….and voted off the island at The Draft tonite.
So tonite was the Merrimack County Republican Committee meeting and given what happened Monday night, I wanted to report on what people would be talking about, so I drove down (spent a while trying to find a parking spot)
Sidenote; Andy and Laurie, you gotta get some more parking spots!! Heh!
and went upstairs to see that the meeting was already in progress. I quietly went to the back and set up my camera. Surprise – apparently some people weren’t all that appreciative that media was there. Or some Democrat tracker, 0r that it was me / GraniteGrok (I had to laugh, I’ve only been wearing that “meeting attire” of a ‘Grok shirt, cap, and vest for HOW many years now?). Either way, it was a bit surreal thing to hears several calls that “he helps elect Democrats” (along with some derisive “that Granite Grok”) as well – I laughed. I do admit that we all try to get BETTER Republicans elected – if there is a Republican that is voting more like a Democrat, that’s what a primary is for and we take full advantage of that….but really, helping the Dems? Only if one believes the meme of “anybody with an R next to their name IS a good Republican” and that NEVER should one Republican attack another? Sorry, we don’t believe that – for if you believe that anything is possible, well, you may find Rs voting like Ds and acting AGAINST the Republican Party Principles (and too bad if it is your friend).
Well, it certainly felt like was a bit of payback time for our pitchfork times by some who haven’t like the idea that we at the ‘Grok don’t accept that meme.
Yeah, we who try hard in defending the Party Platform (and the “brand”) with Flashlights are extremists and the bad guys – go figure that “we try to elect Dems”.
So a discussion ensued with calls to set a policy right then and there about recording meetings (apparently, none of them had thought about this technology this far into the 21st Century). Somebody even brought up “wiretapping” statute (er, the camera tripod is not exactly small – as one wag brought up, it has to be “surreptitiously” . It was rather interesting to listen to a group of Republicans whose Platform is all about “Expand openness and transparency to employment, expenditures and all recipients of taxpayers’ funds” in government was discussing how not to be such in an R meeting. Two ladies in particular got upset when they demanded I take the camera down during the discussion – and I refused. And they walked out. One was recognized – Betsy Miller, Executive Director / Government Relations Counsel at the NH Association of Counties.
Sidenote: You gotta love it – a advocate group, paid for by the counties (er, our taxes?) so that one level of Government can go lobby another one. Yeah, just the thing to make Government more “limited”, eh? And movement Conservative Republicans wonder why it seems all but impossible to shrink the size and intrusiveness of Government?
I will say that Seth Cohn came to my defense, stating that while I and the Grok excoriate Republicans who act badly, we also THANK Republicans when they do the right things (funny how some people never seem to notice that!). While there was that whining about setting a policy right then and there (and do you really HAVE to guess how that spur of the moment thinking was going to turn out?), a call for a vote was accepted instead (I still will take the bet on how that policy-to-be-made-in-the-future will turn out) and Dan McGuire called for a secret ballot. By a vote of 13-6, the camera was voted off the island. Which meant me as well.
Open and transparent. Now, to be sure (and truthful), even though the work level was high yet again, I did catch this from Grokster Susan from earlier today:
and heading to the Merrimack County Republican Committee meeting tonight carrying a letter of “no confidence’ from my local committee
and given the uproar from the Coos County “No Confidence” made, I thought that a perfect thing to report on IF indeed there was a general discussion. Alas, it was not to be. At least, not reported in video. Yet ask yourself:
if two widely separated (by distance) groups are having such similar trepidations, and given the almost 50-50% split about the underlying philosophy of NH GOP of what is important, shouldn’t this be an open discussion?
Even if the Dems hear it, do you REALLY think that they don’t have a clue about this? C’mon, not all of them are LIVs.
And so, Seth was prescient….
