(Chuck Muth) – A rather remarkable resolution adopted by the Clark County Republican Party executive committee on Monday calls on Nevada Republican State Senate Minority Leader Bill Raggio to resign his leadership position over his endorsement of Democrat Sen. Harry Reid in the U.S. Senate race against Republican challenger Sharron Angle.
“Sen. Raggio’s action in supporting Harry Reid for re-election leaves the county and state parties in an intolerable situation,” the resolution states.
“While we all recognize the right of individual party members to voice their own political opinions according to the dictates of their conscience, the party cannot function and hope to achieve its goals if one of the most senior and critical elected officials within the party chooses to endorse one of the two leading electoral candidates of the opposition party.
“For the party to have any relevance and to live up to the expectations and moral responsibilities to its members, there must be consequences to the actions of Republican office-holders who fail to uphold their political obligations.”
The full detailed resolution noted that Sen. Raggio “chose on October 8th of this year to betray his allegiance to the party of which he is a senior leader and endorse the Democratic nominee for United States Senate.”
Furthermore, the resolution states that Raggio’s endorsement of Reid came from his “personal animus” towards Angle which “trump(ed) his professional self control and his political obligations to well over a quarter-million Nevada Republicans.” It then points out that Sen. Raggio “had the alternative option of quietly withholding his support for Sharron Angle and chose not to exercise that option.”
“The leadership of any political party must demonstrate both the modesty of their own character and their respect for the will of the people by supporting the free and democratic choices of their party members while they still enjoy the honor of a leadership role,” the resolution states.
In addition, the resolution laments that “Nevada Republicans have been tested to their limits of their patience by (Sen. Raggio’s) repeated legislative maneuvers and machinations that repeatedly violate both the letter and spirit of one convention platform after another of both state and county Republican parties.”
“Therefore be it resolved,” the resolution concludes, “the executive board of the Clark County Republican Party calls on Sen. Raggio to perform the sole remaining act of honor and dignity left to him and to resign from his leadership role as Nevada Senate Minority Leader.”
Yowza.
This is a pretty impressive document. It’s well-written, dignified, respectful….and dead-on balls accurate.
It’s also an unmistakable sign that Republican grassroots foot-soldiers are no longer prepared to accept the tail wagging the dog. If you want to call yourself a Republican and run as a Republican, well by golly, you better act like a Republican. Especially if you’re a Republican leader.
Or else.
Conservative and GOP activists apparently will no longer sit by, biting their tongues, as elected officials undercut the party’s core philosophical beliefs in Carson City. The days of you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours-plus-give-you-a-full-body-massage-flowers-and-a-box-of-chocolates bipartisanship (meaning Democrats get the gold mine; Republicans get the shaft) are o…ver.
Kudos to Chairman Ricotta and his executive board for taking this long overdue, highly deserving, well-handled step in bringing about a little more party discipline and leadership to the GOP’s operations.
By George, I thinks these chaps might just have taken the first step to rebuilding. Onward….
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