Very poorly planned…actually it seemed obvious there was no planning for this important event by the current GOP Leadership and staff. The only pre-convention materials sent to the elected delegate attending came from their District caucus chairman.
Registration was conducted outside of the building and was done in a smooth orderly fashion. Kudos go to the District's for being well organized and making registration effortless.
There was more activity going on in the front reception area! Candidates had impressive tables with literature, buttons, “T-Shirts”. The opportunity to meet many
Candidates and their staff was here! Folks had the chance to socialize with others they only see occasionally.
The program that was available providing the timeline of the days activities or agenda was not handed out or given to you as you entered the delegate area.
It would have been nice to have the “TARS”, Teenage Republicans standing in the reception area handing out programs. It would have been an opportunity to “Showcase” these teenagers, participate and given them an official task to perform. But that was absent! The only pre-convention materials sent to the elected delegate attending came from their District caucus chairman by e-mail.
But, once you entered the main auditorium you were on your own…..it was extremely disorganized and not one soul had a clue what was going on! Security had no answers nor were they informed of anything other than how to direct one to the restrooms!
There were no ushers inside directing delegates or alternates to their seats. They were
Showing videos of the University Campus and then old TV news clips of Obama to kill
Time.
There was not Rules Committee report given, which there should have been.
Chairman Morrissey's opening remarks should have been timed rather then listening to him pontificate on how we must beat Obama. Once the meeting opened, we were told they were running one (1) hour behind.
It would have been nice to see the name of the magnificent vocalist who sang our national anthem in a program. Rev. Wright, a powerful and eloquent orator, delivered the invocation.
The University President spoke for 25 minutes. He gave the history of the University.
The Governor of the Gila River Indian Community gave a speech and his support of Mitt Romney.
The inspiring speech given by our Governor was Awesome!
Josh Romney gave a very heartwarming speech about his mother and father, he had to pause several times, through the disgraceful scene made by the Ron Paul supporters. But he stayed on message and showed calm while they were booing him. Mitt Romney’s son did not deserve this. Disgusting to say the least. Chairman Morrissey should have told them to immediately leave or have the Sheriffs escort them out. We would never allowed it if it were Ron Paul’s Son. The Ron Paul Supporters are a duplicate for the WALL STREET Occupiers without tents! A disgraceful bunch.
There time taken up listening to listening to Sidney Hay…who went on and on...she had nothing to offer that we already didn’t know.
There was much anxiety from the audience, they were watching the clock, getting hungry and wanted to get on with the permanent business of the election. We had to break out into smaller groups go to the second level and find our new Congressional Districts. We had to elect one Delegate and one Alternate. This was just a waste of time. We had a head count and there were no ballots available. We sent someone downstairs to get the required amount of ballots for our district …41 ballots to be precise and they sent back 100. Then we had to repeat the same headcount for the alternate and spend more time getting the ballots. The wait time was over 40 minutes! People were frustrated and hungry.
There were people in the hallways complaining everywhere, leaving and going home.
Angry because they traveled, had long waits, no direction as to what to do, where to go and just fed up stating this was the worse convention they ever attended. It appeared to be
Dragged out deliberately.
Folks expected to eat in a cafeteria. They only food available was warmed soggy pizza.
Precooked hotdogs or brats and popcorn from the snack bar, or go out side and stand in line at two “Roach Coach’s”. That was it!. Today’s food presentation was a disaster to say the least. They should have hired a caterer to do an outdoor simple Bar-B- Q it would have been easier! DID Chairman Morrissey have a strategic planning committee, did they visit the site and check on food vendors for this size crowd? Who is responsible for all of this mess?
Around 3 PM we were back in the hall. Starting to get the election for delegates under way. Again…another time consuming disaster. There were prominent legislators, other elected officials and attorneys sitting with us and they to were bewildered, annoyed, angry because of the way things were not moving along in a timely manner and lack of guidance and direction. Who is running this dog and pony show were some of the comments, why am I here wasting my time on such a beautiful day, why no rules report, what is going on…does anyone have answers? The only person who seemed to have a claming effect and offered some explanation was Randy Pullen our former Chairman. Everyone was in his face to find out what was going on. One thing for sure, this never would have happened on Pullen’s watch! Pullen was there as a delegate as I was but yet,
EVERYONE looked to him for some guidance.
I finally voted for 31 delegates, first they told us only 20 then changed and we needed two ballots to accomplish this task. So one of the questions was..how will they know if you voted for 31 on each ballot instead of a combine 31 on 2 pages. We also had another ballot and were instructed to write in the names of who we wanted for National Committeeman and Woman. After this fiasco and it was a “FUBAR” for sure (Fuc--d up beyond any repair) we were told we would start on the alternate ballot. It was now 5PM.
I was stiff from sitting, I needed to get out of this room, I just wanted to cast my ballot and go home and forget today ever happened. Finally I went over to Randy Pullen and told him I was not feeling well and wanted to leave and could I just please cast my ballot.
He was kind enough with another gentleman to get the sear gent of arms to take my ballot and deposit it. My Gosh…it is not rocket science…we simply have no quality leadership at the “Helm”….time to jump ship…. We have no party…it exists in name only…this is a serious issue and needs to be dealt with!
I left at 5:30 PM, they were losing their quorum, the Paul supporters were cheering and they were unable to adjourn the meeting. I understand they were still there until after 10 P.M.! I’d like to know if this was a legal election, who and how the ballots were counted. I think everyone deserves and honest explanation. What happens next? Who monitored the counting of the ballots? The current leadership at the state GOP needs to be removed immediately, they lost control at this convention in front of many and I believe
More folks today are wondering about these issues as I am. Who runs our party? The Tea Party People, the Ron Paul Libertarians?
I have never in my life participated in such an incompetent… ill planned event; time to jump ship…. We have no party and we wonder why our state is at risk for turning BLUE!
