Ron
Paul
Campaign
Condemns
Alaska GOP Illegal Exclusion of All non-Romney
Delegates to State Convention
“Saying ‘Your money’s no good here’
is an affront to the many Ron Paul and other prolife supporters who
labor to support the candidate of their choice and build the Republican
Party.” – John Tate
LAKE JACKSON, Texas – The
Ron Paul 2012 Presidential campaign condemned today the efforts of the
Alaska Republican Party and its chairman Randy Reudrich to
disenfranchise Paul and other non-Romney delegates to the party’s
upcoming state convention. In doing so, the Paul campaign also
announced that
it will utilize all legal tools at its disposal to
prevent or reverse the state party’s illegal efforts to omit non-Romney
delegates to the convention.
The state party-initiated conflict in this regard is especially
worrisome and politically sensitive as the Paul campaign believes it
won a significant portion of delegates at the Alaska State House
district conventions already held. The Paul camp anticipates that
its
delegate tally at the upcoming state convention will increase as
supporters of former candidate Rick Santorum – including fellow prolife
supporters – defect to the Paul camp or become non-Romney delegates to
the Republican National Convention to be held late August in Tampa,
Florida. In light of this, the issue has national party and
political
implications because it affects the conversation that will occur in
Tampa over whether constitutionally-limited government and an authentic
commitment to the sanctity of life will prevail over the status quo.
The Alaska Republican Party state convention is set to be held from
April 26th-28th,
and all previous communications to would-be delegates have stated that
a delegate fee of $250 would be accepted up until the convention
registration deadline, which is 2:00 p.m. Alaska Time on April
26th. However, on Monday the 16th
state party chairman Randy Reudrich called a state committee meeting at
which he stated that delegate fees would be accepted no later than 48
hours from the time of the meeting, which would be Wednesday, April
18th. However, on Tuesday the state party said that delegate fees
had to be paid by 6:00 p.m that evening.
As individual delegates and campaigns scrambled to pay delegate fees,
the state party erected bizarre and allegedly extra-legal obstacles in
front of Paul, prolife, and other non-Romney delegates, and
communications between self-identifying non-Romney delegates and state
party personnel degraded.
One example of the state party trying to frustrate Paul delegates was
in exactly when and how delegates could remit their $250 fee.
Acceptable methods of payment ranged from online credit card payment on
the state party website – although the link to such had been
inexplicably removed – to personal checks that were later said to be
unacceptable, to money orders that in at least one case were termed
unacceptable and returned. The state party,
the Ron Paul campaign argues,
capriciously moved its payment deadline and modified its acceptable
ways of paying the $250 delegate fee expressly to frustrate Paul
delegates and in general any delegates outside the tight circle of
party-sanctioned non-Romney delegates.
The Alaska GOP also wrongly stated that individual Paul, prolife, or
non-Romney supporters were prohibited from sponsoring the $250 delegate
fees for surrogate delegates, disbursements used to cover airfare,
accommodations, and the like in as large a state as Alaska. In
the
example, the party told a grassroots Ron Paul supporter that he could
not sponsor four surrogate delegates for an amount totaling $1,000
without a waiver yet the party subsequently refused to make the waiver
form available for examination or use ostensibly to burn the clock.
The Ron Paul campaign,
in its letter, informed the state party
organization and its chair that prohibiting sponsorship of delegates
has no legal or factual basis.
“Saying ‘Your money’s no good here’ is an affront to the many Ron Paul
and other prolife supporters who labor to support the candidate of
their choice and build the Republican Party,” said Ron Paul 2012
National Campaign Manager John Tate.
“Moving the goal post, setting up hoops for delegates to jump through,
establishing arbitrary deadlines, and sending conflicting messages to
frustrate Paul supporters is wrong and will fail. Instead, Ron
Paul
supporters and other prolife supporters will be further energized, and
this invented conflict will have the added benefit of shaming the
Alaska Republican Party establishment, which obviously is in the tank
for Massachusetts moderate Mitt Romney,” added Mr. Tate.
To read the Paul campaign letter to Alaska Republican Party Chairman
Randy Reudrich outlining the campaign’s legal stance on the matter,
please click
here.
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