New bylaw proposals had to be submitted to the NHGOP by midnight last night. This year the controversial “proposal” (there’s always one or two) was a change to the Republican Party Neutrality law. The existing rule prohibits party officers from endorsing or backing any candidate with a primary. The change (were it approved by the voting members of the caucus) would require officers to support an incumbent Republican President in any primary challenge.
WMUR is reporting that Fred Doucette and Bruce Bretton opted not to submit the suggested change.
State Rep. Fred Doucette of Salem and fellow pro-Trump activist Bruce Breton of Windham have told WMUR in a statement that they are confident that new NHGOP leaders to be elected in late January will strongly and actively support the president and his agenda.
When Neutral isn’t Neutral
I get why they wanted to propose it. Anyone who has spent any time peering inside the party knows that the neutrality rule is a trap. That there is a good bit of backstabbing and undermining of Republican candidates by the very sort of folks who objected to the proposed change.
The drafted change was opposed by anti-Trump elements of the state Republican Party, including some who are hoping that Ohio Gov. John Kasich enters the 2020 presidential race.
In their shared statement Breton and Doucette observe that,
“These conversations discussed the lack of coordinated, enthusiastic and steadfast support for Republican candidates in the state of New Hampshire, as well as the lack of public support for the incumbent President of the United States.”
They added: “Wholesale changes in the NHGOP leadership must and will be made in the coming weeks. With this in mind, we will not pursue any bylaw changes at this annual convention.”
We take a lot of crap for putting unprincipled Republicans in the woodshed. Fair enough. But we do it because they are selling themselves on a brand whose principles they openly oppose. Ideals they actively work to undermine.
The folks Doucette and Breton refer to are working to handicap Republicans who follow the platform by which their party has chosen to stand.
It is a distinction with a difference.
Can anyone give it teeth?
The change to the neutrality rule was obviously an effort to bring the problem to the fore. That leadership needs to enforce the existing bylaws according to the rules with the support of the caucus.
If the State Committee manages to elected officers with that inclination the change to the neutrality rule is unnecessary. And that appears to be why Breton and Doucette decided to drop it. New leadership in the offing. Let’s see what they can do.
We’ll know the next chapter in this story in a few weeks. The Republican Party annual meeting is at Pinkerton Academy in Derry beginning at 9 a.m. on Jan. 26.
GraniteGrok is planning to be there if they’ll allow it. We are still waiting for approval. Guess why?
