FreedomWorks Responds to RNC’s Vote to Repeal the Tampa Power-Grab

Washington, DC- FreedomWorks offered mixed reviews during the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) spring meeting, in which the Party was pressured by grassroots activists to repeal three controversial rules changes made by the national party at last August’s convention that shifted power away from the state parties and the grassroots to the RNC.

The controversial Rule 16 (A) (2) was repealed by a unanimous vote, an outstanding victory for the grassroots. Rule 16 (A) (2) forced delegates to surrender their delegate status to the RNC/Nominee if they decided to switch their support to another candidate, a move that would centralize power to GOP establishment-backed frontrunners.

Rule 16 (A) (1) was upheld, allowing the national leaders to continue determining how states conduct their primary processes, specifically requiring the states to bind delegates based on the results of the caucuses. Rule 12 was not brought up for a vote at all, which allows the RNC to make changes at any time, but raises the vote requirement to a 3/4 majority.

FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe commented, “We won one, we lost one, and we live to fight another day for the third. The RNC’s spring meeting was just the first skirmish in a fight that can have only one outcome, because the Party’s insiders are fighting an inevitable cultural trend towards more decentralization, transparency and grassroots participation.”

“The political power balance has shifted away from Washington insiders, back to individual citizens organizing from the bottom-up. We plan to keep helping freedom-loving activists achieve fair representation in the Party process, and encourage the GOP’s senior management to listen to their constituents and embrace this new formula of grassroots political organizing. First rule in business: the customer is always right.”

FreedomWorks launched a petition this week to stop the RNC’s disenfranchisement of the grassroots, which amassed almost 12,000 signatures before the final vote even concluded. FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe also signed onto a letter to the RNC with 60 other leaders of the limited-government movement that urged for a reversal of the rules changes that shifted power from the state parties and the grassroots to the RNC at last August’s convention in Tampa.

FreedomWorks is a service center to a community of over 4 million grassroots activists nationwide who believe in individual liberty and constitutionally-limited government. For more information, please visit www.FreedomWorks.org or contact Jackie Bodnar at JBodnar@FreedomWorks.org.