct delegates in the county) may elevate any voterpresent to fill a precinct delegate vacancy, if available.

In other words, if you are not aprecinct delegate, but there are only, say, 3 elected precinct delegates inyour precinct where there are 4 seats available, then you can attend yourcounty convention and be "elevated" to precinct delegate status forthe rest of the 2-year term.

Now, there are some caveats--andsome dirty tricks you should be aware of and looking for.

First: there must be a vacancy inthe precinct where anybody would fill it.

You can find this out by contactingyour county clerk. You can visit their offices, or call them on thephone. They are usually quite helpful. You should ask: "I aminterested in the Republican Party precinct delegate election results for eachprecinct. Specifically, I need to know how many candidates ran, how manyseats there are in each precinct, and how many write-in ballots werecast. Is this information available?"

Often, information is available ontheir website--often in an "Election Results" page. Chance areyour clerk will direct you to this web page.

I haven't yet gotten to the partabout the dirty tricks. But this is just as important.

Here is how to interpret the resultson the clerks' web pages:

-If by chance the listings say"Vote for no more than X" for each precinct, X is the number of seatsavailable in the precinct. Otherwise, it will probably simply say so in acolumn.

-Simply count the number ofcandidates to see how many ran.

-To account for the write-ins:Results will often simply say "5 votes for Write-in" without beingbroken down by write-in name. You have no way of knowing whether it's 5write-in votes for Mickey Mouse (not counted) or for a filed write-in candidate(like many of your liberty colleagues) or 5 different people.

So, assume the minimum, for themaximum number of available seats. It is better you try to fill a vacancyonly to find out later you couldn't, than not to try at all and discover youcould have.

If there are zero or one write-incandidate votes, assume there are no write-in candidates. If there aremore, assume there is only one write-in candidate.

In other words, if you see this inyour precinct:

Vote for no more than 5
Johnny Appleseed 200 votes
Mike Blueberry 186votes
Cindy Cantaloupe 208 votes
Write-in 2 votes

That means there were (probably) 4candidates for 5 seats, and one vacancy still available.

Here is what you must do:

Obtain the results for the countyfrom your county clerk, and see which precincts still have vacancies yet...

And find a friend living in one ofthem to fill a vacancy by attending county convention.

If every Ron Paul supporter doesthis, we can double our numbers.

But watch out for the dirtytricks. I'm getting to them.

Believe me, you can ask a friend todo go to convention with you as a personal favor. As him or her to cometo convention with you, with ID, and they don't have to say or do anythingwithout your guidance.

After the state delegates areelected, the body decides whether or not to fill vacancies.

Typically, they (the chairmen)always allow anyone who shows up to fill a vacancy if it's available.

If they don't, it is up to the body,and Ron Paul supporters at the convention who are already delegates will(hopefully) make a motion to fill the vacancies and the motion passes.

But look: most of all, morethan anything else I've said, I can't emphasize enough: show up in the greatestnumbers possible.

Every convention is a learningexperience. The Ron Paul supporters who were crushed in the 2008conventions have become the greatest grassroots leaders we've had.

I realize I've given you a lot todigest.

I haven't even discussed the stateconvention itself.

And although I have a personalopinion on a few races that will be decided there, Congressman Paul has notendorsed any of the candidates and it would be inappropriate for me to use thislist to convey my personal opinion.

What I do know, and what I knowCongressman Paul will approve, is urging everyone willing to attend theircounty and, if possible, state convention.

Because as I said, every conventionis a learning experience.

You'll learn process, and perhapsyou'll see the dirty tricks.

And you may not win, but I suspectinterest will be low in attending the state convention, due to the minor natureof the races decided there.

If you can, GO! Everyconvention is a learning experience. Go to state convention if you can.

But don't sweat it.

The much more important goal isfilling in those precinct delegate vacancies.

Now, let me explain the dirty tricksthat might be used to stop you.

First and foremost: should theconvention secretary "fail" to report the results of vacancy fill-insto the state party by 5pm Friday, they don't count.

You must ensure that the results aretransmitted to the state party on time.

-Make sure you identify and obtaincontact information for the convention secretary before you leave.

-Call the MIGOP headquarters at [phone] at noon, this Friday, andconfirm the results were sent. Confirm that anyone you know to have beenelevated was included in the report.

-If there is a problem, call theconvention secretary, and demand answers. Make certain the results aresent in before the deadline. Do whatever it takes.

In the worse case, your onlyrecourse is to tarnish the party for shenanigans politically, and bring evenmore precinct delegates in the 2014 elections. But if the conventionsecretaries have any decency, it won't come to that.

At all times, be polite andpleasant. Be firm, but calm. Do not make accusations. Just dowhat it takes to ensure the standard procedure is followed.

Second: be aware that write-incandidates who won last week might not be certified to vote at this Thursday'sconvention.

Maybe it's just never been an issuebefore, but there is some concern that election results might not be certifiedbefore the convention, and since write-in results are not easily availableon-line, the county party may refuse to seat write-in delegates unless they canprove they won their election.

If you ran as a write-in, contactyour city and county clerks. Make every effort to obtain evidence thatyou won your election.

It might not be possible--thesituation varies from county to county--but do your best.


There is a lot more I could talk about. Robert's Rules, procedure, and soon.

But we have gone over a great dealalready.

And I think we have gone over themost important issues.

And again--show up and do your best,no matter what, because every convention is a learning experience.

If you know other Ron Paulsupporters in your area, considering getting ahold of them and ensuring theyreview this e-mail.

Because the devil is in the details,and it's crucial we all know everything we'll need to know for success atThursday's conventions.


Thanks again for all that you do for Liberty,

Adam


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Michigan for Ron Paul 2012



122 S. Main St. Suite 110C

Ann Arbor, MI 48104

EndCommunication from OCRP! The previous diatribewas from Angry Ron Paul Supporter’s desperately seeking a way to make mischiefanyway they can

[demosincebirth]

1. "Dear Mich 'Patriots'." More like dear right wing knuckldraggers.