Dilemma in Otter Tail County; Will MNGOP REMOVE Delegates Again?

Grassroots, conservatives are rising up all across the state of Minnesota to take politics out of the hands of swampy Republican do-nothings, and return the power back to ‘We the People.’ One of the most active spots in Minnesota where this is happening is in Otter Tail County, a rural county hours northwest of the Twin Cities.

Last year, Action 4 Liberty reported how the Establishment in the Otter Tail County RPM (Republican Party of MN) removed 33 duly elected delegates from participating in their county convention, and the MNGOP did nothing to stop them. Despite the Establishment delivering a blow to the conservatives’ efforts last year, they organized and showed up in mass to the February 27th precinct caucuses.

Otter Tail County held caucuses in two locations: Perham and Fergus Falls. At the Perham caucus location, the grassroots, conservatives threw out the designated convening chair and replaced him with one of their own by a vote of 183 to 39, according to several of our sources who were in attendance. In other words, conservatives were extremely successful at organizing and driving their people to take back their local party.

There was also a debate over the Otter Tail County RPM’s special caucus registration forms (blue form below) that differed from the state party’s version. Many viewed it as a way to later remove duly elected delegates by a technicality.

Currently, the Otter Tail County RPM is being used as a depository for lobbyists and special interest groups to dump their money in so that it goes out to the Establishment’s preferred candidates. In Otter Tail County RPM’s most recent campaign finance disclosure forms, $6,000 was given to Senator Jordan Rasmussen before his next re-election bid and $12,000 was bundled up and given to the House Republican Campaign Committee (HRCC) that has a track record of working against GOP endorsed, conservative candidates.

The Fergus Falls Journal reports that the MNGOP top brass had an emergency meeting to deal with the rise up of conservatives who threw out the convening chair and change the registration forms. The debate over the forms was contentious in both the Perham and Fergus Falls locations. Since caucuses are run at the precinct level, they are the most basic, fundamental grassroots organizing event in the state and are meant for the people in the precincts, not those at the top of the political party apparatus, to determine matters.

In the article, MNGOP political director, Anna Mathews, is quoted saying: “This new convener, who was elected by the caucus, didn’t follow the appropriate legal requirements for the caucus. So essentially the whole thing got messed up and devolved from there,” and alluded to uncertainty if any delegates were elected on caucus night in Otter Tail County.

Nathan Miller, who attended the caucus in Fergus Falls, actually spoke to MNGOP Chair David Hann on the phone, and according to Miller, Hann discussed the likelihood of “decertifying” all delegates who were elected on caucus night in Otter Tail County.

This would be the biggest anti-grassroots move ever by the MNGOP if they don’t acknowledge the over one hundred conservative delegates who were duly elected that evening. Where this becomes a big deal is those delegates determine which legislators to give the Republican endorsement to and weigh in on who to endorse in the Congressional matchup between Rep Michelle Fischbach and Steve Boyd.

There’s obviously a lot of tensions between the local party leadership and the grassroots, conservatives, but there’s an easy solution. The MNGOP should accept both the blue and official state party registration forms and take the will of the precincts on who was elected as a delegate that night. Problem solved. But it doesn’t seem like that’s the route they are taking.

We’ll keep you posted on the developments of this story.