As the CRA Convention draws near, I thought it would be good to post the two Bylaws amendments related to the current controversy. If the existing bylaws were followed or the Board had agreed to abide by the first proposal, the impending meltdown could have been avoided. Both Celeste Greig and Karen England have endorsed this proposal before the Board vote.
Section 13.11. Residency of Delegates. No more than one-third of the Delegates representing a chartered Republican Assembly may reside outside the territory that was previously approved for that chartered Republican Assembly by the State Board of Directors. If disputed, residency shall be determined according to voter registration records. If such records are unavailable or inconclusive, residency may be established by other evidence, such as a California driver’s license. At any time during a Convention, if the number of Delegates residing outside the territory of the chartered Republican Assembly exceeds one-third, including Alternates who are substituting for absent Delegates, then the surplus out-of-territory Delegates shall be treated as non-voting Alternates. The decision about which out-of-territory Delegates to treat as non-voting Alternates for this purpose shall be made according to the order that the Delegates were named on the list of Delegates and Alternates sent to the Credentials Committee by the President or Secretary of the chartered Republican Assembly prior to the Convention. Disputes shall be resolved by the Credentials Committee or the Convention. The Convention shall have discretion to adopt rules to prevent the same delegation from being challenged more than once under this Section.
Purpose for this Change: This amendment is designed to restore the representative nature of CRA delegations, with units primarily represented by delegates who live within their jurisdictional boundaries. When units send “delegates” from hundreds of miles outside their boundaries to represent them at CRA Conventions, it makes a mockery of the representative nature of the Convention. What is worse, the ability for units to send out-of-district delegates creates opportunities for fraud, corruption, and manipulation by outside interests. Even when units appoint out-of-district delegates with the best intentions, there may be inadvertent damage to the representative nature of the Convention, so the process should be curtailed. The two-thirds residency requirement is a compromise intended to allow units to deal with special situations. Some CRA members have more than one residence or have good reasons to join units outside of their place of residence. This amendment will allow them to be delegates as long as they do not exceed one-third of their unit’s delegation. If there are too many out-of-district delegates, the extra ones can participate as Alternates.
The second proposal deals with chartering new units.
Section 10.10. Conditions of Organization. The organization of the new Republican Assembly shall be completed, under the direction of the accredited representative(s) of the CRA; provided that the new Republican Assembly shall have:
(a) Ratified the Bylaws of the CRA.
(b) Adopted its own bylaws.
(c) Elected its own officers and directors (if any) and committees, and accomplished its organization in accordance with its bylaws.
(d) Certified to the Membership Secretary that its officers, directors, committees and members have been instructed in their duties by the accredited representative(s) of the CRA.
(e) Certified to the Membership Secretary that it has held at least four regular meetings as an organized body. The unit shall give notice of its four initial meetings to the local State Senate Director and any other CRA officer assigned for that purpose by the CRA President or the Board of Directors.
(f) In addition, for the newly chartered Republican Assembly to be eligible to send delegates to a CRA convention under either Article XIII or Article XIX of these by-laws the new Unit shall:
(1) Apply for its Charter at least 180 days prior to the next regularly scheduled convention; (2) Send to the Membership Secretary at least four sets of meeting minutes no later than 30 days prior to the next regularly scheduled CRA convention.
Purpose for this Change: This amendment is designed to assure that new units to the CRA are created for the purpose of representation and growth of the CRA in the territory outlined in the new Unit’s charter and not solely for the purpose of obtaining an endorsement of a particular candidate just prior to the endorsing convention.