Angleton and Brazosport Republican Women’s clubs held a political forum this past weekend and invited all candidates for the upcoming elections to speak. Ron Paul chose not to attend, but Bruce Bolock asked to speak for Mr. Paul at the meeting (Mr. Bolock is the leader of the Brazoria County Campaign for Liberty… ie -Ron Paul’s political group). This request was denied because the floor was only open to candidates who were present. Although visibly angry, Mr. Bolock did not protest for long. Members of my family actually have had personal experience with the less than cordial attitude of Mr. Bolock, but that is not the real issue here. Bruce Bolock’s actions are the issue. He will do anything, even try to circumvent the will of the people (and the constitution I dare say) in order to push his candidate. He epitomizes what is wrong with the Ron Paul Campaign. As my evidence I provide the following letter from the District 14 Electoral College Elector for the 2008 Presidential election, Judge Gordon Starkenburg. I encourage everyone to disseminate this letter to everyone you know.
Group of Paul supporters attempt to dilute the election.
In 2008, Ron Paul supporters from Brazoria County, Texas, petitioned and attempted to pressure Gordon Starkenburg, the official Elector from Congressional District 14 to cast the electoral vote in the Electoral College for Ron Paul instead of Senator John McCain who won the popular vote against Senator Barack Obama.
The Electoral College, by which the U.S. President is chosen, is a mechanism established by the U. S. Constitution to ensure that the votes of each state go to the candidate who wins that state. One citizen, called an Elector, is chosen by each political party at its state convention in each Congressional District to serve as an Elector for that district.
I (Gordon) had the honor of being elected as the US District 14 Electoral College Elector for the 2008 Presidential Election. My election took place at the 2008 Republican State Convention with the voters being the delegates to the State Convention from District 14. I had NO opposition in that election and my commitment to the delegation was to cast my Electoral Vote for the PEOPLE’S Choice in the November, 2008 General Election. The PEOPLE of Texas voted for John McCain to be President in the November, 2008 General Election. Senator McCain was the VOTER’S Choice, as McCain received 64.3% of the vote in Brazoria County and I was committed to follow the VOTER’S will and cast my electoral vote for John McCain.
Just prior to my trip to Austin to cast my Electoral College vote on December 15, 2008 a man named Bruce Bolock, a current candidate for Brazoria County Republican Chair (running against incumbent Yvonne Dewey), showed up at my residence with signed petitions. The petitions had 245 names from people mostly from the Angleton, Brazoria, Clute, Danbury, Freeport, Lake Jackson, and Sweeny areas. Although 67,444 (64.3%) of the voters in Brazoria County voted for John McCain in the November, 2008 General election, these 245 folks petitioned that I NOT vote the will of the people and vote for Ron Paul. Needless to say, I voted the will of the people for US District 14 and cast the Electoral Vote for John McCain.
However, I did wonder if Ron Paul was aware of what these 245 people were doing in his name since their actions were to circumvent the Electoral College which is an important part of the U.S. Constitution that I have heard him profess to defend.
It appears that the goal of a small group of Ron Paul supporters (please note that I did not say this is organized by or supported by all of Ron Paul supporters) but this small group wants to take over enough County Parties to assure that delegates to any Republican Party Conventions are ruled by this small group. Their documented actions with me indicate their desire to obtain Electoral Votes that will NOT vote the will of the VOTERS but will instead cast Electoral Votes based on the will of this small group. This type of political mischief could result in a very negative result in 2012. If this group secures up to twenty Electoral College voters via this takeover process, the Republican Electoral Vote could be hijacked. For example: Our hope and goal is to have a Wonderful, Conservative Candidate for President. If this candidate is not Ron Paul or someone that this group approves of, this group is known by firsthand experience to push for a protest vote. The result could very likely be that the Republican Candidate appears to win on Election night, but a surprise victory is gained in the Electoral College by current President Obama due to the Paul ‘Protest Votes’.
Republicans, this may sound far out but it is a real threat. Now is NOT the time to divide the Republican Party. Now is the time to seek Conservatives, work for them and whoever wins the Primary Vote, support the Republican Candidate! If the outcome is NOT to your liking, then start looking for a better candidate for the next primary. Do not dilute the Republican Party in the General Election or the Electoral College just to make your Protest Vote. If you do, All Conservatives lose and that is bad for our Country.
Please consider our current political landscape and stay involved.
Thank you - Gordon Starkenburg - Brazoria County Texas
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Thanks to both of you for the information. I know Judge Starkenburg to be an honest man of integrity, and I will pass on the word.
Thank you Linda.
I agree with your opinion of Ron Paul and his supporters. Paul only ran as a Republican because he couldn’t get elected as a Libertarian.
Four years ago I contributed $500.00 to his campaign. I wish I could get it back. He was an embarrassment in the presidential debates.
Thanks for your comments William. Please pass on this letter to all your friends to get the word out. There are some good conservative candidates running against Mr. Paul in the Republican primary March 2nd.
There is nothing illegal, unconstitutional, or immoral about petitioning an electoral college delegate to cast a vote contrary to the popular vote, and it has happened before. In fact, such actions follow the spirit of the creation of the electoral college in the first place. While Mr. Bolock was merely hoping that a point would be made by casting a protest vote (the point being that John McCain in no way represents the planks of the Republican party), the original intent of the electoral college was to guard against the manipulation of popular opinion in a Presidential election. This could be done by a tyrant or foreign government, or other malicious groups. It could be debated that manipulation of the public occurs frequently, with our modern, left-controlled mass media. Regardless of the methods of manipulation, the electoral college was created as a buffer to make sure only a well informed, educated group of people directly elect the President. In early elections, the popular vote wasn’t even tallied on a national level. The popular vote was basically considered a straw poll, with electoral college delegates selected by the local elections, and in many cases by the state legislatures.
Hamilton, from the Federalist Papers:
It was equally desirable, that the immediate election should be made by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice. A small number of persons, selected by their fellow-citizens from the general mass, will be most likely to possess the information and discernment requisite to such complicated investigations. It was also peculiarly desirable to afford as little opportunity as possible to tumult and disorder. This evil was not least to be dreaded in the election of a magistrate, who was to have so important an agency in the administration of the government as the President of the United States. But the precautions which have been so happily concerted in the system under consideration, promise an effectual security against this mischief.
Chuck -
You are correct in that there is nothing illegal about what Mr. Bolock did, but that does not make it right. As you can see in the letter, the majority of the people in the district (and specifically from where the signatures came from) voted for John McCain in the primary. (what if very small groups such as this one did this all over the country?) The primary argument you are using is that the people do not understand (are not smart enough to know) what is best for them so we are going to do whats best for them in spite of the way they vote. That is the exact same argument liberals make for trying to pass health care. That is actually almost word for word what Elizabeth Edwards said publicly. I would consider the Ron Paul group the malicious group in this case. Their methods of manipulation and disruption are disgraceful. And I am not just talking about this one particular incident, you have to look at the whole picture of what they do and how they do it.
Also I might add that the way things were done in this country’s early years had a lot to do with our communication capabilities to inform the general public. The ability to be informed on the individual candidates and the ability to vote is not hindered by these things anymore.
Please do not change my words around, I did not argue that the people are not smart enough to know what’s going on. The people most definitely do know what is best for them, when they are well-informed, moral people. But thanks to our liberal-controlled mass media and government schools, most do not have enough information to make a well informed decision. How else can you explain a liberal getting the Republican nomination, not even a year after his amnesty bill? And we are expected to toe the line and blindly support this man? Did you blindly support Obama when he appointed Van Jones, an admitted communist, to his cabinet, just because he holds the office of the Presidency?
My point was that the electoral college was set up as an insurance policy against the popular vote being hijacked, not that it should be used as a means to hijack the election. Your post and Judge Starkenburg’s letter convey quite a sense of shock at the thought of a delegate not going along with the popular vote, so I felt obliged to point out that one of the purposes of the electoral college is to allow for such possibilities. Otherwise, there would be little use for it and we should just follow the popular vote. This is what Hamilton argued for and how it was set up. If you don’t like it, the only thing you can do to change it is to petition for a constitutional amendment. I would support you in such measures because I believe the elections have been hijacked throug mass media control regardless of the electoral college. A new system should include methods to keep corporate interests and big money out of our elections.
Chuck -
“the electoral college was created as a buffer to make sure only a well informed, educated group of people directly elect the President.” Those are your words that you typed. I did not change them around and I really am not trying to paint you as someone with liberal logic. Whether you took them from someone else or came up with them yourselves, that is what you typed. The primary argument then is that this process is designed to protect uneducated people from themselves. Based upon this and your statements in your most recent comment, Mr. Bolock and the group he represents did what they did because “most do not have enough information to make a well informed decision”. That is make a decision that this small group thought was right because they were “educated”. That is a very arrogant way of thinking. Not everyone believes in the same things as a libertarian such as Ron Paul. Everyone also does not believe that you are an “enemy of liberty” just because something you may have supported is not conservative enough. You do not have to toe the line for anyone you do not want to, but that does not mean it is right for a small group to try to hijack an electoral vote because they think they know best. I really do not believe that the electoral college prevents the popular vote from being hijacked. That is backwards logic if you ask me. If anything in today’s world it does the opposite. Like I mentioned before, the days of old had good reason for setting it up like they did, but some of those reasons no longer apply.
There is practically unlimited resources to become well informed. Most people are just too lazy or do not care enough to do so. Others simply do not believe what we believe (I assume we probably agree on many issues) We cannot use liberal biased media and schools as excuses. Each individual is responsible for their own education. I mean… who are we to determine who is educated and who is not?
In the end like I did before, I ask you to look at the whole picture when looking at this incident. This was not just happening in Brazoria County. Ron Paul groups around the country were trying similar tactics and have for some time; many more vicious than this. I do wonder though how Mr. Bolock would react if Ron Paul won the popular vote in our district but someone casted the vote for someone else because they had 300 signatures on a petition. I bet I could find that many. Interesting thought, huh.
Many of the comments made here are so far from the truth that it makes one question who are the conspiracy theorists here. Based on the comments made here about Mr. Starkenberg’s above reproach integrity and about my lack thereof, would any of you critics care to know how Mr. Starkenberg was approached and what was the real content of the petition? If you self-described “true conservatives” who like to label anyone to right of you as extremists, as Libertarians, knew the truth would you maintain your positions simply because those currently controlling the party apparatus say that is who Bruce Bolock is? Very simply, I drove to Mr. Starkenberg’s home, walked up to his door, knocked, he came and opened the door, greeeted me and I greeted him. I did not cross his threshold. I handed him the petitions, a cover letter, and a copy of the publication “Common Sense Revisited” and requested he read all. I said goodbye and departed. No threat, no suggestion of threat.
Why did Mr. Starkenberg not present the petition and the cover letter delivered to him as evidence of the threat against him and what he contends I was attempting to accomplish? Could it be that they would not support his allegations? I have copies of these documents in my possession. If you care enough about the truth you may want to request Mr. Starkenberg provide them. Should he refuse, I would be pleased to provide them. You could then be the judge with evidence provided by the accused, and not just the allegations made by someone intent to keep Republican Party power in Brazoria County in tight little exclusive circle.
Mr. Bolock,
There was no threat issued with the petition to my knowledge and I did not get that from the letter. (I do know of actual threats, but I do not know where they came from and they were not related to this particular incident). There was simply the petition, which is typical of the way your group operates when you look at the things that have happended over the last few years (And by your goup I mean not only those that meet at Fudruckers each week but also others outside this area that I have come across…not that you are responsible for those people).
If you read all of my posts on Ron Paul you will understand my position and why I do not support him or those who support him a little better. My lack of support for you in your ambition to become county chairman comes not from your political views but from how you carry yourself and how you treat others. I had heard numerous stories, but it was not until you treated one of my family members very rudely for no reason whatsoever that I came to such a firm position. And this family member is not involved in the local Republican Party at all. Put bluntly, you are not the leader this county needs even if I did agree with all of your beliefs. We can find common ground and work to break the hold progressives have on this country but not by alienating ourselves as Ron Paul has done in Congress and you have done locally. There are simply better ways.
From Mr. Bolock’s response I’m wondering if he even read the letter you posted by Mr. Starkenburg. I didn’t read anything that said he was threatened by Mr. Bolock. Just the fact that they would even present a petition to vote against the will of the people says it all. The people voted(67,444 votes) for who they wanted and I call that the will of the people. He certainly has the right to present a petiton of 245 people, but if Mr. Starkenburg had changed his votes because of that he would have been going against the will of the people. I read some of Mr. Bolock’s newspaper articles and he was talking about the local Republican party not following the will of the people and he wanted to change that. Can he not recognize his own actions show a perfect example of his hypocritical reasoning. He and his “group” are the ones trying to go against the will of the people. Thankfully the MAJORITY of PEOPLE showed the will of the people by not voting for him. I guess now he’ll say they’re still not following the will of the people because he didn’t win his election. I just call that a poor loser. He needs to wake up to the fact that the “will of the people” don’t want what he or his organization has to offer and even though he may disagree….. respectfully accept the “will of the majority of people” .
Only twice in the history of this country has an elector cast a vote for someone other than the candidate chosen by the voters to receive the electoral vote. There is a good reason for it, and Mr. Starkenburg exercised very good judgment by respecting the will of the people and voting for John McCain. The will of a very small handful of people should not and does not influence anyone.
Happy to be Republican
I only know Bruce Bolock from a GOP meeting held just after the last Primary. Mr. Bolock and someone named Charles Walker had been having meetings with around two dozen people that were set on running for precinct chairmanships. Some of these positions were vacant, a point that Mr. Bolock criticized the Republican chairwoman for, but some of these, including my husband’s were not vacant. He lost the election to someone with the last name of Walker; a guy who didn’t vote and didnt show up at the election or the meeting afterward. Hasn’t attended anything any where either Republican or Tea Party as far as I know. We had faithfully handled the elections for both Precincts 25 and 52 for ages. Neither of us ever conspired to get or keep the post. We consider it a duty that’s not Republican, Tea Party or what ever. It’s our way of serving our country. Period.
Okay, I got a little excited there. Apologies.
Now, at the GOP meeting Mr. Walker took issue that the Chairwoman kept a personal record of her day to day activities. When she said it was personal, Mr.Walker used that as evidence that she was corrupt. Mr. Bolock cited some legal decision and the Treasurer, who is a lawyer, said that, as a private organization, the Republican party doesn’t have to make it’s meetings records public. Mr. Bolock was not happy to hear that and both insisted this secrecy made the Brazoria County GOP corrupt.
Mr. Bolock, if you are reading this, you will remember that this is when I stood up and asked you sir, what about your secret meetings? Are you willing to share those minutes? And how can Charles Walker organize and pay for all those candidates’ election material without having meetings about it? And where did those twenty plus people come from that suddenly wanted to be precinct chairs? Who is conspiring? Who is making back room deals?
And as for the Walker / Bolock concern that any of their nominees wereen’t accepted lets put some common sense to the matter. From what I’ve seen in my GOP experience and what I think is common sense, nominees have to demonstrate, through their actions and activities, that they are conservative and Republican. If anyone was rejected it was because they were an unknown factor. Maybe if you would have made YOUR meeting notes available they would have been chosen.
As for my new precinct chair… Mr. Walker?? Mr. Walker? Not only didn’t you vote for yourself, you never showed up for the primary meeting or you would have at least been able to give Mr. Bolock our meeting’s notes. You could have eavesdropped on Precinct 25’s as well since we were in the same room. You really missed out on some juicy conspiracy stuff *wink* Yes, Mr. Bolock, your charges of GOP corruption, of Judge Starkenburg, of all things you don’t approve of, concern you so much that your operatives don’t even bother to take the oath and begin serving their elected position.
At that county GOP meeting where you spoke, I saw someone who didn’t want to hold himself to the standard he wanted others to meet. I saw two guys who had their minds made up before anyone said a word. I came away with the impression that your loose organization was your attempt to power and that you didn’t give a good hot damn for electoral process; it was just one more thing for you to use.
There, I got worked up all over again. Maybe I’m being harsh, but all politics aside, the consequences of your actions were, in my opinion, demeaning to our political process. Seriously… where is my precinct chair?
Paula
I would not say you are being too harsh. What you described is an accurate description of some of the things that are going on from my experience. By the way…those secret meetings of Mr. Bolock were being held at Fudruckers in Lake Jackson…I believe on Tuesday evenings. I am not sure if they are still being held there. They are not too polite to others that might happen to be in the room…say because of a double booking of a room that they did not book…
Thanks!
I wonder if they are still meeting? Maybe then I can meet the guy who won my precinct’s chairmanship!!