Eleven Hours: after the 2024 Missouri Republican Convention

Non nobis, Domine, sed nomine suo gam gloriam.

Yesterday was the most unusual-- bizarre even-- convention I have ever attended in 16 years of caucus/convention activism. None is even comparable. As a co-Parliamentarian for the Temporary, the replacement Temporary, and the Permanent convention Chairs, I got a view of it perhaps noone else could or did.

I am exhausted. Once I recover, I'll have time to organize my notes and refer to recordings but I'll give quick initial impressions.

Credentials was a complete disaster, wasting hours. Everybody has heard this. To quash some rumours, I'll describe a bit more below. The grassroots organizations had a near-complete victory: handily winning the Chair vote, seating Sophia Shore, passing a fix to the confused mess of the rules by near consensus, winning the slates and elections, and after the ruinous start, making real progress on the platform. This was marred by the steady drift of delegates out-- we had worked through lunch and were heading toward 11 hours on the floor-- and the loss of quorum. As a result of the failed quorum count (less than half of delegates elected per Robert's Rules on conventions), the amended platform could not be passed (effectively reverting to 2020).

The credentials fiasco was not done on purpose to wear out the grassroots. It was taken advantage of by some (two in particular) to engineer the later quorum failure, but the disaster was real. It was clear to me from my vantage point that the stress and panic of the Chair and convention committees was quite genuine. That does not necessarily let people "off the hook" for the colossal failure that clearly occurred, but a breakdown of exactly when and where the convention planning derailed is going to be a longer conversation where I only saw specific pieces, mostly the wreckage and victims.

Like any ethical responder to a trainwreck, I worked hard to respond to the emergency at hand. How it came off the track wan't my worry so much as immediate triage and care for victims. The State Chair, surprisingly and quite courteously had asked me to be there as parliamentarian. I wanted the grassroots to win, but I was in a position where I was required to be neutral and fair to the extent humanly possible (to some degree so that the grassroots could win fairly and above-board). My position gave me a duty to help the State Chairman fix the problems and put bandages on the bleeding. I did this to the best of my ability, and although some people may see that as "helping the enemy", I did it out of duty and-- to a fair degree as the event went south and as the Temporary Chair became exhausted, flustered, embarrassed-- out of human compassion. I do not have and will not accept any shame for that.

At the end, we won a great victory. The victory was not complete, but it was very good. Many people were responsible for it, including, to a substantial extent, our opponents themselves. God was gracious to us: be gracious, all, in our victory. Keep your eyes on the final goal in service to our state and communities.

"Not to us, O Lord, but to Your name be the glory."

P.S.: both Sophie and her "hired gun" parliamentarian, CJ, impressed me. Once she took over, the Chair was handled very well with an already cranky assembly and crafty opposition. More on that later when I start organizing my notes and my head hurts a bit less.