We previously wrote about the cease and desist directive sent by a candidate for Congress Rob Jones to GOP 10th district chairman Matt Leeds and all of the unit chairs in the district.
The lawyer for the Republican 10th district committee and all the unit chairs, Patrick McSweeney, has responded to that order. He is essentially saying that local units are allowed to look at delegate forms and alert any potential delegates to problems with their forms prior to the convention. That was Jones’ objection. In the past local units had someone who was responsible for collecting all the forms. He or she would then look through the forms and alert potential delegates if there was an error on their forms such as a forgotten signature, the wrong amount on their check, voter new to Loudoun not yet on the rolls at their current address, and many other things that could keep the potential delegate from voting at the convention. To encourage more convention delegates, to make it more inclusive rather than less, and to save time at the convention, many of these minor mistakes were corrected at the local level, prior to the convention. The Rob Jones campaign objected. They believe it is not the role of local units to help delegates who have made a mistake on their forms. Their belief is only the credentials committee at the convention is permitted to do that, hence the ‘cease and desist’ letter. There was also some concern over electronic payments. Patrick McSweeney addresses that as well in his letter to the lawyer who issued the cease and desist letter to the 10th district chair and unit chairs:
