VIEW: 18-35: Questionable Party Leadership

VIEW FROM HERE
By Bob McDowell (Born Neil Carson) Number 18-35
QUESTIONABLE PARTY LEADERSHIP Week of 2018/08/27
Recently I have remarked about the annual Oklahoma Constitution report on
the voting records of every member of the State Legislature and bewailed the
continuing low Conservative voting average as a group.
On rummaging through some older papers I found one titled "RINOing
Republicans in Name Only" authored it showed by "Chuck Muth" in 2009. Mr.
Muth is not known by or to me, so corroborating the story has not been possible for
me. However the sender was known to me and thus it was accepted.
In brief summary the story is about the Tennessee House Of Representatives
having gained a Republican majority in the 2008 election for the first time since 1868,
after the 'Civil' War. The Caucus had hopes of electing a true Conservative to be
speaker and had him chosen. Then, it said, on January 13, 2009 it developed that
one of their number had conspired with the Democrat minority to unanimously vote
for him, which with his vote assured his election. He promptly appointed Democrats
as chairmen of half of the committees and thus thwarted the programs for which the
majority was elected.
The choice part is that the Party Central Committee met and formally declared
the miscreant to be a RINO and Resolved that He be
1. "forever banned from seeking elective office in the State as a Republican
2. All media outlets in the State requested to cease referring to him as a
Republican
3. He receive no support, endorsements, or financial backing by Party affiliates.
Space does not allow showing the entire story as received, but the author allows
that the Party had every right to do this since there is a "Constitutionally protected right
of Freedom of Association" and the Party Committee is the official governing body of
the Party.
Where is this leading? Well, in 2006 when the "Tulsa Area Republican
Assembly", or TARA, chapter of the Oklahoma Republican Assembly was chartered,
I, as founding president, was informed that one of our duties was to declare such
wayward individuals to be RINO's and notify State and its other chapters and also
National to notify all the other States of these declarations. There was no directive
that such declarations be distributed to the media in general, nor was there a prohibition
from doing so. The Republican Assembly and chapters is not to be 'official' parts of
the Party so that another mandate could be carried out. That is to issue official
endorsements of candidates in primary/run-off elections and distribute the decision
results to news outlets. That continues to be done, but it takes a 70% vote to make
an endorsement.
In the current election series, as well as past ones for some years, it seems to
me that the Party officials have bent too far back to observe the non-endorse rule.
In my opinion it should be incumbent on Party officials, as well as major supporters,
to be pro-active in preventing the campaigns from becoming trashy as has been for
the last few elections. There is no place in the Republican Party for 'politics of
personal destruction' to be so public or extensive and Party officials, in particular,
should take an active part in attempting to tone down, or terminate, such carrying on.
That includes telling candidates to cease and desist. Further, when a candidate
declines to moderate and be honest and truthful, the Party officials should repudiate
same publicly!!
In the cases where the source of the problem is one of the 'Professional
Campaign Advisors' known to commonly resort to such tactics, it would be well
for the Party officials to publicly repudiate and publicize the name of the offending
entity. When it comes from one of the "Dark Money" organizations, the same
should be the case and the candidate benefitting should repudiate the source also.
Also, the address, city, telephone, and management names, as well as major
sources of their donations should be disclosed, if possible. These suggestions,
if acted upon, might go a long way to cleaning up and making campaigns more
gentile and civil.
Of course, none of this will happen if we, the people, don't rise up and
raise a fuss publicly. Also it is my policy to refuse to vote for a candidate
following that course of campaign action. If a few of those ended up losing by
a substantial amount, we might see a major reduction in the presence.
We are a nation built on civility and individuality, it is time that the ways
that made us great were returned to our general conduct. PRESDT-45 seems
to be willing to take them on!!
END
Composed August 14, 2018
Robert W. McDowell, Jr. © 2018 841 Lynwood Lane
918-451-1051 b Broken Arrow OK 74011-8608
Email: abdmcfpi@localnet.com