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  1. #1
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    Former South Carolina Party Chair Says GOP Pledge Is Unenforceable

    Former South Carolina Party Chair Says GOP Pledge Is Unenforceable


    JULIEGRACE BRUFKE
    3:35 PM 09/04/2015

    Former South Carolina Republican Party Chair Katon Dawson said the state’s current loyalty pledge would be meaningless in a court of law.

    According to Dawson, who reviewed the document for former Gov. Rick Perry, the wording in the South Carolina pledge is much weaker than the 2008 election cycle, when he served as chairman.

    “I’ve had a lawyer look at it, and you can drive a dump truck through it,” he told Greenville News.

    Loyalty pledges have been an increasingly hot topic due to GOP front-runner Donald Trump saying he wouldn’t rule out a third-party run during the first presidential debate.

    The controversial billionaire signed the Republican National Committee’s pledge Thursday, but has until the end of September to sign South Carolina’s similar document.

    Forty-seven states currently have sore loser laws in place, a measure used to prevent losing candidates from running as an independent or another party’s nominee in a general election.

    If the pledge is broken, the state party can theoretically sue the candidate to keep them off the ballot. NYU Constitutional law professor Richard Pildes told Vanity Fair, in most cases, sore loser laws aren’t applicable to presidential candidates.

    While the pledge may not be legally binding, the RNC’s maneuver does hold the unpredictable businessman accountable in the eyes of the American voter.

    “I see no circumstances under which I would tear up that pledge,” he said during Thursday’s press conference.

    If Trump decides to stray from his allegiance to the party, it could prove to be detrimental for the GOP taking back control of the White House.

    Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2015/09/04/fo...#ixzz3kznlBD00

  2. #2
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    Ex state party chair says GOP pledge unenforceable
    The pledge that the South Carolina Republican Party currently requires of presidential primary candidates to support the party's eventual nominee won't stand up in court, according to a former state party chair.Katon Dawson said the pledge language the state party employed when he was chair during the 2008 election cycle was much stronger, though he couldn't produce the form with the earlier phrasing.

    The current language has "no legal teeth in it," he said.

    Dawson said he examined the latest wording as part of his political consultant work for former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, one of 17 Republicans running for president.

    "I've had a lawyer look at it, and you can drive a dump truck through it," Dawson said.

    The issue of the pledge and its enforceability has taken on new importance since the candidate currently leading the Republican field, New York billionaire Donald Trump, has so far declined to rule out the possibility of mounting a third-party campaign in the event voters reject him as the GOP nominee.

    Trump has until Sept. 30 to decide whether to sign the South Carolina pledge.

    Matt Moore, current chairman of the state GOP, expressed confidence in the enforceability of the current pledge language.
    If Trump or any other candidate mounted a third-party campaign after signing the pledge, the state party would sue to keep the "sore loser" off of state ballots during the general election, Moore said.

    "We hope we're not required to," he said, adding that the state GOP has "excellent relations" with Trump's campaign.
    In addition to the threat of litigation, "There's also the court of public opinion," Moore said. "And if you violate a pledge, it's not taken too kindly by our voters."

    Moore said he expects Trump to sign the pledge as other Republican presidential candidates have done.

    Butch Bowers, attorney for the South Carolina GOP, couldn't be reached for comment.

    Trump declined an opportunity to rule out a third-party run during an Aug. 27 visit to Greenville, noting that he had until Sept. 30 to file the paperwork to compete in South Carolina's first-in-the-South presidential preference primary.

    On Tuesday, Hope Hicks, national spokesperson for the Trump campaign, declined to comment on the matter.

    South Carolina Rep. Jim Merrill of Charleston, state director for Trump's campaign, said the real estate magnate and reality television star hasn't said he won't sign the pledge "just that he isn't willing to make that pledge now."

    South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who signed the pledge Tuesday as part of filing to run in the Feb. 20 primary, said he doesn't think Trump should be allowed to appear in the next televised debates for Republican White House hopefuls on Sept. 16 until he agrees to support the party's eventual nominee.

    "If I were in charge of the Republican Party, nobody would be appearing on a debate stage as a Republican until they committed to run as a Republican," Graham told reporters during a campaign stop in Spartanburg on Monday.

    Ali Pardo, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said it helped set the dates, times and locations for the GOP's nine presidential debates in 2016 but other details were left to staging organizations, which in the case of the next debate is CNN.

    The pledge that the South Carolina Republican Party currently requires of presidential primary candidates to support the party's eventual nominee won't stand up in court, according to a former state party chair.
    Katon Dawson said the pledge language that the state party employed when he was chair during the 2008 election cycle was much stronger.

    The current language has "no legal teeth in it," he said.

    Dawson said he examined the latest wording as part of his political consultant work for former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, one of 17 Republicans running for president.

    "I've had a lawyer look at it, and you can drive a dump truck through it," Dawson said.

    The issue of the pledge and its enforceability has taken on new importance since the candidate currently leading the Republican presidential field, New York billionaire Donald Trump, has so far declined to rule out the possibility of mounting a third-party campaign in the event voters reject him as the GOP nominee.

    Trump has until Sept. 30 to decide whether to sign the South Carolina pledge.

    Matt Moore, current chairman of the state GOP, expressed confidence in the enforceability of the current pledge language.
    If Trump or any other candidate mounted a third-party campaign after signing the pledge, the state party would sue to keep the "sore loser" off of state ballots during the general election, Moore said.

    "We hope we're not required to," he said, adding that the state GOP has "excellent relations" with Trump's campaign.
    In addition to the threat of litigation, "There's also the court of public opinion," Moore said. "And if you violate a pledge, it's not taken too kindly by our voters."

    Moore said he expects Trump to sign the pledge as other Republican presidential candidates have done.

    Butch Bowers, attorney for the South Carolina GOP, couldn't be reached for comment.

    Trump declined an opportunity to rule out a third-party run during an Aug. 27 visit to Greenville, noting that he had until Sept. 30 to file the paperwork to compete in South Carolina's first-in-the-South presidential preference primary.

    On Tuesday, Hope Hicks, national spokesperson for the Trump campaign, declined to comment on the matter.

    South Carolina Rep. Jim Merrill of Charleston, state director for Trump's campaign, said the real estate magnate and reality television star hasn't said he won't sign the pledge "just that he isn't willing to make that pledge now."

    South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who signed the pledge Tuesday as part of filing to run in the Feb. 20 primary, said he doesn't think Trump should be allowed to appear in the next televised debates for Republican White House hopefuls on Sept. 16 until he agrees to support the party's eventual nominee.

    "If I were in charge of the Republican Party, nobody would be appearing on a debate stage as a Republican until they committed to run as a Republican," Graham told reporters during a campaign stop in Spartanburg on Monday.

    Ali Pardo, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said the RNC helped set the dates, times and locations for the GOP's schedule of nine presidential debates in 2016 but other details were left to staging organizations, which in the case of the next debate is CNN.

    http://www.greenvilleonline.com/stor...able/71531824/

  3. #3
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Oh, so the Politburo doesn't have US law on its side after all?
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    Signing that pledge sure deflated my opinion of him. Where are those negotiating skills, what did the RNC give up? Did they pledge to not field a candidate if it wasn't the Donald. Donald popped his own balloon real soon in this game.

    As easy as that pushover was I need to really reconsider if I want him negotiating with Khomeini's, China, N. Korea, Vladimir Putin or even a Mexico President!

  5. #5
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kevinssdad View Post
    Signing that pledge sure deflated my opinion of him. Where are those negotiating skills, what did the RNC give up? Did they pledge to not field a candidate if it wasn't the Donald. Donald popped his own balloon real soon in this game.

    As easy as that pushover was I need to really reconsider if I want him negotiating with Khomeini's, China, N. Korea, Vladimir Putin or even a Mexico President!
    What Trump got in return is on all 50 state ballots in the primary and all 50 state ballots in the general election if he wins the primaries and is the Republican nominee for President, and it didn't cost him a dime. That's how Trump benefited from the deal. How did we benefit from the deal? We don't have to run around the countryside fighting with state laws and the RNC and DNC obtaining signatures to get him on the ballot in all 50 states, twice. We also don't have to go through the rigors of forming a new party and getting that party's candidates on the ballot in all 50 states. if you think that's easy, ask the Libertarian Party how truly difficult it is to get your candidate on the ballot even if you have a third party. Trump was right, we don't have the time or money for that, when it's not needed with a pledge.

    The issue is with the RNC, not Trump. Republicans need to change the party rules and disallow any RNC "Chairman" from doing anything that would prevent a candidate from being on the ballot in all 50 states, nor should States who want to prevent a candidate from being on their ballot be allowed to do so.

    We don't want a Politburo for a political party. That's the message we need to send to the RNC with checks that say amount: ZERO.

    The RNC needs to apologize to the Republicans it has grossly offended by this action, and to other Americans who want to vote for one of our candidates.
    Last edited by Judy; 09-06-2015 at 08:00 PM.
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  6. #6
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
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    I have this feeling that Trump's lawyers looked it over closely before he signed it.

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