Background:
By order of the Honorable Judge Ginsberg, of the 193 District Court in
Dallas County,
Texas, a licensed Parliamentarian called, credentialed, and chaired the 2008 Reform Party National Convention in
Dallas,
Texas on July 18-20, 2008. At that Convention, officers were
elected including Chairman David Collison, and a full revision of our Constitution was adopted.
The Executive Committee feels that a few additional changes are needed to fully protect the interests and assets of the RPUSA. In order to accomplish this with minimum inconvenience and expense to the state parties, the
Executive Committee has authorized this telephonic convention.
Who was eligible to participate?
All affiliated State Party Organizations ("SPOs") as determined by the licensed parliamentarian for the 2008 convention were issued this Call via email. The call was posted on our backup website, so that it was publicly available to all interested persons.
What was the proposed agenda for this meeting?
Additional revisions to the RPUSA rules. A copy of the proposed changes was provided and was posted on the website.
If you have questions or would like additional information, please email
chairman@rpusa.info. Thank you for your consideration.
Janelle Skinner-Weill
RPUSA National Secretary
October 16, 2008 RPUSA Repudiates Endorsement of Republican Presidential Candidate
An erroneous story, which unfortunately the Associated Press picked up and distributed, reports that the Reform Party endorsed Republican candidate John McCain for President at a recent national convention.
The number of factual errors in this story is surprising. First, the Reform Party is a political party organization. It nominates its own candidates and has never endorsed the presidential candidate of a competing party. Second, the Reform Party USA has its own nominated Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates for the 2008 election. Third, the supposed convention in New York where this endorsement took place was held in direct opposition to a final judgment issued in Texas District Court in September 2008. That court ordered the 2008 RPUSA National Convention be held in Dallas Texas in July 2008 specifically to resolve the question of valid officers and nominations for the RPUSA.
You can find a copy of the order requiring the convention be held in Dallas County HERE, and a copy of the final judgment of that court HERE.
For more information, email chairman@rpusa.info
Reform Party Update October 16, 2008
We are fast closing on the November ballot. As we all know, the national media is dominated by the John McCain/Barak Obama contest. Along with our normal election season madness brought about by the “pick me I’m not as bad as him” mentality of the Republicans and Democrats, we have the added enjoyment of watching our retirement savings drain down the financial septic system.
Meanwhile, the Reform Party has had its own interesting times. After multiple hearings over many months with testimony by both sides, a district court in Dallas, Texas ordered that the 2008 Nominating Convention of the RPUSA be held in Dallas, Texas in late July under the supervision of a court-appointed licensed parliamentarian. The result of that convention, which was held in person and had an attendance consistent with recent RPUSA conventions, was a set of elected officers and Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates for the RPUSA.
The current officers of the RPUSA were elected as:
David Collison Chairman
Rodney Martin Vice-Chairman
Janelle Skinner-Weill Secretary
Beverly Kennedy Treasurer
Our candidates were nominated as:
Ted Weill President
Frank McEnulty Vice-President
Due to the sensitivity of the situation, the RPUSA was advised by counsel not to carpet the internet with the results of the convention until after the Parliamentarian provided her final report to Judge Ginsberg and he issued a final ruling on the matter. This took several weeks. Finally after the scheduled trial on August 26, Judge Ginsberg found that the 2005 Yuma Convention was invalid, and therefore all activities springing from it were likewise invalid.
As a result, the only valid convention held since 2004 was the 2008 Dallas Convention ordered by Judge Ginsberg (to which all affiliated SPOs were invited). Judge Ginsberg also found defendant Mr. John Blare (and his associates) liable for over $40,000 in attorneys fees.
Needless to say Mr. Blare, in association with New York Independence Party Chairman Frank MacKay, is currently attempting to ignore the ruling in Dallas. They have, to date, managed to get our domain name temporarily blocked, held a competing convention in violation of Judge Ginsberg’s order, and endorsed Republican John McCain’s candidacy. I have received emails and calls from many Reformers who are shocked and troubled after hearing of news reports in this matter.
The Reform Party is a National Political Party. We nominate our own candidates for office; we DO NOT endorse the candidates of other political parties. To do so runs counter to the purpose of all political parties (which is to nominate candidates for political office), as well as the ideals upon which the Reform Party was founded.
Further, I am a long-time Reform Party member (going on 7 years now) and have held offices ranging from County Chairman, State Secretary-Treasurer, National Committee Member, National Secretary, and now National Chairman. My only interest is serving your interests by building viable state parties in all 50 states and carrying out the will of those state parties.
Mr. MacKay, on the other hand, calls himself the successor of the Yuma-elected officers and claims to be chairman of TWO different national parties, the national Independence Party of America AND the national Reform Party USA, and had no interest in the Reform Party until a little over a year ago.
In summary, anyone claiming legitimacy based on being a successor to either the 2005 Tampa or 2005 Yuma conventions is ignoring the full faith of the US legal system. This includes any officer elections, national committee meetings, affiliations or disaffiliations, and rules changes. The only valid convention held since 2004 was the 2008 court-ordered and supervised Dallas convention. And the officers, candidates, and rules resulting from that convention are the only ones valid for the RPUSA.
You can find a copy of Judge Ginsberg's order requiring the Reform Party hold a convention in Dallas Texas chaired by Receiver Kay Crews
HERE and you can find a copy of Judge Ginsberg's final ruling in the case ordering all Reform Party assets turned over to Chairman David Collison
HERE.
You can email
chairman@rpusa.info if you have any questions or would like more information.
