Robert’s Rules suggests 14 days’ notice. Morris GOP gives 5 days (over July 4th).
/By Rubashov
Calling a snap election is a cute trick used by British Prime Ministers, but rarely encountered in America, where fixed terms are the rule. Nevertheless – and in the middle of a long holiday weekend – Morris County GOP Chair Laura Ali has called a snap re-election and scheduled it for next Saturday. Like a British PM, her term of office isn’t up for a year.
There’s a further catch to this maneuver. Republicans outside the establishment have until Thursday, July 6th, to present a letter of intent from any candidate hoping to oppose Laura Ali for Chairman. And, if that is not a formidable hurdle enough, there’s this:
“The Candidate for Chairperson must put forth a full slate of candidates, for the remaining elected offices (Vice-Chair, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer, Sargent at Arms and Counsel), provide the same information for those candidates as required for Chairperson and what offices they intend to seek.”
Maybe Laura Ali uses a British calendar that marks “bank holidays” instead of “Independence Day”? Or perhaps, mindful that the GOP bosses in next-door Sussex County gave their members 10 days’ notice – and then failed to elect the establishment slate – she has opted for half that time.
And, in another nod to what happened in Sussex County, Laura Ali’s letter emphasizes this point: “No nominations will be heard from the floor.”
As one observer put it:
“So Laura really thinks everyone is stupid.
Makes this grand gesture on a holiday weekend knowing everyone is not home, then only gives people a few days to build an entire slate.
This is a complete joke.”
The Soviets held elections too. They didn’t mean anything, and the results were managed to the point of predetermination, but they still could claim to have held an election. Those elections were meant to “unify” their population behind the party leadership but only fools saw anything in the results.
The purpose of the democratic process is to tease out the will of the majority and elections are the best tool we have to achieve that end. Elections are a more exact representation of the popular will than any poll or pundit’s opinion.
An organization that knowingly skews the process so that an election cannot be representative is only fooling itself. It is cheating at solitaire – kidding itself that the ends its wishes are being achieved. Like the Soviets did, for so many years.
Unity, bringing together people who were formerly at war with each other, is a different thing. Abraham Lincoln, our first Republican President knew this:
“Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper and loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite.”
Had he lived, what would have been the fruits of the reconciliation he had planned?
The current leadership of the Morris County GOP is constantly in court battling its own members or conservative Republicans like Pastor Phil Rizzo. They have pursued this litigious strategy to the point of party bankruptcy. Lincoln counseled a better way:
“Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser—in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man.”
Laura Ali’s full letter appears below…
