Last night the Executive Committee of the Davidson County Republican Party voted to remove Matt Collins from the Committee. I attended the meeting not knowing the Committee would go into executive session and require everyone except voting members to leave the room. In addition to my wife and I there were about a dozen other people who were also removed from the room, most of them were obviously supporters of Matt. Initially I was annoyed that we were forced to vacate the room, but can see the wisdom of conducting the hearing in closed-door session.
Those who were in the hall after being evicted from the room assumed we who lined the hall were all supporters of Matt. I was not. I was on the fence. If I had been a voting member of the board, I still do not know how I would have voted. I would have had to hear the arguments on both sides in order to make a decision. I assumed I would have voted with the majority but it would have been with reluctance. If Matt had have been halfway contrite however, and pledged to behave differently in the future I would have voted to let him keep his seat. I assume there were other members on the board who think the same way I think, so I assume Matt was belligerent up until the vote. This is only an assumption however, I don’t know. Not knowing what went on behind closed doors, I can’t say for certain how I would have voted.
Matt is a libertarian Republican of the Ron Paul persuasion. I am not. I am what the Ron Paul Republicans often refer to as a RINO. I don’t see myself in that light, but RINO (Republican in Name Only) is the term used to denigrate anyone who does not see eye to eye with them on the issues. I was a supporter of the Party’s candidate John McCain in the last election. After our own favorite son Fred Thompson dropped out of the race, I was never tempted to support anyone other than McCain. I agree with McCain’s pragmatism and realism which some fellow Republicans find offensive. I was not a reluctant supporter of the Party’s candidate but an enthusiastic supporter. That makes me a RINO in the view of the more dogmatic Republicans of the Ron Paul persuasion.
This McCain Republican however does not want to purge the Party of Ron Paul Republican. The Party should be a big tent party with room for Ron Paul and John McCain supporters. If we agree on opposition to Obamacare, to higher taxes, to the explosion in the national debt then we should be in the same camp. We do not have to see eye to eye on all issues. If there is more that unites us than divides us we should be united in trying to defeat Democrats.
Matt has a lot of vocal people who are supporting him and are going to be angry that he was ousted. Matt was not ousted because he is the only Republican who supports the constitution. Matt was not ousted because he is a Ron Paul supporter. Matt was ousted because he acted like a jerk. In my view, one of Matts worse offences was his refusal to shake hands with Republican Gubernatorial candidate Congressman Zack Wamp and then bragging about it. I don’t personally know Ron Paul, but I would bet that if at a social function, Ron Paul himself would shake the hand of Zack Wamp. Refusing to shake someone’s hand and then bragging about it does not make you a principled person; it makes you a jerk.
To all the libertarian minded Republicans and Ron Paul supporters who are hurt or offended that Matt was ousted from the Executive Committee: Matt was not removed because of his libertarian leaning or his support for Ron Paul; he was removed because he acted like a jerk. Don’t give up on the Party. Don’t walk away. Stay involved. I believe that most Republicans welcome the energy and growth that the libertarian leaning Republicans are bringing to the Party. I believe most Republicans are not interested in shrinking the Party and purging people but in enlarging the party and welcoming people. Matt was not ousted because he was the lone voice standing up for principles and the constitution; he was ousted because of his behavior. A Libertarian leaning Republican with normal social skills would be welcome in the party.
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Hello Rod. You were not in the room. I was. Your "assumption" of what happened is not accurate. Out of respect for the confidentiality of the proceedings I won't go into those details. I will say this much. Had one of the 11 county chairmen that nominated Dede Scozafava in NY district 23 taken a stronger stance BEFORE she was picked there might not be a democrat in that seat now. There are at least two sides to every story and sometimes even more. If you want to hear the other side why not simply ask instead of making assumptions?
ReplyDeleteRegards,
John M. Drake
It should be noted that I have broken no bylaws (even Chairman Starnes has admitted this). Every effort was made by myself to reach a mutual understanding, however Chairman Starnes refused to work with me in the closed door session.
ReplyDeleteAnd no I don't like the term RINO because it's ambiguous and subjective thus I try not to use it. The term has been applied to both Ron Paul, and John McCain - both can't be true. The litmus test I prefer is whether or not you advocate more government, or less government. Do you follow the Constitution or do you ignore it?
And I fail to see how refusing to shake the hand of a thief such as bailout supporting Rep "ZigZag Zach" Wamp's hand is "being a jerk". In fact it was one of the more polite things I could do to show him I disapproved of his acting like a liberal Democrat. He deserves a tar-and-feathering followed by a sentence of restitution. The majority of Republicans agree with me and disapprove of the actions of the 14 members of the DCRP Executive Committee. If you don't understand that then you haven't been paying attention lately.
Good riddiance. What a bad example of what any libertarian minded Republican should be.
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