Video of a Georgia county GOP convention this past weekend has presidential candidate Ron Paul supporters incensed, contending they now have proof local Republican leaders have cheated their candidate out of delegates. The Athens-Clarke County GOP met on Saturday, March 10, to vote – among other things – on delegates to represent the county at district convention, from there to attend the state and national conventions.
But shocking video shows the meeting’s chair pushing through a list of pre-selected delegates over the objections of the convention and promptly declaring the meeting closed, a startling turn of events that took exactly 21 seconds.
Ron Paul backers, who made up a majority of the seated precinct delegates and had hoped to nominate their own choices for district convention, were stunned.
By their count, also captured on video, more than 20 of the 30-some delegates present had voted no to the slate of delegates offered, yet Athens GOP Chairman Matt Brewster first declared, “The ‘ayes’ have it,” then ignored loud calls for a vote count, before quickly concluding, “There is no other business to discuss; the convention is now closed.”
“I’m thoroughly disgusted,” said precinct delegate Shawn Lewis in an interview also recorded on the video. “This is my first time participating in the process, and I feel pretty much just violated.”
“We tried to do this the right way,” precinct delegate and Young Americans for Liberty State Chair Carter Kessl
