Politics at it's disgusting best...Nevada Republican Party throws County parties under the bus

Sept. 25, 2011 - PRLog -- NRP Throws Nevada Republicans Under the BUS

Rumors recently circulating that the Nevada Republican Party, “NRP”, has decided to force the counties to have “same day” registration at the county caucuses are true and confirmed. This decision was made months ago by the executive committee and kept secret. Working with Amy Tarkanian, Chair of the Nevada State Republican Party, Cory Drumright, NRP's Caucus Director ( former Political Coordinator for Mitt Romney for President) , and Dave Gallagher, (another former Romney operative) NRP's Executive Director, are trying to say this is only being considered. This is a false statement, a delaying tactic and nothing more than an attempt at damage control until it becomes too late to stop it. Once these rules are in place Oct. 1, 2011, the RNC (Republican National Committee) has stated that changes would be “problematic”.

Interestingly, Mrs. Tarkanian, the Nevada State chair who was temporarily voted in to fill Mark Amodei’s vacated seat, will face re-election in Oct. 2011. Is Amy Tarkanian as the standing chair going to represent the county parties, and the people that can re-elect her, or will she succumb to the manipulative elitist “powers that be”?

Other rumors circulating have Sen. Dean Heller in the mix. Sources say Heller is pushing for same day registration with the help of Mike Slanker of November Inc., in an effort to enlarge his advantage over Shelley Berkley. The power play for Nevada is huge. Governor Sandoval (R) has publicly endorsed Rick Perry for President, and the NRP operatives appear to be Romney supporters.

For many Nevada legislative sessions, spanning many years, the Democrats have introduced bills to create same-day registration. In every session, our Republican legislators have fought long and difficult battles to defeat this. Same-day registration allows anyone to walk into a Republican caucus or election, declare they want to be a Republican, register on the spot, vote and participate in the Republican process. This is a wide open door to massive voting fraud and disruption of the Republican process by Democrat-controlled Acorn type organizations and elitist, calculating Republicans wishing to control the election outcome in our important swing state.

In 2008, in Texas, thousands of Democrats flooded into key Texas Republican caucuses and wreaked havoc. The Republican caucuses were turned into chaotic events as the “Republicans-for-a-day” voted for the weakest Republican candidates and turned precinct meetings into pointless fiascos. The NRP claims this won't happen and only Independents will walk in to help. This specious argument is at worst a deliberate deception that betrays all our party has fought against for years. At best, it falls into that ubiquitous trap of human nature that sees only its intended outcome, but turns a blind eye to all the unintended consequences and contrary data.

Whatever the case may be, this amounts to handing a victory to the Democrats in their fight to get same day registration, which Republicans have long fought against. If this decision is allowed to stand for same day registration, then a precedent will have been established.  But this is not all.

NRP is attempting to take control of the county processes of all Nevada counties and dictate a process design that would rob the larger counties and Clark County in particular of thousands of future active Republicans and cause the loss of tens of thousands of dollars in fundraising. They are doing this by attempting to force a caucus procedure that would bypass the county processes which engage, inform and recruit new Republicans into active participation into the party. The NRP vision of the caucus is that people will walk in, register, fill out the Presidential Preference Poll form and leave. Drumright has admittedly stated that voters will walk out the caucus doors without being engaged and informed about the opportunities to get involved in the County Republican Parties, other than maybe being told there is “a county thing going on”.

NRP is ensuring that by depriving the county caucuses of active participants, they will have fewer delegates, especially “grass roots WE the People” minded delegates to the county convention, as well as less cash for the county grassroots efforts. The caucus voters and convention delegate revenues are the springboard for the entire election season. They give the county party new active Republicans which are the new voting core of the County Republican Central Committees across the state and the funding they need. The revenues from convention delegates pay for the costs of the caucus, for the county convention and for the Lincoln Day Dinner, the second largest fundraiser of the year outside of the caucus. The caucus is the foundation of obtaining funding and staff for a 2012 win. The question would be “Who does the NRP want to win 2012?”. NRP's response when told of these essential needs of Clark County and other Nevada counties was complete indifference, other than a few insincere expressions of sympathy and an ongoing refusal to work with the Counties in engaging the voters. All this comes courtesy of Amy Tarkanian, who hired an east coast consultant, who knows nothing of Nevada. The final insult to the injuries is that NRP would finally establish the precedent of taking control of county activities and squelching the voice of “WE the People” and their ability to have representative government instead of “good ole’ boy” politics. This is a box of worms best left unopened.

In short, the Nevada State Party is doing its best to ensure that Nevada Republicans and Clark County as well as other NV Counties, suffer the consequences in 2012 of NRP leadership and political games as the NRP leadership plays Pontius Pilate. The deadline is Oct. 1, 2011 for the NRP to send the rules for the caucus to the Republican National Committee. Once the RNC adopts the rules that the NRP submits, changes can not be easily made. The flurry of emails and phone calls has been overwhelming in the last few days since the Executive Committee's secret is out.

As of today at 12:30pm, 9-24-2011 the Executive Committee, confirmed by Dave Gallagher of NRP and Chairman of the Clark County Republican Party Dave Gibbs has promised to TRUNC that they are tabling the "same day caucus registration".  As of 8:25 pm an email was put out by Amy Tarkanian stating that the "same day registration" issue would be placed on the agenda for the October 22nd state meeting.

Given the clear years of opposition by party membership, the question would be "why hasn't this been killed already?" and "why are they even bringing this to a vote on Oct. 22 at the NRCC?". The rules must be submitted to the RNC by Oct. 1. The email statement put out by Amy Tarkanian tonight does NOT state that "same day registration" will not be included in those submitted rules. Given that the RNC has stated that rule changes will be "problematic" after they have been submitted, is this another delay tactic and an attempt to "pull the wool over the eyes" of the Central Committee yet again? The "people" need to know. The Executive Board of the NRP must be transparent and the rules must be publicly open to the members for review and comment prior to submittal to the RNC.

Contact Info: Amy Tarkanian Amy@NevadaGop.org (702) 812-7260
Dean Heller Phone: 702-388-6605 DC Phone: 202-224-6244
Nevada Republican Party Phone: (702) 258-9182
Dave Gallagher (702) 258-9182 Cory Drumright (702) 575-3388

# # #

TRUNC intends to unite conservatives who believe in small government, fiscal responsibility, lower taxes & are “pro” constitution under the umbrella of the Republican Party in Nevada, for the purpose of defeating liberal & socialist candidates & their agenda. TRUNC believes most in "WE the People" and their right to representative government and will call out any elitist, manipulative force that deters the people's voice.