Establishment Tactics Stifle Grassroots at Georgia’s 9th District Convention

Stephen Aaron, the new 9th dis­trict GOP chair­man, and Coop­er Whit­mire, vice chair and res­o­lu­tion com­mit­tee chair, are steer­ing the dis­trict away from grass­roots influ­ence. Pre­vi­ous­ly, Aaron lim­it­ed res­o­lu­tions to avoid media atten­tion, slip­ping in a con­tro­ver­sial one to hon­or David Ral­ston. Whit­mire, con­tin­u­ing this trend, pre­sent­ed only 3 of 14 sub­mit­ted res­o­lu­tions, all bland. With only 205 of 369 allot­ted del­e­gates present, par­tic­i­pa­tion was low, ham­per­ing grass­roots efforts. A pro­posed rule change to low­er the res­o­lu­tion vote thresh­old from 2/3 to 50+1 was reject­ed, cit­ing harm to small­er coun­ties, though estab­lish­ment vot­ing was unhin­dered. Jason Thompson’s repeat­ed quo­rum calls and exit tac­tics dis­rupt­ed busi­ness, notably block­ing a motion for res­o­lu­tion to remove Jon Burns as speak­er. By skip­ping new busi­ness, the con­ven­tion lead­er­ship, includ­ing Black­burn, sup­pressed grass­roots ini­tia­tives, rein­forc­ing estab­lish­ment con­trol over the dis­trict.

• Stephen Aaron is the new chair­man of the 9th dis­trict, Coop­er Whit­mire is the new vice chair. Coop­er is also the chair of the res­o­lu­tion com­mit­tee of the 9th dis­trict. Coop­er Whit­mire calls BKP to have lunch. He was check­ing to see where BKP stood. Oryan Roy did the same thing, both from Turn­ing Point. 
• Stephen Aaron was the chair of the res­o­lu­tion com­mit­tee 2 years ago. There were a lot of res­o­lu­tions that were sub­mit­ted. Stephen Aaron said that there would not be any res­o­lu­tions that would bring media atten­tion. And lim­it­ed the num­ber of res­o­lu­tions. Stephen wrote the report that the com­mit­tee didn’t agree on and slipped in a res­o­lu­tion to hon­or David Ral­ston in the end. 
• Coop­er Whit­mire is the res­o­lu­tion com­mit­tee chair and had 14 res­o­lu­tions sub­mit­ted and only pre­sent­ed 3 res­o­lu­tions. The res­o­lu­tions were very bland res­o­lu­tions. 
• The ninth dis­trict was allot­ted 369 del­e­gates, only 205 del­e­gates. This is a prob­lem. 
• The res­o­lu­tions peo­ple think are no big deal because law­mak­ers won’t make a big deal about them. But if the grass­roots take back the par­ty then res­o­lu­tions will be a big deal. 
• Now on the rules you have to have ⅔ votes to have res­o­lu­tions because they know that by the time you get to res­o­lu­tions you won’t have a quo­rum, but if you change it to 50+1 it is pos­si­ble to have a quo­rum and get the busi­ness done. It was motioned to change the rule remov­ing the 2/3rd rule to 50+1. The expla­na­tion was that it would hurt the small­er coun­ties. It’s ok if the big coun­ties team up and vote in the estab­lish­ment com­mit­tee mem­bers and offi­cers but it is not ok to have 50+1 for a res­o­lu­tion. 
• As soon as the res­o­lu­tions Jason Thomp­son walks across the floor. He called for a quo­rum call sev­er­al times. He want­ed to stop busi­ness. 
• Black­burn went straight to announce­ments and skipped new busi­ness, telling us twice that it was not on the agen­da. Remem­ber Jason Thomp­son left and did every­thing to kill this con­ven­tion. 
• There was a motion and a sec­ond to ask for the removal of Jon Burns as speak­er of the house. Jason Thomp­son and oth­ers start push­ing peo­ple out the door to lose the quo­rum. There was a quo­rum, they want­ed to shut it down so a vote couldn’t be tak­en.