REPEAT PERFORMANCE OR STRATEGIC BLUNDER?

On the evening of March 19, 2009, there was a "make-up meeting" for the Berkeley County Republican Party Reorganization. Don't be surprised if you didn't read about it, since there was no public notice of the meeting given. Even if you accidentally found out about it and attended, you would not have been impressed with the outcome. Allow us to give you the abbreviated minutes.

The County Chairman, Wade Arnette, opened the meeting and immediately turned the proceedings over to State Executive Committeeman, Wayland Moody. Mr. Moody went to great lengths to explain to those assembled that the activity of the meeting would be restricted. He made it clear that no Precinct officers were to be elected and no other Precinct business was to be conducted with the exception of adding delegates to the Precinct packets. These additions could be made unless the delegate slates for particular precincts were already full. After these announcements, the problems began.

RULE: A Precinct Reorganization Make-Up Meeting is just that. It is an extension of the original Precinct Meeting and held for the purpose of completing business unfinished at the original meeting and giving those who were unable to attend the original meeting an opportunity to participate in the process. But, these are only the Rules and we all know how important the Rules are to the present leadership of the BCGOP.

Several of the folks protested this agenda by quoting the Rules but Mr. Moody insisted, "Well, that's the way it's going to be tonight."

Two members of Hanahan 1 Precinct said they wanted to add delegates to their slate. Mr. Moody told them that would be impossible because the slate was full. ( Mr. Moody imparted this information without looking at the documents in their packet.) These gentlemen advised Mr. Moody that, in fact, no delegates had been elected at their original meeting. Mr. Moody advised the men that a committee had been chosen to "appoint" the delegates from Hanahan 1. The men said there had been no committee chosen at their original meeting and they wanted to add their delegates. Mr. Moody repeated that the delegate slate was full. The men asked to examine the contents of their Precinct packet. They were refused access.

A member of the Whitesville Precinct Club requested her packet so she could conclude her reorganization business. This lady is the Secretary of her Club and there were none of the other officers from her Precinct present at the meeting. Mr. Moody refused to give her the packet saying the Precinct was already organized and she was not an officer. She showed Mr. Moody a copy of her Form B, which lists the officers of her Club. There, as plain as day, was her name listed as Secretary. Still, Mr. Moody refused to relinquish the packet. He told her she could fill out any additional Form A's she wanted for delegates and he would add them to the packet for her but she could not take possession of the documents already in the packet. She pointed out to Mr. Moody that the documents in the packet did not contain her signature as Secretary, as the Rules dictate. Mr. Moody suggested he would be happy to hold the documents for her as she signed them but she would not be allowed to hold or review any of the documents already in the packet. She didn't go for it and continued insisting on being given the packet. It was only after an extended exchange between the two and the support of others who were listening, that Mr. Moody finally gave her the packet.

A Berkeley County Councilman tried to submit his Form A's for Stratford 2 delegates only to be told his delegate slate was, also, full. He was refused access to his Precinct packet by Mr. Moody. After relating his experience to others at the meeting, he was advised to return to Mr. Moody and insist on being given access to the packet. He did so. Upon review of the documents in his packet, he found that only four of the 22 delegates listed had actually attended his Precinct meeting. He was never told that, when it comes to being elected delegates, folks who attend the meetings in person have priority over the ones who only send in a Form A . Also, he found a Form A from another Precinct in his packet. Golly Gee! How did that happen, Roberta? In 2007, GE&P suggested that old age might be slipping up on you when you allowed a vote at the County Convention and the total number of votes cast added up to a larger number than the total number of registered delegates. Sloppy, very sloppy.

Here are some more of those pesky Rules. The Secretary of the BCGOP is bound by Law to record, with the Clerk of Court and prior to the county convention, the names of the Precinct officers. Also, it is her legal duty to compile the roll of delegates to the county convention. There is no way for her to perform these duties if she doesn't have access to the documents contained in the Precinct packets. She was denied this access.

In an effort toward full disclosure, GE&P has to admit there was one really funny thing that happened at this meeting. Mr. Moody said that anyone who wished, could make copies of the documents contained in his/her own Precinct packet and was welcome to do so. But, he would not allow anyone to make copies of all the documents contained in all the Precinct packets. He insisted that he was going to FedEx the packets to Party Headquarters the following day, Friday. He said it was the duty of Party Headquarters to compile the certified delegate list for the county convention from the documents in the packets and he didn't want two different lists "floating around". Now, let's analyze that statement just a bit. If our Secretary makes a copy of all the documents in all the packets as they are at the end of the meeting and compiles a list, then, Mr. Moody sends these same packets containing these same documents to Party Headquarters and they compile a list, why would this result in two different lists? Hmmmmmm

In the humble opinion of GE&P, Mr. Moody and the others in the leadership may have pushed the envelope just a bit too far, and in front of too many witnesses, this time.