Establishment GOP Overthrown 235-185 at Oakland County Convention
In politics, 235-185 against the incumbents is considered a landslide victory. That’s exactly what happened Thursday night at the Oakland County Republican (OCRP) Convention of recently elected Precinct Delegates..
The Party base had had enough:
- unfair convention rules to perpetuate the incumbents
- open antagonism towards Liberty and Tea Party Constitutionalists seeking to enforce the Party Platform
- candidates more focused on the wishes of the Chamber of Commerce than adherence to will of the People
District 29 Caucus Leader, David Lonier, commented, “In a 235 to 185 vote, we [Constitutionalists] substituted inequitable convention rules with “fair” rules, and went on to elect a principled permanent convention chairman, who appointed the permanent convention officers and conducted the rest of the Convention in a most fair and orderly fashion. The body voted to appoint 9 principled members-at-large to the OCRP Executive Committee, and the District Caucuses, which were chaired by “elected”, “not appointed” chairs, elected some 39 more members to the 2014-2016 OCRP Executive Committee.”
Lonier continued, “It was an evening not soon to be forgotten by the 420 voting delegates … Feelings of good will and camaraderie have not been so high in an OCRP event within the memory of most who attended. There’s great excitement with the prospect of Oakland County leading the way in a new, clean, transparent and principled direction for politics in Michigan and beyond, as other counties and states join us in our peaceful determination to regain our freedom through the Republican political process.”
The accomplishment of the loyal opposition to unseat the all-powerful OCRP leadership team was “monumental”. Unifying the base and mentoring them to effectively use Robert’s Rules took commitment and practice. Challenging the Temporary Convention Chair, Jim Thienel, on the grounds of an unfair agenda to force the adoption of unfair rules took the courage to withstand multiple threats of ejection from the convention. The unified and vociferous outcry of the assembled delegates demanded an honest vote on the rules. Multiple recesses to find a way to escape the wave of change proved fruitless for Mr. Thienel and his leadership team.
Unanimously-elected Convention Permanent Chairman, Matt Maddock, reveled in the victory of the party base, “Fairness won the night and added dozens of new foot soldiers. This will set the stage for years to come. The days of discouragement and uncomfortable votes that we know are tearing the party apart are behind us. Let’s seize the day and continue this new direction towards transparency and build this party into a Democrat beating powerhouse!!”
Next Monday November 24th, the newly elected OCRP Executive Committee will elect the 2014-2016 ORCP Chairman. Matt Maddock will be challenging the Establishment candidate Theresa Mungioli.
(37)Nuh Uh.
(9)
I was a part of that crew, and it was a nice change of pace to see the Conservative grassroots finally pull off a county wide initiative. We started noticing our growing strength by commandeering the 11th CD portion of the convention back in August, and since our strength had not been proven up to that point, we were surprised and a bit ill prepared.
But not this time. We started our precinct delegate recruiting and training back in January, have had several mock conventions to train up everyone interested in learning how to make good things happen, and then had enough show up during rush hour in a snowstorm to grab the brass ring this last Thursday evening.
Many in the establishment assume they'll be shut out as punishment and retribution, but that couldn't further from the truth.
If they can handle policies that open up and expand transparency, promote and support our Founding Principles and the RNC Platform, they'll realize their concerns are unfounded- and that, Damn, this newly Conservative Oakland Co. Republican Party is something to be proud of.
Tim, we did the same thing here in GT County. Although not as elaborate. We recruited candidates and were very successful. And if the establishment can handle transparency, ie, the county chair wouldn't give out the county by-laws that excluded new members from running, the party platform and promoting our founding principles we will get along just fine!
Now it's time to send the same message to that communist occupying our White House by any means necessary.
You got that right, James!!!!
I agree with both assessments of the convention. I look forward to the future as a Delegate.
We had the same thing happen at the Grand Traverse County party convention. We elected a chair that wanted an open and fair convention. We exposed the games the establishment had put in place to keep newly elected delegates from running for the Executive committee AND, we elected 8 of the 16 members of the Executive Committee members who are going to hold the party to transparency and holding our elected officials to the party platform they ran on. I hope many more county conventions were as successful. MIGOP do you hear us yet? You will soon!
Bravo!
I have posted some "how to" info here:
http://www.unifiedpatriots.com/category/activism/
Thank you.
CW