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Or perhaps Trinary.
I have not figured out who will come out ahead on the Democratic side.
In any case there are a lot of upset people out there.
There are those on the Left who voted for Bernie,
There are those on the Left who voted AGAINST Hillary,
They are not however of the same mind,
There are those who used to be on the Left who plan to vote for Trump
UMW members are among that group. The Democratics insistence
that the Coal Industry be destroyed has had consequences.
There are those on the Right who do not like Trump at all,
Despite the FACT that the GOP nomination is all but over they still insist on explaining why he is not qualified to be President
I have no earthly idea what their goal is.
Third Party candidates in the past have only been a gift to the Left.
In fhe end to paraphrase the Highlander
Yes folks afer Tuesday, November 8, 2016
There can be only One
President Elect.
Maybe you did not get what you wanted,
You might get what you need
Or not,
I don't want to hear anything about Trumps qualifications from a Conservative
Just answer ONE QUESTION
Of the AVAILABLE choices?
WHICH
Would be the Worst outcome for the Nation?
If you truly believe that would be Trump
Then you have no Ethical choice but to do what you can to prevent that,
If you believe other than that?
What is your Goal?
If years from now my great or great great nieces and nephews ask me
What did YOU do Uncle Danny to try to prevent what would be the Worst Outcome for the Nation?
I do not intend to tell them
I stayed home and pouted
Because the person I wanted to get the nomination Lost
YOU have to decide what YOU will tell those that come after what YOU did,
My Responce to some comments by our Chair to the New Members
1) The first 2 meetings after caucus bring many new faces. This small band of detractors makes these meetings so unbearable that many leave.2) The 2 months before the general election, they do something outrageous to either attract negative media attention to the Republican Party or to disenfranchise members of LCRCC who are volunteering to help elect Republican candidates.3) They use blogging, anonymous emails, and fabricated infractions, attempting to destroy the reputations of those who dare stand up to them.4) One of their group has threatened to sue the LCRCC executives, Republican Party of Iowa, and anyone else who tries to hold him accountable.5) Well-intentioned volunteers who have dared attempt to lead this organization have left vowing never to return.
Yes it is best to stay away from negativity.
The Truth however can be very Postitive and even Liberating
Todays lesson on truth concerns a document presented in the New Members Package purported to be the Team Structure Voted upon and passed by the Body of the LCRCC
The problem is that so far the Exectutives have presented 3 versions
They are identical in all respects EXCEPT for the portion which concerns the
Membership & Meeting Setup Team
There is the original version that was actually Debated, Voted upon and passed
Membership & Meeting Setup – Membership records, meeting setup, credentialing for voting (Justin Wasson, Mike Dupree, Deb Dupree)
Which had Justin Wasson as the Team Leader
There was a second one, where it seems the Executives decided THEY could alter and change what the Committee Voted on and Passed
Membership & Meeting Setup – Membership records, meeting setup, credentialing for voting (Mike Dupree, Deb Dupree, Justin Wasson uncommitted)
Then the final version in the New Members Package that did not have the members (not that important)
But DID have an alteration of the wording
Membership & Meeting Setup – Membership attendence records, meeting setup, credentialing for voting
There being a difference between Membership records and Membership attendence records, that was rather important.
Call me funny but I think that when presenting what the Body Voted on and Passed one should restict oneself to what actually happened rather than what one would prefer to have happened
The Secretary has presented his case for his grab of power in the comments to the previous Post,.
I reccomend those reading this pull up another window and look through his claims
As to his claim about how things were done in the past?
That was voided by the vote establishing the Membership & Meeting Setup Team
As to his claim stated previously that Robert's Rules of Order lists Membership records as a Duty of the Secretary?
That is TRUE
Our By Laws however State
IX. RULES OF ORDER Robert's Rules of Order Revised shall prevail unless modified by these by-laws.
It is that last Clause Mr Ellis over looks
unless modified by these by-laws.
You see the By Laws are very specific about the Duties of the Secretary they state
3. The duties of the Secretary are to keep the minutes of the meetings and read them at the following meeting, unless waived.
They don't state
And all other duties listed in Robert's Rules of Order
The Body rejected the Secretary's claim of authority over the Membership & Meeting Setup up Team
And DESPITE the Section of the County Constitution which states
The Executive Committee is subject to the orders of the Linn County Central Committee, and none of its acts shall conflict with actions of the Linn County Central Committee.
He keeps making the Claim
I just wish he would refrain from trying to rewrite history and work with the Team
They are willing to work with him
But his "Work together"
Seems to consist of them doing what He tells them to do.
On the Linn County Republican Central Committee, there are times when we have trouble with what things say.
For instance, in the "New Member" handout, there was a document titled:
Roadmap to Victory 2016
2015 - 2016 Plan for the Linn County Republican Central Committee
Start Here:
Organize > Caucus>> Conventions >>>Primary >>>>2016 Election Victory
It was presented as a plan moved by the Executive Committee, and voted on and accepted by the Central Committee.
It is one of three versions I have seen so far.
The problem, however, is that none of them are the same.
The differences seem to occur in the section for the
Membership & Meeting Setup Team.
In the first two versions, the team leader was listed in bold type.
Version 1 said:
Membership & Meeting Setup – Membership records, meeting setup, credentialing for voting (Justin Wasson, Mike Dupree, Deb Dupree)
Version 2 read:
Membership & Meeting Setup – Membership records, meeting setup, credentialing for voting (Mike Dupree, Deb Dupree, Justin Wasson [uncommitted])
Version 3 is the version that was inserted into the yellow folder containing the new member handouts. It read:
Membership & Meeting Setup – Membership attendance records, meeting setup, credentialing for voting
I suppose it does not make a lot of difference in Version 3 that they left off the names of the team members and Team Leader.
But if you are going to present something as an item of business that has been voted upon and passed,
Maybe you should not add and/or omit words.
Because if you do, you run the risk of appearing to be corrupt in your intentions.
We can also see that between the time of the 1st version (the one that was actually voted upon, and passed) and the second, they have evidently "reconsidered" who they wished to be Team Leader.
This attempt to"reconsider" was rejected by the Central Committee, since the Committee had voted for Justin Wasson to be Team Leader.
Then, they made the most interesting discovery.
They informed the Central Committee that in Robert's Rules of Order, it says:
It is the duty of the Secretary to keep a register or roll of the members.
So, by golly, it was, according to them, the SECRETARY who should be the Team Leader.
Notice how they discovered this only after their first attempt to displace Mr. Wasson failed.
This attempt by the Executives to usurp the authority of the Membership & Meeting Setup Team Leader was also soundly rejected by the Central Committee.
Now, we have a mostly NEW Central Committee.
And that might be why our Secretary kept making the claim that he is in charge of the membership records.
Now, I could point out that the Secretary also keeps the record of the minutes of the general meeting, but does not run the meeting.
This, however, is not necessary.
While our By Laws DO say,
IX. RULES OF ORDER Robert's Rules of Order Revised shall prevail unless modified by these by-laws;
Our by-laws, as it should happen, are also pretty specific about the duties of the Secretary.
3. The duties of the Secretary are to keep the minutes of the meetings and read them at the following meeting, unless waived.
Do take note that in our By-Laws, the duties of the Secretary do NOT say:
3. The duties of the Secretary are to keep the minutes of the meetings and read them at the following meeting, unless waived. and any other duties mentioned in Robert's Rules of Order.
So, despite the desires of our Secretary, Mr. Gary Ellis, and the rest of the Executives, the legitimate Team Leader remains the one elected by the Central Committee.
That Team Leader happens to be Mr. Justin Wasson.
To paraphrase the late Justice Scalia, the By-Laws
"Say what they say and don't say what they don't say."
And never should the past be altered to reflect what one should wish it would say.
We live in an era of Revisionist History.
Everything seems to be rewritten to fit an agenda.
Those of us who experienced the recent Linn County GOP caucus,
Came away with certain impressions that the Executive Committee do not share.
They have been broadcasting how excellent they were.
To quote our Chair:
"After our record-breaking Caucus, we are on our way to a successful 2016 Republican Election victory."
I must say it was record breaking, if the records you wanted to break were in: Chaos, driving people away in frustration, and total pandemonium.
If those are the records to break, then the Mega Caucuses at the Double Tree, and to a lesser extent, at Kirkwood, were roaring successes.
I have some video clips of the crowded conditions and a couple of opinions given by people who attended--and who don't seem to agree with our leadership.
Crowd 1 Crowd2 Interview 1 Interview 2
Just click on the link to download the clip and then open the file.
The Founding Fathers were concerned about tyranny, that of the despot and that of the majority.
Which is why they set up our government with checks and balances and formed a constitutionally based Representative Republic.
Our Linn County Republican Central Committee is also set up with checks and balances, a constitution, and bylaws.
One of the foremost tools to prevent abuse of power is found in the section on the Executive Committee in the County Constitution:
The Executive Committee is subject to the orders of the Linn County Central Committee, and none of its acts shall conflict with actions of the Linn County Central Committee.
Regretfully, we have an Executive Committee which is convinced that due to the purity of their intent.
If there is a section of the County Constitution, the By-Laws, or the Rules of Order which forbid their actions,
Such strictures are optional.
They are not adverse, either, in creating a faux crisis and engaging in what one might term "creative reality" to achieve their goals.
Last year, during the first meeting of the Committee after the officers' election they, breathlessly informed the body that
Robert's Rules of Order stated that all actions--motions, committees, etc., established before the officers' election were voided by it and had to be replaced.
THIS WAS NOT TRUE.
The also informed the body that a gentleman who is in Republican circles in Iowa, the "go-to guy" for parliamentary procedure, had told them this.
THIS WAS NOT TRUE.
And of course, all of this meant they we had to completely redo all these things they claimed that were NOT TRUE,
RIGHT NOW,
And that there was not time to think about it and debate it at a later month's meeting.
So, we adopted their motion, which contained a few poison pills.
The thriving sub-committees, including Finance, which handled all of the budgeting decisions; Communications, which included web activities and press releases; and Credentials, which ensured that the voting was consistent with the by-laws and limited to only elected committeepersons; were all eliminated, and replaced with "Teams."
Previously, anyone could join a subcommittee and have voting rights, but the "Teams" were limited to five voting members, including the "Team Leader." The "Team Leaders" had already been appointed by the Executives, and most of the voting members had already been chosen by the Executives, the Team Leader would decide who could be on a team.
Then at a later meeting, they presented their opinion that the Executive Committee Secretary should replace the "Team Leader" of the "Membership & Meeting Setup" team.
This was, of course, AFTER they tried to edit the original motion to replace the Team Leader voted in with someone else, and were called on it.
Did I mention they engage from time to time in creative reality?
I have a copy of the second version which includes the wording:
To accomplish this, the Executive Committee moves to accept the following plan for 2015-2016 Election Cycle: APPROVED BY VOTE OF THE LCRCC 3/17/15
The problem was this section:
Membership & Meeting Setup – Membership records, meeting setup, credentialing for voting (Mike Dupree, Deb Dupree, Justin Wasson uncommitted)
You see, the version that was actually VOTED on,
Had Justin Wasson as the Team Leader. Not Mike Dupree.
Now, they have found a section of Robert's Rules of Order which states that the Secretary keeps the records of the membership list.
So, they decided to replace the Team Leader again with someone else this time--the Secretary.
The Central Committee, by a resounding margin, rejected this and reaffirmed Mr. Wasson as the Team Leader.
This was almost a year ago.
Yet, it now seems they have decided upon a new tactic.
We had recent precinct caucuses, and the Form As have all the new committee persons listed.
The Executive Committee has not seen fit to deliver this information to the Membership and Meeting Setup Team, which was given the duty by the Central Committee to handle:
Membership records, meeting setup, credentialing for voting
Recall that this is the wording of their own motion to the body, which was adopted, and now they do not wish to abide by it.
I head some muttering that the Form As need to be..."credentialed?"
Anything resembling "credentialing" is accomplished when the Caucus Chair and Secretary sign them.
No, this is yet another blatant power play by the Executive Committee, which chooses not to follow the County Constitution, where it says:
The Executive Committee is subject to the orders of the Linn County Central Committee, and none of its acts shall conflict with actions of the Linn County Central Committee.
I just got an interesting IM on Facebook
Xxxxx wants to know when the next GOP central
committee meeting is so he can go talk about caucus
fiasco. I showed him your blog this morning. I don't know
if he had time to read it thoroughly. Yyyy
The Numbers associated with this Years Caucuses certainly were as convoluted as any complex book keeping in the Byzantine Empire
From someone associated with the last Caucus I got the news that this one only took in 12K which meant it was 10K below what was in the bank account when our Present County Chair took over
But then someone associated with the Present Caucus said No it was the 2012 Caucus which took in 12K.
Dan Lincoln bag donations increased about $7000 from 4 years ago and exceeded the 1.50 per person threshold. You may want to correct your recent post. I believe the Lincoln bag number from 4 years ago was around 12k. The number you are thinking of includes delegate fees that were collected caucus night 4 years ago.
What they had in common was each was wrong about the other Caucus
I did get some accurate figures on this Caucus from the Treasurer
Total funds depostited after the Caucus $27,503.17 and he
informed me the split in funds were about 19K for LCRCC donationa
and 8K for the Convention Fees.
My Correspondent for this years Caucus did provide me with the DR-2 forms for the 2012 Caucuses.
You can access them HERE
He also informed me there were more Cedar Rapids Sites than I mentioned in a previous article
Also there were 6 sites with Cedar Rapids precincts. In addition to the 3 you listed you have New Covenant, New Life Church, and King of Kings.
I stand corrected on the number of Cedar Rapids Caucus site, but in truth I do not think that has any bearing one the pandemonium and chaos of he Mega-Caucus sites and I recall NO ONE who was happy with the situation
As a matter of fact I was almost not elected to be a Central Commitee Person because one person made the claim that anyone who had been previously on the Committee should not be re elected
I told them I had nothing to do with the Disaster of the Double Tree Caucuses and had tried to prevent it.
A young friend who has been active in the Central Committee weeded out the information for the 2012 Caucuses from the DR-2s for me, for which I gratefully sprung for a steak dinner
The results from 4 years ago were
The following is information regarding financials from the 2012 caucus:
Also something worth noting, pass the hat in January of 2012 was $225.81 which was a fairly typical amount every month back then.
It would appear donations to the Committee were about the same. Pre-paid Convention fees were up
That latter point is very welcome because this time any unused seats of the 167 allocated for Linn County must be paid for,
I am however confused on what we will pay, I seem to remember the State figure for the District and State Conventions being $50 and what was collected for that Feb 1 was $60 .
So do we owe RPI $60 per seat or did our Executives just decide to charge our members an extra $10 for collecting the State's Fees?
We can find out how much we got stuck for at next weeks Central Committee meeting
It will also be interesting to see how close we come at the meeting to the bucket collection of 4 years ago of $225.81
That's about 3 times what the bucket has been collecting
And yes I know we have made the $125 dollar room fee for quite a few months.
But I also know there is a member of the Committee who each month writes a check to cover what the bucket does not and that is why I say $225.81 is about 3 times what the bucket has been collecting.
Still we need to keep in mind the real problem is not that we did not take any more money in than 4 years ago while we spent at least 10K more but it is the total chaos that ensued
And the number of people who got frustrated and left
If anyone needs to be reminded or was fortunate enough not to Caucus at a Mega site let me remind you.
And if a picture is worth a thousand words, I wonder that a video is worth
It will not come as a surprise to anyone that the Tea Party was not the first to object to excessive Taxation.
In order to avoid taxation on piglets farmers and their customer used to rendez-vous in the dead of night to make the transaction,
The pig was often in a poke,
Problem was sometimes it was not a pig but a cat that got let out of the bag later.
The Linn County Republican Central Committee just recently had a similiar experience with the outcome of our Leadership's new concept of how the Presidential Caucuses should go.
I refer to the Pig in the Poke meme because with the exception of two of our members almost everyone who had REAL experience with setting up Caucuses was shut out of the planning
The rest of the Committee was also shut out,
We were told that the Caucus Team Leader was invoking his "Singular Authority" to declare the Caucus Team Meetings closed.
Oh and two member that did have experience?
It was not deemed necessary to allow them to have a vote on the Team
Central Committtee members will recall when the new Team Organization was rushed through committee hidden was the detail that only 5 Team members on a Team could vote and it seemed like the Exectuives decided who they would be.
That describes the Pig we thought we were buying
And what can describe the Cat that was let out of the Bag during the Caucus debacle?
Well first as our Chair Cindy Golding told us at our last meeting before Caucuses
There WAS a rumor that all the Precincts would meet in ONE location
That was NOT the case as our Chair Cindy Golding pointed out
But like Mark Twain's description of the "Best Way to Tell A Lie"
Ms Gokling left a few things out.
Which was for the first few months of their deliberations the rumor that all of the GOP Precinct in Linn County would met in a single location came from
The Caucus Team
Who were asked that quesiton on several occasions
Until another rumor emerged that to have it in one location would cost several times what we had in the Bank account.
So we ended up with quite a few locations in the County most having 2 or 3 Precints in one location
And 3 for ALL of Cedar Rapids
One at Bethany Lutheran.
Some at Kirkwood
And 30 Precincts at the Double Tree (in 3 rooms)
Other things which emerged like Cats being let out of a bag was the intense frustration many felt at the crowded and chaotic conditions.
There were thousands of people at the Wreck of the Double Tree who were very upset with the process. Among the problems were the inability to check-in, trouble finding your caucus location, way too few seats available, starting more than 30 minutes late, not getting to break out into your precinct until 8:30pm, no one could hear their caucus chairs because of all the surrounding noise, no place to count ballots, limited to no handicap and elderly accessibility, poor signage, too few check-in people, and the list goes on.
I sure hope you do not do this horrible caucus system again
for a presidential caucus. It was too disorganized, did not
start on time and many potential caucus goes left because
they could not get registered to vote? More than anyone
would want to admit.
If anyone wants to know if the statement many potential caucus goers left because they could not get registered to vote is an exageration.
Well they do way a picture is worth a thousand words
And if a picture is worth a thousand words, I wonder that a video is worth
What is really sickening is to run the numbers for this event
Last time we spent about twice what Johnson County did which is not surprising as we have twice their population
THIS time we spent about TEN THOUSAND Dollars more than we did last time
To put that in REAL perspective we spent around One Thousand Dollars TOTAL last time.
And what did we get for our extra Ten Thousand Dollar expendature?
The Buck Bags we sent around for donations were
DOWN by
TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS
Yes our Pig in the Poke Mega Caucus Media Event
Cost 10K more and took in 10K less.
You do the rest of the Math
The ONLY thing that keeps Linn County Iowa from being the laughing stock of the Nation is what happened in Polk County
The lets decide a Precinct Caucus by flipping a coin.
For those involved in the planning of Monday Night there is one bright light
That this was an event held by the Linn County Republican Central Committee.
Had it been run by say the Mafia?
Those responsible might be resting at the bottom of the Cedar River with brand new shoes on.