The Cleveland County GOP (the CC Republican Party under the guidelines of the North Carolina GOP and CCGOP By-lays (which nobody at the county and state level pay any attention to) are holding their “Convention” this coming Saturday. March 4th, 2023. At the LeGrand Center which is on the campus of Cleveland Community College.
Registration starts at 9:30 AM and ends at 10:30 AM. Be sure to get there during this time as the doors are closed and locked at 10:30 AM.
Also, be sure to bring a $10 bill or a $10 check made out to the CCGOP as the Cleveland County Republicans always charge admission to these kinds of things. It is THEIR way of raising money without doing any work. More insidiously, it is a way for the elitist crowd amongst them to help keep out the rank and file working class people that registered with the Board of Elections as Republican who might find it difficult to hand out a $10 bill for this kind of foolishness. As well as waste a good part of a Saturday.
The agenda and timeframe go like this:
9:30-10:30 PM Registration
10:30-11:00 PM Precinct Meetings
11:00-12:30 PM Convention
This is exactly what the Official CCGOP Press Release says: (typo and all)
The Cleveland County GOP Convention is set for Saturday, March 4, 2023, at the LeGrand Center, 1800 East Marion Street, Shelby, NC 28152. Convention registration will begin at 9:30 am and will last until 10:30 am. Only those Republicans registered with the Board of Elections as of January 31, 2023, are eligible to attend as delegates. All verified Republicans who have paid the $10 Convention fee by the closing of registration can attend the Precinct meetings that begin at 10:30 am. Once the Precinct meetings are concluded the actual with the CCGOP Convention will begin at 11:00 am. The Convention will include speakers and the election of party leadership.
Robert A recommends that us normal Republican folks like you and me, who took the insults from the last batch of CCGOP party leaders with us to the 2022 School Board Primary and General Elections to totally destroy the Rogue Republican’s nasty scheme to get rid of Danny Blanton and Ronnie Grigg in those elections, attend this 2023 CCGOP Convention. Let’s nominate and elect an entirely NEW set of Republicans with some sense to the CCGOP leadership this time around. Let’s get totally rid of the Dennis Bailey, Robert Queen, Wes Westmoreland, David Allen, Ron Humphries, Joel Shores, Kevin Whisnant cabal and their allies, once and for all. The old fashion way. Vote them all out and seek to get them all off the Executive Committee while we are at it. Their 2022 Election shenanigans that caused such a rift in the CCGOP must never be allowed to happen again.
But Robert A has a word of caution. Voting the “right way” is one thing. Getting the votes counted the “right way” is quite another thing. Robert A and others, close to twenty years ago, were witness to what certainly appeared to be a CCGOP voter fraud at a CCGOP Convention. Robert A vowed to never attend another CCGOP convention, until now. Others still refuse. Much more recent scuttlebutt is that the CCGOP Convention vote counting is still highly suspect. So, keep your eyes wide open and demand accountability. Right from the git-go.
Another bit of info is that the incumbent Rogues had set up a nominating committee for this convention. But when the hand-picked committee refused to go along with nominating Kevin Whisnant, the nominating committee was disbanded in favor of nominating from the floor. Which means the Rogues are likely to re-nominate their set of rogues to stay in power.
What must happen is other good candidates must be nominated and the attendees vote for the good candidates in sufficient numbers to defeat the Rogues. Sherry Yocum from WeRCC is a name that I have heard mentioned for the CCGOP Chairman. Robert A does not know Sherry Yocum personally, but she comes highly recommended. Robert A’s “litmus test” is whether or not the candidate is a solid Trump supporter. The Rogues appear to all be Trump “haters.” So, a Trump supporter would be a change for the better. Especially in this upcoming 2024 Primary elections are only a year away.
The bottom line is this. The 2022 School Board Election showed that good candidates can soundly defeat the Rogue Republicans every time, even though it split the CCGOP all to pieces. The 2024 Elections though, are too important for the Rogues’ juvenile dirty tricks. The Rogues hold five School board seats and they must ALL be replaced with good Republicans in the 2024 Elections. Three Rogue supported Commissioners must also be replaced in the 2024 Elections. So, good Republicans must be recruited for these offices and the voters will make their decisions without giving a whit about the CCGOP’s history of dirty tricks. It is the filling of vacancies that are important. No more Robert Queen type fiascos on the CCC Board of Trustees and lying his way onto the School Board is acceptable.
Stay tuned folks for any updates.