The protections afforded in the First Amendment apparently don’t apply within some parts of the GOP.

Feeling the heat from the electorate and worried about an up swell of dissent within its ranks, the Republican establishment has apparently begun to crack down on members’ freedom of speech.  The Chairman of the Weld County GOP recently sent out an email to committee members telling them that “inappropriate comments” that do not wholly support Republican candidates are strictly forbidden. 

In the email sent to the county’s executive and central committee members, Karen Pelzer points out that their bylaws say these officers “will not publicly support any candidate other than Republican candidates.” 

• Read the text of the email below the fold

This of course comes in the wake of a primary win by Dan Maes who most rational Republicans know has virtually no chance of beating the Democratic nominee, John Hickenlooper.  Tom Tancredo’s entry has split the conservative base of our party causing a great deal of concern with the party establishment.

Pelzer goes on to outline what this ban on free speech includes.  Members are forbidden from speaking against a GOP candidate or in favor of a third party candidate in any public forum including meetings, letters to the editor, radio shows, and responses to a reporter’s questioning. 

The ban even goes further to include the member’s personal blogs and personal Facebook and Twitter accounts.  She orders the members to delete any comments they have posted in any medium that do not support the GOP’s candidates. 

Perhas the most puzzling – and amusing – part is when Pelzer says, “Does this mean that you can’t have your personal opinions? ABSOLUTELY NOT!  You can freely express your personal opinion in whatever private settings you choose.”

Pelzer goes on to tell members, “I would sincerely hope that you would take that a step further by ensuring public comments you make reflect positively on our candidates and the party in general.” 

In other words, blindly support the GOP candidates whether they are worthy of your vote or not. 

As a private organization the GOP is well within their rights to make this demand of their officers and membership.  However, doing so only serves to further widen the split within the party. 

Many longtime party faithful, myself included, are sick and tired of a select few dictating to the rest of the party.  This episode underscores all that is wrong with the establishment.

Email from Karen Pelzer, Weld County GOP Chairman, to county executive and central committee members:

From: “Weld GOP” <[Email address redacted]>
Sent: Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:25:14 Pacific Daylight Time
To:
Subject: Important Information for Executive and Central Committee Members

TO:                  Weld County Executive Committee Members

Weld County Central Committee Members

FROM:            Karen Pelzer

Chair, Weld County Republican Party

DATE:             August 22, 2010

SUBJECT:      By Law Refresher

Now that the primary election is over, we have a slate of candidates going forward to the General Election for the Republican Party.  As many of you are newly elected to your positions on either the Executive Committee or the Central Committee for the Weld County Republican Party, I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone of one section of our bylaws, which is important that you all know about. It states:

Section 11.       In partisan elections, members of the Weld County Republican Central Committee and/or Executive Committee will not publicly support any candidate other than Republican candidates or they may be removed by the Executive Committee by a 2/3 majority vote of those present at a regularly scheduled meeting.

We had a lengthy discussion around this subject at our State Executive Committee  Meeting last Friday. It resulted in a resolution which basically says that we respect the process and support all candidates who are put forward by the process (please see full resolution in the next section below).  We had a similar discussion at our Executive Committee meeting this past Tuesday.

As members of the Weld County Executive and/or Central Committees, we are the face of the Republican Party in Weld County. As such, we are held to a higher standard in our public communication, and must adhere to the guidelines set forth in the bylaws which govern us.

This would apply to any public comments for a non GOP candidate with your name attributed to it, and would include things like:

• Letters to the Editor
• Opinion Pieces Submitted for Publication
• Reponses to a Reporter asking for your opinion
• Original posts by you or responses from you to another’s post on social media vehicles such as Facebook or Twitter.
• Blogs
• Calling in to radio shows
• Speaking at a public meeting

Generally speaking, if it’s in the public domain, you need to guard your comments. This is tough to do. Part of the reason you are on these committees is because you are an activist with strong opinions that you want to share.

I need to let you know that I have had several reports of inappropriate comments on Facebook pages belonging to members of the Executive Committee and members of the Central Committee, promoting the Constitution Party candidate for Governor.  Since these comments are in the public domain, they are not permitted in accordance with our bylaws.

I would therefore ask each of you to review any comments you may have posted on Facebook, Twitter, blog sites, etc. If there are any inappropriate comments, please remove them.

We need to be vigilant to ensure that any comments in the public domain do not support non GOP candidates.  As members of our governing body, I would sincerely hope that
you would take that a step further by ensuring public comments you make reflect positively on our candidates and the party in general.

Does this mean that you can’t have your personal opinions? ABSOLUTELY NOT!  You can freely express your personal opinion in whatever private settings you choose.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to call me at any time. I will do my best to help clarify.

As always, thanks for your help!

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