Dan Joling of the AP has this story today. I’m humbled by the tea party people in Alaska and all over the country who are reordering their lives, priorities, taking time from their families, studies, businesses to do the work on the ground to put Constitutional conservatives in offices held by not only Dems, but RINO incumbants.
Thank you Alaska.
You may have read this week about the NRSC sending lawyers to Alaska to help RINO Lisa Murkowski in the recount of this close primary where Tea Party endorsed candidate Joe Miller is ahead. It enrages me that John Cornyn has not learned the lessons of Bennett and Crist and is meddling in ANOTHER Republican primary. Below is an email from Tea Party Express with a link to sign a petition to let the NRSC and Cornyn know exactly how you feel about their disgraceful actions in several Republican primaries. Feel free to find the NRSC page and Cornyn’s own email and respond there as well.
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We have learned that the NRSC (National Republican Senatorial Committee) has sent a team of lawyers and political hacks – including the NRSC’s top lawyer – to Alaska to potentially manipulate the vote-counting process in the Alaska GOP Senate race.
Their apparent goal: to help Liberal Sen. Lisa Murkowski steal the election from Conservative Republican, Joe Miller, who currently leads in the vote count.
Joe Miller’s campaign has discovered that operatives are even calling absentee voters and asking them how they voted, purportedly so that they can figure out which absentee ballots to throw out (Joe Miller voters) and which ones to keep (Lisa Murkowski voters).
We need to fight back against this attempt to manipulate the election process. We went through this with Al Franken in Minnesota when the Democrat Party pulled this stunt – we can’t stand for it in Alaska with the Republican Party establishment.
Click here to sign the petition.
Note: You may be asked to make a donation to iPetitions after you sign the petition. You need not do so. This petition is completely FREE and you can choose to ignore the donation request – it is NOT a request for donations by the Tea Party Express, and your signature will count without you making a donation to iPetitions.
The Times Examiner offers this reprint of the Greenville GOP rebuke of Senator Lindsey Graham, which happened at their August Executive Committee meeting. (Full text of the rebuke below the fold)
I have not heard anything indicating that the Spartanburg GOP intends to take up a rebuke of Graham. Neither have I heard they won’t. I know that some emails have been sent to County Chair LaDonna Ryggs, and a few other precinct executive committeemen. I’ve not gotten word of any replies that may have been received.
So … I’m urging each of you, if you have a conviction about Graham’s representation of you and SC, and whether or not his votes, public statements, and responsiveness to his constituents is in line with the GOP platform, to call your precinct executive committeeman today and ask them whether they intend to take up this issue at the next Spartanburg Executive Committee meeting. Ask them directly if they will advocate for a rebuke and if they will vote in favor of it.
If you need to know who your Executive Committee person is and how to get in touch with him/her, contact email County Chairman LaDonna Ryggs and she can give you that contact information.
I’ll let you know when the next Executive Committee meeting is in Spartanburg. It is open to the public.
This article by Lee Cary at American Thinker has it EXACTLY RIGHT … this is your last chance GOP.
I spent hours and days and weeks during the health care run up faxing and calling and emailing. We’ve learned that no one listened. Intentionally. I know millions of Americans did the same thing … and probably burn with the same anger that I have. I’m angry at the ruling class of elite liberal politicians, and I’m angry at the Republicans who let it come to this. But … I’m far angrier at the Republicans.
GOP … you have been warned by many with much more eloquent prose than I … Lee Cary among them. Do not make the mistake of thinking our all out efforts to put you into office in November … our time, our money, our poll watching, our GOTV … do not think that those once in a generation efforts are because we want YOU … the GOP … in power. We don’t really, but your platform and the political machine that comes along with your platform are our best hope of retaking our country and restoring a conservative and Constitutional America. But believe me when I say … if we could take those seats in Congress, in our local statehouse races, at our county council level without having to vote for a single GOP politician, many many of us would.
And if you think that the outcry, the rallies, the visits to town hall meetings, and the relentless calls and faxes were unprecedented during health care, just try to get away with going back to reaching across the aisle, compromising, playing politics while our country decays further. We expect you to immediately defund Obamacare and then repeal it in 2012. We expect our borders closed pronto. We expect those bailouts to be stopped, and repaid to taxpayers. We expect obstruction at every single whiff of advancing a progressive bill. We expect you to say no to all legislation except that which is necessary for a sound infrastructure and a strong defense. We expect you to spend your time rooting out all the unconstitutional legislation that has passed and deconstruct it. We expect you to govern according to Enumerated Powers, and we want that passed. And we want a balanced budget amendment passed. And we want the Fed audited. We expect you to act as our representatives, as if we were on the floor voting with our indignation and anger at how our country has been weakened and our liberties curtailed.
And if you don’t … we know our country will by then be lost anyway, and will have NO REASON to try to wrest it once again from the progressive left by voting Republicans into office in 2012. We will know by 2012 whether the GOP has learned the lesson it needs to, and if we must, we’ll be willing to throw you over and fight for real revolution.
Observers of local politics have had a week of drama here in the Upstate.
Last week, as Jason Spencer reports in SHJ, the Spartanburg GOP dealt with a former chairman pushing a legal maneuver to keep a candidate off the ballot.
This week, (VIDEO) the Greenville GOP voted 61-2 to rebuke SC Senator Lindsey Graham for cooperating with with Obama’s and Democrats’ liberal agenda, for his votes on Kagen and Sotomayor, his vote for the bank bailout among other things. They stated that Graham will no longer be invited to attend Greenville GOP meetings and events.
In Spartanburg, a letter was sent out by former GOP County Chair Rick Beltram signed by fourteen members of Spartanburg County GOP to discuss McMillan’s candidacy. These fourteen members are:
Jeff Mason – Zion Hill A precinct
Gary Towery – Moore-Switzer precinct
Ken Roach – Westview B precinct
Zora Massing – Campton B precinct
Rick Beltram – proxy (?)
Dennis Kimbrelll – Chesnee precinct
Doug West – Pauline Glenn S precinct
Jane Johnson – Woodland Heights precinct
Deane Brown – Silverhill Methodist precinct
Paul Walters – Landrum precinct
Bill May – Cowpens A precinct
Kathy Behlert – Gramling precinct
Jim Herzog – Glendale precinct
Janelle Caddell – Boiling Springs A precinct
However, the night of the meeting several of the “undersigned” were sharply critical of Beltram’s letter, stating they had not given permission for their names to be used for that particular purpose. Rita Allison’s attorney, Todd Kincannon, explained Allison did not want this action taken. Doug Smith, the state GOP counsel, said that Spartanburg County GOP would have to foot the bill for any legal action. With county party chair LaDonna Ryggs presiding, the meeting was adjourned with no action taken by a 32-12 vote.
Spencer’s article ended with this quote from State GOP Executive Director Joel Sawyer:
“But the bottom line, for (Beltram), this was less about getting Jim McMillan off the ballot and more about getting his name in the newspaper.”
Hey Spartanburg Executive Committee … how about calling a special meeting to join the nineteen (and growing) Tea Party/Liberty group organizations in censuring Lindsey Graham? Or to join with Greenville GOP in rebuking Graham? There were members of the Spartanburg county GOP in 2007 who made an effort to rebuke/censure Graham. What happened back then? Rick Beltram, who was the county chair at the time squashed it.
I say it’s time for Spartanburg County to revisit that issue.
I urge you to contact your precinct executive committeeman or email County Chairman LaDonna Ryggs and ask them to rebuke/censure Lindsey Graham during the next quarterly meeting.
Here is the CNN story on last nights Greenville County GOP meeting where Lindsey Graham was rebuked by a vote of 61-2.
In order to put conservative candidates into office locally, statewide, and nationally we have to defeat some incumbents who have the benefit of campaign funding from sources new candidates do not have … lobbyists, PACS, the GOP … you know the drill by now. This past primary cycle we saw some Citizen Patriots take on RINO incumbents and come up short because they just couldn’t hang with the funding. Lesson learned.
BTW for an eye-opening and educational look at incumbent campaign funding, visit the ICAUCUS site and watch Article II, Parts 1 and 2.
So I’m sharing an idea from our friend Harry Kibler over at RINOHUNT about what he’s calling the “Freedom Fund”
It’s a simple premise … similar to a Christmas Club. You know you want to support a candidate in November, or during the next round of primaries. You may not know WHO that candidate will be yet, but you know you’ll be working toward the election of one or more conservative candidates. We KNOW they will need funding from us, the grassroots in order to compete financially with whatever incumbent currently holds that office. Determine now how much you want to donate to that candidate and begin saving now. Figure out an amount, count how many months between now and the date that candidate will file for office, and put away funds monthly so that on the day after that candidate files, you can give them EARLY MONEY! that will allow them to jump into their campaign full speed ahead. That early money will allow them to gain name recognition quickly and because of the peculiarities of campaign funding, your early money will draw other early money to your candidate.
Tea parties are learning. We have a HUGE gap in the “how to’s” because many of us have not been engaged before now, but we are learning fast. Some efforts are huge and take lots of time and energy, putting together a Freedom Fund is relatively simple and straight forward, but can be crucial for the next round of elections.
A short while ago I wrote a letter to the editor in SHJ expressing my outrage that SCGOP Chair Karen Floyd and the SCGOP leadership chose to protect Jake Knotts after his racist comments rather than bring up a vote to expel him from the party.
and then … Holy Long Reaching Newspaper Batman! … Glenn McCall over in York County responded to my letter.
Exactly what happened in the closed door meeting in Columbia on June 26 … only those in the room know. I think one of the points to be made is that there WAS a closed door meeting … this was dealt with out of sight of the voters who were there, and the media. The end result lacked the dignity owned to South Carolina voters who, while they may not reside in Knotts’ district, are subject to the legislation he votes on, and are shamed by him representing our state. And it’s just too reminiscent of all the closed door meetings that Reid/Pelosi held to make deals and retain power in DC.
Several times during the June 26 meeting both Floyd and McCall called for “UNITY! UNITY!” Chairwoman Floyd even commenting during the public part of the meeting that I was in attendance for that there was “an elephant in the room” but that we should “get the November elections over, and get these good Republican candidates into office and we can deal with these issues after the elections.” Really. So more of the same Vote Republican for the sake of Unity! while ignoring the caliber of those candidates, their voting records, and their adherence to the GOP platform. Just an “R” behind their name ought to satisfy us.
Are you satisfied with that recommendation from the SCGOP leadership?
> A Republican majority in the SC Congress did not manage to get Voter ID passed.
> A Republican majority in the SC Congress did not manage to get State Government Reform passed (having major political positions all from one party, or by appointment)
> A Republican majority allowed passage of a cigarette tax, which violated some members’ “No New Tax Pledge”
> A Republican majority voted for receiving Stimulus funds
It seems to me we may have a RINO problem here in SC. What good does uniting behind the SCGOP or even candidates here in Spartanburg with an “R” if these candidates are unable to deliver to constituents these basic conservative principles of representative governing, the transparency we are demanding, and a decrease, not increase, in our taxes and state government spending? Are we satisfied in acceding to the SCGOP leadership’s plea for unity, in electing/re-electing candidates with an “R” rating and trusting their promise to “deal with the elephant in the room” after the elections? I say we’ll have lost our leverage to hold the SCGOP leadership and the RINOs accountable, to move them to the right, to pressure them to listen to our voices by November.
In the months leading up to the November elections we have the opportunity to decide whether an “R” rating is good enough, or whether there are any options in the upcoming elections to draw SCGOP leadership’s attention to our discontent in how the GOP majority in Congress failed us this past session, and how shielding one powerful GOP Senator who has shamed our state has really pissed us off.
Eric Odom has a blog, with some links from Stacy McCain, Ed Morrissey, and a few other stellar bloggers explaining why the special election to fill Joe Biden’s seat in Delaware may be the way to block all the nastiness that may lie in wait during the lame duck session.
Since this is a special election, the winner of this race will be seated IMMEDIATELY. Not after the first of the year. Not early next year when the winners of the November elections are sworn in … and when it may be too late to stop the lame duck legislation.
We’ve learned that NO politics are local anymore. The votes of the SC state senators from the low country still raise my taxes. The votes of the representatives from the state of Michigan still destroy my health care. So this election is one of those that we must win, and to do that, tea party patriots and conservatives across the country must help.
Here is Christine’s campaign website. Go donate.
Join her facebook page. Blog about her. Call your friends/family in Delaware and talk about her. Watch her interviews, and read the blogs referenced in Eric’s site above. When it comes time, work a virtual phone bank/call from home for her campaign. Leaving it up to liberal Republican Mike Castle who voted for TARP and for Cap and Trade to stand in front of the Nancy Pelosi/Harry Reid agenda is too spectacularly dangerous. Do whatever it takes from your South Carolina home to get Christine O’Connell into that Senate seat to STOP the lame duck legislation!
On June 26 the SCGOP leadership including SCGOP Chair Karen Floyd and the Executive Committeemen from across the state met for their quarterly meeting. Patrick Hadden, first vice chair was intending to make a motion calling for Senator Jake Knotts’ resignation from the Republican Party. On June 3, on Wesley Donehue’s Internet program (Donehue heads up political strategies for the South Carolina Senate Republican Caucus and technology outreach for the South Carolina Republican Party), Jake Knotts called both Nikki Haley, candidate for governor and President Obama “ragheads”. However backroom deals, similar to the Pelosi/Reid Washington backroom deals, were made prior to the meeting and the motion was never made. SCGOP Chair Karen Floyd and SCOGP leadership closed ranks and protected one of their own Republican Senators despite his racist remarks. (Note: The video from Donehue’s show was not posted online, despite the fact that all the other videos in the Pub Politics series have been posted.)
The SCGOP leadership is willing to accept racism rather than discipline one of their own.
The Upcountry Coalition of Conservative Organizations sent a letter this week to the SC Republican Senators urging them to do what Karen Floyd and the SCGOP leadership will not do … call for Senator Knotts’ resignation from the Republican Party. Here is a copy of that letter:
Senator, I note in this article referenced here:
that many SC senators asked for Gov Sanford’s resignation for reasons similar to the racist comments made by Sen Knotts … that his actions have caused him to lose the trust and support of South Carolinians, that he has engaged in reprehensible behavior, consequently he has lost the ability to lead, and his statements are in violation of the GOP Platform, specifically:
“We ask all to join us in rejecting the forces of hatred and bigotry and in denouncing all who practice or promote racism, anti-Semitism, ethnic prejudice, or religious intolerance”
I have not heard back from you definitively in response to the recent email I sent asking that you join the growing number of South Carolina voters, precinct delegates, and conservative individuals and organizations in asking Senator Knotts to resign from the Republican Party. Karen Floyd and the SCGOP leadership refused to bring this matter up for a vote at their Executive Committee meeting on June 26, despite unanimous passage of a resolution at that same meeting which states:
“RESOLVED, that the South Carolina Republican Party urges that no support, financial or otherwise, be given to candidates who clearly do not support the core principles and positions of the Republican Party as expressed in the Platform of the South Carolina Republican Party adopted at the 2009 State Convention.”
We are again calling on you to do what the SCGOP Leadership will not do, and call for Jake Knotts to resign from the Republican Party, based on his violation of the SCGOP Platform and his repugnant comments which shames our state and our party’s leaders.
Sincerely,
Jonathon Hill
Chairman
Upcountry Coalition of Conservative Organizations
http://upcountrycoalition.com
jhill@upcountrycoalition.com
864-245-5885
***Please join the Upcountry Coalition in urging your senator, Karen Floyd, and the SCGOP leadership to call for Jake Knotts’ resignation. Also, write letters to the editor in your local paper pointing out this deal made behind closed doors and call for greater integrity in the SCGOP than Pelosi/Reid have in DC***
