Oh Boy, Here we go again… I feel as if I live in the Twilight Zone.. What is the matter with these people.. And they call us nuts.. This is nuts..Un-freakin’-believable.. This is just another example of why we need Ron Paul.. Peace

C’mon guys, the revolution has to start somewhere. Why not the “SHOW ME” state?

This is a riot! Who are these people?

There are people posting here that have never had anything to say before about political issues in St. Louis or Missouri — and I think it’s funny.

I’ve had the chance to see some of the amendments that your “freedom” people put up to the platform, and if you think that mainstream republicans feel that way, you’re just nuts!

As an outsider looking in — my only ties with Missouri are owning shares in a couple Missouri-based corporations and having worked for a firm with a major facility there — I can’t know what the exact rules there may be.

From what I’m reading here, it sounds to me as if there is no reason not to file challenge objections to the ENTIRE SET of results sight unseen, since the deliberate failure to release them until after the deadline necessarily makes it impossible to file results to specific ones.

When any official gets all bristly and indignant at having his integrity questioned even as his patent failure to enforce the rules on timely submission has created the Catch-22 behind which he appears to be shielding himself, questioning his personal integrity become obvious and mandatory.

Seems to me that somebody ought also in parallel to seek an injunction to set aside the objection/challenge deadline given the prima facie failure of party official to follow their own rules.

If there is anything one for which one can fault grassroots campaigns — all of them, not just Ron Paul’s — it is a rather childlike assumption that if they follow the rules scrupulously they will be treated honestly and fairly.

Here, if the McCain campaign is perfectly willing to consign the country to a hundred more years of bully-boy carnage in Iraq and Lord knows where else, why on earth would they even hesitate to play dirty with a bunch of outraged Goldwater Republicans who still believe this is a free country and that the rule of law still operates?

After all, their boy is a staunch ally of a President who has been quoted as saying — before a number of high-ranking Republicans! — that our Constitution is a goddamn piece of paper. Their guy is the proud co-author of legislation (”McCain-Feingold”) that blatantly violates the plaintext of the First Amendment.

Nowadays one cannot always rely on the notion that being decent and honest and civil will carry the day. It worked for Ronald Reagan, and someday it may work once more. But these are troubling times and tough measures are called for. Reagan himself said, “Trust but verify,” and here there is ample evidence that trust is misplaced.

Stronger measures are called for.

We are now running our elections here in much the same way as dictators run their sham elections. If the Establishment parties, the Democrats and Republicans, don’t get the rightist and leftist ideologues they want from a given election, they pull whatever fraudulent stunt they can to get what they want. Since McCain assures continuance of their War in Iraq, they are willing to settle for him since Romney or Giuliani would have assured Republican defeat this fall. They will in all likelihood get defeat anyway. I sure as hell do not plan to vote for a Republican! (And probably not a Democrat, either.)

Has Craighead broken any laws?

I am trying to find a law that he has broken but I’m not having much luck so far. I did find the following at http://www.moga.mo.gov/statutes/chapters/chap115.htm :

Caucuses, delegates for national conventions.
115.776. The state party organization which is the state organization recognized by the national organization of that established political party shall, after the primary and before the national convention, conduct a series of caucuses culminating in congressional and state conventions. Delegates to the national conventions shall be chosen at the congressional district and state conventions pursuant to rules established by the political parties.

(L. 1998 S.B. 709, A.L. 1999 H.B. 676)

I also found the Missouri Republican State Committee bylaws at http://www.mogop.org/docs/mrsc_bylaws_07.pdf :

Under the “Removal” section it says “…any court of competent jurisdiction has found that the member has engaged in an act of moral turpitude, that the member has acted in a manner contrary to the objectives of the MRSC as defined in the Bylaws of the MRSC, or that the member has prevented the conduct of MRSC business in an orderly manner. In any case, the movants must state that in their prudent judgment the actions complained of meet the following standard: that the actions would cause a loss of confidence by the public in the proper functioning of the committee as a statutorily functioning body, and/or that the actions complained of would negatively affect the State Committee’s ability to pursue the objectives of the State Committee as stated in the Bylaws.”

Further down in the by-laws, you can request a “Special Meeting” with signatures of 29 party member (i.e. All the Ron Paul supporters) to address the issue of Craighead withholding information.

“Section 2. Special Meetings
a. Special meetings of the MRSC may be called at any time by the State
Chairman, by the Vice Chairman acting in the capacity of State Chairman,
or by any twenty-nine (29) members of the MRSC who sign a notice for
such a meeting.
b. Only such new business as has been set forth in the notice calling for a
special meeting shall be transacted at said special meeting.”

Why don’t the Ron Paul people come clean on how they got information on St. Louis Co. Rita Carlson got into her sick mothers computer and took information without her mother knowledge. There have been reports that asked thses people if they were for Ron Paul and they denied it.
I maybe be old fashioned but if you have to be dishonest about what you are doing it cannot be GOOD!!!

Let the R3volution continue…Juan Mcwar??? Come on, our party is better than that.

I think i agree with steve r on this one and let me say very well put, Steve.

To everyone else, I live in Chicago now - and what we are seeing happening in these STL stories is what all of you make fun of Chicago politics/cubs fans/whatever for in your (unfounded?) pride in your City, State and chosen way of life. You deride and crack jokes at the windy city for massive corruption (which leads to things being more expensive than they should be when you come here), lack of credibility, random indictments/arrests from time to time and despite all that a machine that perpetuates itself; no matter how ineffectual or unresponsive to the constituents’ desires they may be. Ever wonder how that happens?

Well, its all laid out in front of you in plain-view right now. These are the tools and mechanisms of classic machine politics. The only relevant question and focus at this point is not, “what is going on or what really happened?” thats a fait accompli - but rather, what are you going to do about it? I think Steve’s points above are a good starting point. Demand accountability! If not for you, then for the principle that you can still claim to be better than all the likely 2008 NL Central winning Cubs fans!! (as you can see i’m really reaching to agitate you enough to stir you to action)

On a serious note, do your really want your whole state to go the way of the windy city? Think about that for awhile before responding.

As an aside, I commend this paper for both publishing this story, the previous one, and allowing comments. Thank you.

Mr. Craighead is at least being evasive because as far as I know he did not tell our people that they were still accepting filings, which would seem relevant to tell them. It would not be obvious since the Call to Convention says that the caucus chairman and secretary “shall file” the documents with the state chairman “within 72 hours following adjournment.” The 2008 Caucus and Convention Calendar says the documents are due “AT THE MRP HEADQUARTERS” on March 18th. They’re allowing more time but it makes me a little concerned that we need to be extra careful to review the filings.

Nonetheless, the deadline for challenging delegates is express, saying those challenges “must be physically in the office” by 5 PM Tuesday. So the point still holds that YOU CAN’T CHALLENGE DELEGATES WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHO THEY ARE, NOR CAN YOU CONFIRM THAT YOUR DELEGATES ARE PROPERLY FILED.

The same document says that such challenges will be settled at the convention. Thus, improperly placed delegates have the right and are expected to go to the convention, which means if someone has filed a list of phantom delegates and we can’t find that out or don’t have recourse for that possibility, THEY will be the ones allowed into the convention, rather than us. It is thus IMPERATIVE that we see the lists.

I’ve left a message with Mr. Craighead that suggesting they be clear that they are extending the deadline to challenge delegates since challenges must be in writing and state evidence.