Who’s up for buying some delegates?

Source: HotAir
Published: Apr 4, 2016
Author: Jazz Shaw
Post Date: 2016-04-04 13:21:08 by Tooconservative
Views: 1890

Over the weekend we saw a lot of praise for Ted Cruz and his team’s savvy negotiations in North Dakota which resulted in many delegates being selected who were favorably inclined toward the Texas senator. But how exactly did that happen? We already know that, much like the case in Colorado, the voters were not allowed to weigh in on the delegate selection process. There was also some horse trading going on in Tennessee when some delegates put forward by Donald Trump were dropped off the list of those who would be going to Cleveland, replaced by people noted to be “anti-Trump” in their attitudes. (They still have to vote for Trump on the first two ballots, but after that they are free to abandon him and side with the candidate of their choice.) Not far off on the horizon is Pennsylvania, where the latest polls have Trump at 47%, but insiders in the Keystone State are already predicting that Cruz could clean up there with a huge slug of delegates. Again, Pennsylvania Republicans will have no say in who their delegates vote for.

All of this must have some newer observers wondering how this all works. How does one get delegates on their side if they aren’t bound by the will of the voters? I mean, you can’t just buy them, can you? As CNN reports this week, it’s not really that crazy of an idea.

Buying votes is illegal. But, it turns out, buying delegates might not be.

This summer’s Republican National Convention is shaping up to be an all-out brawl for every delegate’s vote — and legally, that could mean plying some of them with gifts, experts say.

There are federal and state laws prohibiting bribery of elected officials — and restrictions on campaigns themselves — but there isn’t much on the books governing what private citizens serving as delegates at their parties’ conventions can take in exchange for their votes on a nominating ballot. And in a fight between Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich and perhaps an alternative not currently in the race, every delegate vote will matter.

This is a parallel situation to the question of how the parties organize their primary elections as compared to public elections for office seekers. There are strict rules and harsh penalties which come into play when you’re talking about an actual election, whether it’s for the presidency or your local village council. But the political parties are private clubs with the winners of these “elections” not being actual office holders who are answerable to the public. They’re just nominees, so the rules are far less intrusive.

This is clearly already on the minds of the candidates. When asked about this sort of wheeling and dealing, Trump adviser Barry Bennett said, “There’s obviously a big line — we’re not going to do anything immoral, illegal or unethical.”

Obviously.

But if you want to pretend these conversations aren’t taking place in the Cruz and Kasich camps, well… I’d love to know what color the sky is in your world. The campaigns are allowed to provide travel expenses, deliver “gifts” and make promises of future meetings and events in the home states of the delegates. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck you can all it an eagle all day long but you’re not going to be inspiring much confidence in the voters.

When we get to the finish line, this nomination could come down to a matter of less than a dozen delegates by some estimates. That’s just a smidgen of more than 2,400, and hundreds of them will not be bound to the will of the voters in their home states. Are they “up for sale” at this point? That’s probably a bit too cruel and overstated, but whatever the campaigns have cooking on the stove right now likely won’t smell very good to the rank and file Republicans around the country, no matter who they support. It’s time to fix this process at the national, state and local levels before it turns into even more of an embarrassment.

Poster Comment:

In case you weren't already disgusted enough with how conventions really work...

Note the link to the article about Cruz cleaning up with PA's 54 unbound delegates, none of them selected by the PA voters, similar to North Dakota.

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#1: Tooconservative    To: All (#0)

More convention minutiae from WaPo:

Trump has no reason to grouse about a contested convention. He entered the race knowing the rules and the requirement to get a majority of the delegates. He is not entitled to win with a plurality, and in fact, the Republican National Committee rules loosen up delegates in successive rounds precisely to give those without a plurality every chance to win over the convention. (The Wall Street editorial board explains, “If the first ballot doesn’t produce a majority, nearly 80% of the delegates then become free to vote for the nominee of their choice on the second ballot. By the third ballot, 89.4% are free to choose. This gradual liberation is designed to prevent a stalemate and let the delegates work their will to coalesce eventually around the best nominee. This isn’t cheating or ‘stealing the nomination.’ It’s how the process is supposed to work.”) If Trump marches out (please, please let it be so!), he will find getting on the ballot as an independent at that late day an expensive and perhaps logistically impossible task.

Tooconservative posted on 2016-04-04 13:28:21   Reply   Private Reply

#2: Fred Mertz    To: TooConservative (#0)

Fred Mertz posted on 2016-04-04 13:28:58   Reply   Private Reply

#3: tomder55    To: TooConservative (#0)

Sounds like the kind of horse trading that routinely goes on in the halls of Congress.

tomder55 posted on 2016-04-04 13:41:16   Reply   Private Reply

#4: Vicomte13    To: TooConservative (#0)

I mean, you can’t just buy them, can you? As CNN reports this week, it’s not really that crazy of an idea.

Well, then, let's just get on with it. The Republicans are all about unregulated free-market capitalism and free trade, and the RNC is pulling out all stops to grab Trump's delegates.

If everybody's going to play that way, then Trump can just whip out his checkbook and draw on his ten billions to but the election.

If the Kochs and Bushes and others want to pony up in a bidding war...to install WHOM? CRUZ? They hate Cruz! Jeb!? Please.

Vicomte13 posted on 2016-04-04 13:48:56   Reply   Private Reply

#5: Tooconservative    To: Vicomte13 (#4)

If everybody's going to play that way, then Trump can just whip out his checkbook and draw on his ten billions to but the election.

But Trump is cheap. He never pulls out that moldy checkbook. You guys all talk about it but all Trump does is fly around to big rallies on his plane and chopper. He doesn't hire the campaign pros to lock in his delegates, do GOTV efforts, etc. Trump has left votes and delegates on the table ever since Iowa.

I predict that if there are delegates to be bought, Cruz will have plenty of backing to bid higher than Trump will go.

Tooconservative posted on 2016-04-04 13:51:40   Reply   Private Reply

#6: Hondo68    To: TooConservative (#0)

Hillary will buy a bunch of Trump delegates, since he's the easiest to beat.

The Trumpkins are ready for Hillary.

Hondo68 posted on 2016-04-04 13:52:02   Reply   Private Reply

#7: Tooconservative    To: tomder55 (#3)

Sounds like the kind of horse trading that routinely goes on in the halls of Congress.

Well, it's illegal in Congress.

You could actually have tycoons sending suitcases full of $100 bills in cash right onto the convention floor in front of the cameras, just buying delegates outright. And you couldn't do a thing about it. That's because the political parties really are private clubs. And the courts stay out of it as much as possible.

Tooconservative posted on 2016-04-04 13:53:41   Reply   Private Reply

#8: Tooconservative    To: Fred Mertz (#2)

If I were a delegate, I think I could be bought with a weekend with Mary Ann or Ginger.

Would you settle for Carly Fiorina?     : )

Tooconservative posted on 2016-04-04 13:56:09   Reply   Private Reply

#9: Roscoe    To: TooConservative (#8)

Would you settle for Carly Fiorina?

Cruz already bought her.

Roscoe posted on 2016-04-04 13:57:14   Reply   Private Reply

#10: Vicomte13    To: TooConservative (#5)

I predict that if there are delegates to be bought, Cruz will have plenty of backing to bid higher than Trump will go.

I'm ok with that. Seeing the whole Republican structure mobilize against Trump for saying what I believe - about Russia, about military policy, about trade, about abortion - I realize that there is no one single thing, not a single policy with which I agree with the Republicans anymore, and there is not a single subject on which I trust them to be better governors or even to be more honest than Democrats.

Vicomte13 posted on 2016-04-04 14:04:57   Reply   Private Reply