What Happened at State Convention?

I occasionally post about our involment with local and state politics. We signed up to be Republican "precinct delegates" which means we represent the people in our local neighborhoods at the Republican county convention, which involves many precincts.

This year was odd, since we were informed of TWO county conventions, held at the same time, but each at a different location, headed by a different person.

The purpose of the county convention is to form a list of approved precinct delegates to go to the State Convention in Lansing.

Which County Convention?

After receiving many emails informing us of the "official" county convention, we had to make a choice of where to go. One convention (convention A) was headed by the legal party chair, the other (convention b) by a newly formed party.

There were many emails and texts assuring us that (convention A) was the official convention and the list of delegates they approve will be the list accepted in Lansing for the State Convention. There were also reports of some delegates being hevily pressured at their doorsteps to make sure they go to the "correct" county convention.

The email that got our attention was from the State, where they said they would only accept delegates approved by the new party (convention B).

Because our goal was to get to Lansing, we chose to go to the conty convention that the State had announced they would accept. (convention B)

The Fateful Night

We didn't know which convention to go to, so we emailed both convention administrators requesting that we be on their list to go to Lansing. According to the bylaws, a formal request places you "first consideration" and traditionally ensures you'll be going.

When the evening came, we decided to
attended convention (B), since that's the one the Michigan GOP said they would accept. We wondered if some zealous people from the other convention might come and cause some trouble. The convention was quick, peaceful and well organized. There were several hundred people there and everything was settled at the end. It started at 6 and ended by 7:30. There was no trouble and no sign of any hecklers or agitators. And we heard our name on the list of delegates going to Lansing! Yay! At least we were on the list of delegates from Convention B.

As we were driving home, I suggested visiting the other convention (A), just to see what was going on and show our support. However we decided to get home and releave my parents who were watching children. We also didn't want any concern about visiting the other convention.

My brother in law did decide to visit the other convention (A) afterwards to see how it was going. He reported that it was very disorganized and it went on until 10PM. People were pretty suspicious when he arrived late, but he told them he didn't know which one to go to, so he's attending both.

While he was there, he heard his name on the list of selected delegates, both at convention A and B.

State Convention

When we arrived, we registered our names and immediatly were given a green delegate badge and we sat down in our assigned seat. True to their word, we went to the "right" convention to become a delegate. But did we really?

The convention began promptly at 10 am, and after the formalities, it came to the "reading of the rules".

At this point, things went sour as a large number of guests in the back of the room began shouting insults and phrases and booing. We quickly discovered that these guest were disgruntled delegates from Convention A who were not seated (where we were), but were given guest passes. Many of these were people that we knew and were just speaking with the day before. We understood why they were disgruntled.

They were escorted out of the convention hall and things quieted down.

Somebody shouted "Point of Order" from among the delegates and they came up stage to discuss their issue concerning the disgruntled delegates, who were fully expecting to be registered and seated. A paper was circulating around the hall that explained the situation about the two conventions and made a case as to why Convention A was the REAL legal convention and that they were being denied a seat.

After some time, they called a standing vote on whether the slate of delegates that were seated as determined from the delegate list from convention B, should be replaced with the delegate list from the other convention. They were voting to see if we should be removed from being a delegate.

Each side was given 30 seconds to make a case between the two delegation lists, to determine which one should be seated. That's not nearly enough time to explain to several thousands people a complicated situation.

Everyone Took a Stand

We were explicitly told that our disctrict could not vote as we watched thousands of people stand up, determining that we (yes us, Ben and Lauren) were not legitimate delegates and everyone should be "recredentialed" based on the delegate list from Convention A.

(That moment when we watch thousands of people standing up in a room, voting "yes" to say that we weren't supposed to be there!)

When a "no" vote was issued, hardly anyone stood up. We figured it was time to go for a lunch break.

I'm Sure We'll Get Recredentialed

By the time we got back, all the people from our district was in the lobby to become "recredentaled". Many people who had guest passes were discovered on the new list and were elated to be given a green delegate pass. One said "justice prevailed this one time."

I was almost postive we'd be on both lists, so we'd get to return to our seat as voting delegates. Lauren and I emailed both county convention administrators (A and B) requesting to be sent to Lansing, and here we are! Even if they switch lists, we'll be reseated.

My brother in law was ahead of us and got recredientialed after finding his name on the list. We though surely we'll be on the new list and walk back to our seats so we could participate in this convention.

We saw the chair leader (from convention A) with a clipboard and we approached him to ask if we were on his list. He was pretty busy and a bit overwhelmed, trying to sort things out. A friend that we've worked with before asked if we were going to become delegates, we told her we were official delegates and we need to discover if we'll continue being official delegates. She said she would check the list for our names.

We waited in line for what seemed like an eternity and when we got to the end of the line, we checked to see if our name was on the new list and we could be recredentialed.

"You aren't on the list, sorry."

Friendly Fire Casulties

We were stunned. We went from sitting on the floor of the convention as a voting delegate, to being rejected completely from the convention.

Our friend came by and confirmed that neither myself or my wife were on the new delegate list, so we would not be in position to vote.

"I'm so sorry, you should have gone to the right convention"

The right convention. How were were supposed to know which was the right convention?

We visited the help desk and asked for a guest pass, so we could watch the remainder of the convention from the back. They took our delegate badges and replaced them with guest badges.

Another brother in law (who was also there) was involved with the convention and came by with "Campaign Staff" passes which gave us full access to the floor. So even if we could not vote, we could get up close to the stage. And we didn't have to return to our former delegate seat off in the corner.

Rejected but still smiling!!!

Now What?

We were sad for a bit, but we found a quite place and talked it over. We decided not to be bitter about it and rejoice with those who now had a voice. Yes, we lost our voice, but very passionate people had their voice heard.

The sad thing though is that most of the delegates on the final list were not in attendance in Lansing, figuring there would be no point, so there were now about 50 seats left empty.

This was not directed to us, but rather to the established Michigan GOP, a message that needed to be sent, even if we were casulties.

We were caught in the crossfire in an "us" vs "them" battle. We got lumped in to the "them" category because we were seated as delegates for going to the convention that the Michigan GOP said they would accept. We were even encouraging others to do the same - but we discovered in the end, we did not attend the "right" convention.

Some of our fellow delegates with us were called RINO, or "traitor" which is not fair or accurate at all. We didn't endure those sorts of names, maybe becasue people don't expect "them" to be a married couple carrying a one-year-old baby around at a convention with thousands of people attending.

People can be so mean sometimes.

Why did they disregard the email request? We discovered later that at Convention A there was a vote to determine if only those in attendance at THAT convention would be selected on their list to go to Lansing. It was overwhelmingly passed. That is why we were not on their list, because we decided to go home instead of visiting the other convention. We did not pass their allegience test.

TL;DR

We went to State Convention Lansing, got seated as delegates, a point of order was demanded to determine which delegates from our county were legitimate. A vote was called to determine who should be in our seats, the vast majority stood up determining that existing delegates (us) should be unseated.

We were not on the list to be seated. Why? Because we didn't attend the "right" county convention and get on the "right" list.

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Benjamin Turner: God fearer. Rooted in Messiah. Husband of @lturner. Father of six wonderful children. The guy behind the camera. Blockchain enthusiast.

Bless the Most High!

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