Resolutions: Your Guide to the GA GOP District Conventions
You know the enemy: the definition of the Establishment. Now make sure you win at your district conventions.
If you’re a delegate or an alternate to a convention, the conventions are about YOU. You are the one who have control of the party at that time, and you are the one who can work to make things better. Either by having the party take a stand on issues, changing rules, or electing new party leadership. You are in control, but you need to know what’s going on. That’s what this is for:
The Georgia GOP is run between state conventions by the State Executive Committee, and the State Committee. This is in the GAGOP Rules.
The State Executive Committee consists of numerous officials, but the main one that needs to be discussed right now are “District Chairmen”. They are elected at upcoming district conventions.
Also, elected at district conventions are members of the “State Committee”. The Rules of the party are available here, and the convention call governing conventions this year is here.
At the district conventions coming up, you can pass party rules, district resolutions (actions by the district), as well as electing district officers and state committee members.
Here are some resolutions I personally suggest, as examples, you may want to pass (and to edit out the first line and submit them to the GAGOP State Convention, pursuant to the Call, above):
• Resolution Encouraging the GAGOP State Convention to Ban Brad Raffensperger from Qualifying as a Republican (.doc)
• Resolution Encouraging the GAGOP State Convention to Ban Jon Burns from Qualifying as a Republican
• Resolution Encouraging the GA GOP State Convention to Ban Anyone Making Races Non-Partisan from Qualifying as a Republican
• Resolution in Favor of the Anti-Corruption Act
Additionally, at the district conventions, the most important thing you can do is to ensure that no convention rules or agenda is passed (right toward the beginning of the convention) that do any of the following:
1. Prohibit or restrict the ability of people to run for office or to debate;
2. Increase the vote needed to or prohibit you from proposing resolutions or rules changes (it normally takes a majority vote);
3. Require a 2/3 vote for anything (Roberts Rules, which govern these meetings, already have a 2/3 requirement for things that need it: having a 2/3 vote for appealing decisions, making motions, or passing resolutions is designed to take away your rights as a delegate).
Make sure that ANY attempts to do this fail. When someone moves to adopt any convention rules, you’ll want to immediately stand up and state your opposition to them, point out it takes a 2/3 vote to pass any such convention rules, and immediately make a motion to amend the rules by striking each and every item in convention rules that do any of these things listed above. This is important even if you don’t want to run yourself, or you don’t have any resolutions.
Why? Because others in the crowd may not know what you know, and you should work to help make sure that “we the people”, not the Establishment, are in control.
Some districts have set deadlines (that you may or may not have known about) regarding when you can submit resolutions or nominations to run for office. Unlike at the state convention, where those deadlines cannot be easily voted down since they were part of the State GOP Convention call (above) which governs all conventions, you can easily do so at district conventions by voting against any such restrictions in the convention rules or the convention rules overall (because, again, it takes a 2/3 vote to pass such restrictive rules, and if the Chairman refuses to do a count, you can call out “Division!” and the chairman must count the votes)
You should definitely submit by any deadline if you can. But if you can’t, realize that your convention delegates (not some group who met ahead of time) have the power.
You’ll likely see committees, *appointed by the existing leadership*, telling you that certain resolutions, nominees, or rules are the only ones that should be considered. This is, again, designed to limit your rights. You are at these conventions to have your voice heard. If you’ve submitted any resolutions (or want to have them considered), make sure to get up and make a motion to make it happen. If you’re ever confused on what to do, you should stand up, be recognized by the chairman, and make a “Point of parliamentary inquiry” in order to ask how to accomplish whatever you are trying to achieve, be it nominating someone for office or having a resolution debated.
And while the resolutions linked above have not been endorsed by the GRA, you should definitely look for GRA members who may be able to help you with parliamentary procedures/motions in order to help achieve your goals.
Remember, if you are grassroots, you want to see people involved and having their voices heard. And you don’t want fearmongering by those in the political industry that try to discourage or dissuade you from being a leader to win out.
The Establishment falsely believes and states that you can drain the swamp by trying to get along with the swamp and not doing anything. We know, and we’ve seen it with President Trump, that bold action and rhetoric are both required in order to lead and to “drain the swamp”.
Thank you for your involvement in the convention cycle, and please be sure to forward this information to your friends.