CLEVELAND — A coalition of gadfly delegates will try to slow proceedings at the start of the Republican National Convention this afternoon. There is no robust push to stop Donald Trump from becoming the nominee (that was effectively quashed last week); instead, they will push to have a roll call vote on the floor for approval or rejection of the new RNC rules.
Here’s what to expect momentarily:
An RNC leader will announce from the podium the location of the Rules Committee meeting, where the committee will officially approve the rules crafted in last week’s meetings. Usually it’s just a pro forma ratification.
In that committee, the party leadership has shown it controls enough votes to prevent any amendments or even a “Minority Report,” from delegates objecting to one rule or another. Among rule changes conservatives and grass-roots activists seek are:
- Unbinding delegates
- Incentivizing closed primaries by awarding a delegate bonus to those states that limit their primaries to Republicans.
- Undoing new RNC rules change that effectively gives party leadership total control over information about and among future Rules Committees.
Assuming they lose in committee, the gadflies hope they can force a roll call vote on the convention floor for approval of the rules. Typically, the rules are approved by voice vote, and in 2012, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus declared that the ayes had won, even though the nays were clearly louder.
“What I want is for the delegates’ voice to be heard on the floor,” Iowa delegate and Rules Committee member Marlys Popma told me. “These are smart people on the floor. The majority of these people are conservatives. In the Rules Committee, conservatives were shut down.
To force a roll call vote of all delegates, the dissidents, led by former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, would need to get signatures from a majority of delegates from 7 states. Virginia Delegate and Rules Committee Member Morton Blackwell told me he thinks they’ll have the signatures, and that 30 of 49 Virginia delegates have signed the petition.
One delegate — I’m told it will be Cuccinelli — will stand to be recognized to make the motion for a roll call vote, and submit the signatures. The thing is, as Priebus demonstrated four years ago, the chairman of the convention can simply ignore a delegate standing for recognition.
So if the party leadership wins in the Rules Committee meeting this afternoon, the remaining drama will be whether the chair of the full convention recognizes the gadflies’ motion.
Timothy P. Carney, The Washington Examiner’s senior political columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears Tuesday and Thursday nights on washingtonexaminer.com.
