No GOP gathering planned

The Nevada Republican Party won't resume its unfinished state convention as scheduled at the end of this month, the party announced Thursday.

Party Chairwoman Sue Lowden said not enough RSVPs were received to reach a quorum, so the July 26 re-convention is canceled. Instead, officials said the party's executive board is likely to appoint the state's delegates to the Republican National Convention.

"We're very disappointed in the fact that not enough people took the time to fill out a self-addressed, stamped envelope and send it back to the party," said the state GOP's executive director, Zac Moyle. "I sincerely wish people would have given us an opportunity to reconvene."

He said the party got only about 525 responses, far below the 675 that would have been necessary to reach a quorum, even after extending the deadline by a week, to Monday.

Under the party's bylaws, the 12-member executive board is empowered to act on behalf of the central committee of party members, Moyle said. The board is scheduled to hold a teleconference the evening of July 25 and decide how to proceed. They probably will chose to accept the recommendation of the party's nominating committee for national delegates.

That slate of preferred delegates forced the state Republican convention off the rails.

The convention was held April 26 at the Peppermill Hotel Casino in Reno, but fell apart when a majority of the 1,347 delegates approved a change to the rules for electing the national convention representatives.

The rule change was championed primarily by supporters of presidential candidate Ron Paul, who said they wanted a more democratic process for selecting who got to go to the national convention, scheduled to be held the first week in September in St. Paul, Minn.

Rather than voting yes or no on a slate of national delegates pre-selected by the nominating committee, the new rule allowed anyone in attendance to run for the 31 national delegate slots in open elections.

Convention planners hadn't anticipated such a contingency and were unsure how to proceed. Around 6 p.m., the convention's chairman, state Sen. Bob Beers, declared a recess, saying there wasn't enough time to finish the voting.

A vocal faction composed mostly of Paul supporters believe they were shut out by the party establishment. The dissidents convened their own gathering in Reno on June 28, attracting about 300 people.

Wayne Terhune, the Sparks dentist who led the rogue convention, said he was "not surprised" by news the party was calling off the convention.

"We figured all along they were not serious about reconvening," he said. On April 26, "delegate selection for the national convention wasn't going the way the people running the party wanted it to go. Instead of allowing delegates to be elected fairly, they shut it down. ... They decided to obtain by another means what they wanted."

Terhune acknowledged that he and his allies did not RSVP to the July 26 reconvention. They believe the April 26 convention was recessed illegally, because the recess was not voted upon, and the June 28 rump convention was the real convention, he said.

The June 28 conventioneers believe they reached a legal quorum because they don't believe the April 26 convention properly credentialed its delegates. They are appealing their case to the Republican National Committee and may take legal action, Terhune said.

The RNC has indicated it would leave delegate selection in the hands of the state party.

Mike Weber, a Northern Nevada Assembly candidate and longtime party activist who is not a Paul supporter but has championed their cause, accused the state party of "a total violation of the rules."

"It was very apparent to me that they had no intention of letting any legitimate convention stand unless they controlled it," he said.

"We have a group of people who consider themselves better than everyone else, and they want to usurp authority from the conservative grass roots."

The result, Weber said, is "not good for the health of the party."

Paul, a Texas congressman who has ended his presidential campaign, came in second in Nevada's Jan. 19 presidential caucuses, behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney but ahead of the presumptive nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Romney and Paul spoke at the April 26 convention.

Moyle said if people really wanted to see a fair delegate election process, they should have RSVPed to the re-convention.

"People have complained that their rights are being taken away or that they felt disenfranchised," he said. "If they really felt that way, they could have responded and said they wanted to reconvene. I couldn't be more frustrated and disappointed. We've been extremely open about what we've done."

Moyle said there was no doubt Nevada would send a delegation to the national convention.

"Nevada will have a full delegation and they will be seated," he said. "We know that. We're confident in that. What we wanted to be able to do was to hold this convention and show we were sincere, and we are disappointed not to have the opportunity to do that."

He said the June 28 rogue convention officially has "no status whatsoever."

Party officials would not disclose the list of 31 delegates and 31 alternates drawn up by the nominating committee. The committee's chairman, Doug Mathews of Stateline, said he didn't want to put those on the list at risk of being harassed.

Committee member Howard Hirsch, chairman of the Lyon County GOP, said the nominating committee didn't ask applicants which presidential candidate they supported.

"We looked for people who would represent a cross-section of the Nevada Republican Party," he said. "We were just looking for level of commitment and history of party involvement."

Hirsch said he was disappointed the committee has been battered with accusations of bad faith when longtime party members were trying to welcome the Paul supporters into the fold.

University of Nevada, Reno, political scientist Eric Herzik said the whole affair has been somewhat embarrassing for the state's Republicans but is unlikely to have further consequences.

Most Paul supporters came from outside the Republican ranks and were unlikely to vote for McCain, Herzik said.

"It's not a good thing for Nevada Republicans, but most of the damage has already been done. Is anybody really going to care when all the balloons drop in Minneapolis? No."

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.