Republican Party Rules McConnell Censures "Out of Order"
On June 1, 2023, the Republican Party of Jessamine County (RPJC) took a series of actions to respond to the Republican Party of Kentucky (RPK) and its decision that Robert's Rules of Order prohibits formal censure of a politician who is not a member of the local county party that publishes the censure.
WILMORE, Ky., June 8, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- On June 1, 2023, the Republican Party of Jessamine County (RPJC) adopted a series of steps to respond to the Republican Party of Kentucky's decision that ruled the RPJC July 22, 2022, censure resolution of Mitch McConnell was "out of order". In response, the RPJC passed the following motions:
1. To approve the draft "Declaration of Reprimand" which reprimands and severely disapproves of Mitch McConnell.
2. To affirm and NOT rescind the censure document of July 20, 2022 and to challenge the decision of the Republican Party of Kentucky (RPK) ruling censures of politicians "out of order".
3. To re-elect Bob Barney as spokesperson for the County Committee on the matter of the censure and subsequent formal "Declaration of Reprimand" of Senator Mitch McConnell.
4. To approve the June 2, 2023 draft letter to Chairman Mac Brown of the Republican Party of Kentucky expressing the county's serious disapproval of the RPK decision that ruled the censure of Mitch McConnell is/was "out of order".
5. To approve the June 2, 2023 draft letter to the Republican National Committee in support of the Hardin County Appeal regarding the RPK decision that a censure was "out of order" unless an individual is a member of the group publishing the censure.
6. To Approve the Draft Press Release of June 6, 2023.
All of the above related documents have now been published at http://www.censuremitch.com.
Barney explained, "It is extremely important that the RNC not allow the decision of the RPK to stand. If it does, they are agreeing with the RPK that the RNC's own censures of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger were out of order. Remaining silent means the RNC is also agreeing that other censures of Republican politicians who betray the platform of the Republican Party are also "out of order."
On July 22, 2022, the Republican Party of Jessamine County censured Mitch McConnell for his vote to support the "Bipartisan Safer Communities Act." The Democrat authored bill provided 750 million dollars to states that adopted red flag laws. McConnell's support and vote for that bill rankled Jessamine County's Republicans who let their unhappiness be known by censuring McConnell and widely publishing their censure. Subsequently 8 other counties passed their own censures for the same reason.
The most recent of the nine censures was by Hardin County who passed their censure by majority vote over the vigorous opposition of their former chair. The chair then filed a formal complaint with the 2nd District of the Republican Party of Kentucky against her own county party's action. The 2nd District ignored the rationale set out by the chair for why the censure was out of order, admitted nothing in the rules of the RPK prohibited censure, but then went on to construct the argument that censures are prohibited by Robert's Rules of Order.
Robert's Rules of Order are the rules for conducting meetings that virtually all political and business organization are governed by, including both the Republican and Democrat parties.
Barney noted, "Even Mitch McConnell, considered by some a brilliant parliamentarian, didn't come up with that bizarre argument when he objected to the RNC censures of Cheney and Kinzinger. The 2nd district constructed this argument out of thin air and now the RPK has signed on to this nonsense. As a Republican, it's embarrassing to see such behavior."
Following the 2nd District ruling against Hardin County, the county appealed to the RPK, which upheld the 2nd District decision. The effect of that ruling was to render all nine counties censures "out of order".
Barney added, "I am shocked to the degree to which the RPK is willing to pervert Robert's Rules of Order to protect Mitch McConnell even when he betrays the party platform's position on the Second Amendment. They have made McConnell's efforts to abridge our Second Amendment rights even worse by now making their own effort to abridge our First Amendment rights."
Barney does not expect the RPK to change its position without assistance from the RNC. With that in mind, he is determined to campaign vigorously until the RNC examines the situation and makes their own ruling.
Media Contact
Robert L. Barney, Jessamine County Republican Party, 1 8598589030, [email protected]
SOURCE Jessamine County Republican Party
Share this article