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RNC move sparks standoff with the early-voting states |
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By Sam Youngman
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Posted: 10/23/07 07:27 PM [ET] |
The Republican National Committee (RNC) on Monday issued its preliminary guidelines for the delegation selection process for next year’s convention, and put five states on notice that they had violated GOP rules and risked losing their delegates if changes are not made before the final report.
New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina, Michigan and Wyoming all ran afoul of RNC rules by announcing their intentions to hold their nominating contests outside the RNC-allowed window.
But South Carolina and Florida are far from blindly accepting the penalties, state party leaders said Monday, and at least one state is considering following the lead of Florida Democrats who are suing their national party for stripping the state of its delegates.
Katon Dawson, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, on Monday told The Hill that he is leaving “the avenue open” for a possible lawsuit against the RNC for stripping delegates.
“We’ll see, but that certainly is an option open to us,” Dawson said.
Florida Democrats took that step after their national party penalized them for scheduling a binding primary on Jan. 29. The national party has told Florida Democrats to make the primary non-binding or move the date.
South Carolina would go from 47 to 24 delegates if it goes ahead with its Jan. 19 primary.
The Florida Republican Party is not currently considering a lawsuit, but Jim Greer, the party chairman, said he is confident the state’s 114 delegates will all be at next year’s convention.
Florida officials are in a standoff with RNC officials over the accurate reading of the rules that led the committee to institute the penalties.
Jim Stelling, a Republican Florida activist and Seminole County co-chairman for GOP presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, said the RNC is outside of its rights because the state’s Jan. 29 primary won’t actually award delegates. He said a system of caucuses in the state’s congressional districts will do that later in the year.
But RNC officials say that reading is totally “inaccurate.”
“They are out of compliance because they are holding a binding primary election on Jan. 29, 2008,” an RNC official said.
The fight might be moot. Romney told a group of Florida Republicans over the weekend that he “guarantees” the whole delegation will be seated at next year’s convention if he is the nominee. Other candidates, who fear angering supporters in such a crucial state, would likely make the same promise.
The Michigan Republican Party’s position is that “the rules allow for sanctions but don’t require them,” party spokesman Bill Nowling said. He added that the Michigan GOP also expects its full delegation of 60 delegates to be seated at the convention.
The recommendation was adopted unanimously Monday morning by the RNC’s executive committee, according to RNC Chairman Mike Duncan. However, two members — Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis and Michigan RNC member Chuck Yobb — both abstained from the vote.
“This will come as no surprise to the states involved,” Duncan said.
Speaking on a conference call to reporters, Duncan said he expects to hear from the states being punished, but he is not concerned about any lawsuits the states or individual state parties might initiate to seek relief from the penalties.
“I’m very confident of our legal footing,” Duncan said.
New Hampshire Republicans will likely be the most taken aback, as they did not seek RNC approval, nor have they ever been required to fit inside the committee’s window.
But Fergus Cullen, chairman of the New Hampshire GOP, said if the penalties are the price the state pays for protecting its “first-in-the-nation” status, then “that’s something that we’re going to have to accept.”
Unlike other states, in New Hampshire, Secretary of State William Gardner has complete control over when the state’s primary will be held.
“We’re really being punished potentially for something we really have no control over,” Cullen said. “I’m hoping that cooler heads will prevail at some point in the nominating process.”
Cullen said he is not considering any kind of legal challenge, and the loss of delegates is not as important in New Hampshire as it is in other states. New Hampshire was allotted 24 delegates, but with the penalty they would only have 12.
“The New Hampshire primary has never been about the relatively small number of delegates that are at stake here,” he said.
Because Monday’s report is still a preliminary draft of the “Call to the Convention,” Duncan said the states in non-compliance can still revise their delegate selection plans to fit within RNC rules.
“Of course, we always believe in redemption,” Duncan said.
The formal call has to be made before the first of the year, but RNC officials are waiting until those states with 2007 contests — Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, Virginia and New Jersey — have concluded their state elections. Those states could get more or fewer delegates depending on the success of Republicans running there.
The RNC’s rules are not as harsh as those of its Democratic counterpart, which moved to penalize both Michigan and Florida by stripping them of 100 percent of their delegates.
Florida Democratic leaders, including Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Alcee Hastings, have filed suit against the Democratic National Committee. |
