We the People of Johnson Co MO, February 3, 2023 😠 Senate Bill 16 is a Really Bad Bill; It STOPS Local Republican Central Committees From Having a Voice. 😶
Hi Folks,
This is a little longer post than usual, because I’m literally copying and pasting the article from Jody Grace’s blog site. I encourage you to follow Jodi. She lives in Jefferson City, and attends nearly ALL legislative sessions, SO WE DON’T HAVE TO. 😁 Then she blogs about them TO KEEP US IN THE KNOW. 👍 She sees this as her calling from God for this time in history. I am SO grateful she said, “Yes” to God on that.
Senate Bill (SB) 16 proposes to bring “weighted voting” into our COUNTY Republican Central Committees (RCCs). NOT a good idea.
First: It is NOT acceptable for state legislators to mandate a specific way of voting on counties. WE THE PEOPLE are to decide the procedure we want to use to vote, and inform Jeff City of that. It’s NOT their decision to make. They work for us.
Second: The way SB 16 sets up the voting system makes densely populated areas (aka cities) have far “weightier” votes than rural areas that are less populated. Votes should be counted as 1 vote = 1 person. The bottom line is, it’s a way to manipulate votes.
Jodi does a phenomenal job of explaining not only what the county Republican Central Committees do, but also how SB 16 would destroy the voice/vote of non-city areas. We would be muted.
So you know, the Johnson County Missouri RCC has passed a resolution to vote “NO” on SB 16. I also contacted the Jackson County RCC to let them know about SB 16 and encouraged them to also pass a NO resolution.
Jerry contacted Denny Hoskins, who said he definitely will be voting NO, as he considers it a very bad bill. This link gives you the committee members working on SB16. I encourage you to email them (get emails on the same website the link takes you to) and tell them to vote NO on this bill.
I challenge you to thoughtfully read through the following article and watch the linked video. It is clear, concise information on how our RCC works for the county, and the counties work together to bring forward the voices of WE THE PEOPLE, to our state legislators.
It will take about 10-15 minutes and will be one of the most helpful things you do all day.
DICTATORSHIP IS COMING TO YOUR COUNTY!
Missouri's county central committees are being attacked by a bitter senator, Mike Cierpiot, who happens to be pretty angry that he had a primary opponent and ended up not being endorsed by his own committee. Frankly, I'm not at all sure what his problem is, because he won the race. But Joe Nicola sure did a great job and those constituents learned a lot of truth.
That, I think, might be Cierpiot's problem. Truth.
Cierpiot snuck in a 3rd candidate to split the opposing votes, which isn't really surprising. That strategy is used often and it definitely worked. Maybe Cierpiot didn't know, I guess. But considering the 3rd candidate (Rachl Aguirre) was talking, even sort of bragging about being good friends with Cierpiot and his wife, they've been seen out to dinner together and such...I'm pretty certain that it was a strategic move. But I digress.
THE BILL, SB 16
Senator Cierpiot filed SB 16 which creates a weighted voting system for our central committees. It's a horrible system and in order to understand the implications you first need to know two things.
1. What's a central committee?
2. How does weighted voting work?
WHAT'S A CENTRAL COMMITTEE?
The Republican Party (GOP) is divided into several different committees. The Democrat Party has them, too. These committees actually ARE what make up the Republican and Democrat Party. These committees that make up each party are codified in Missouri statute. Both the Republicans and the Democrats have the same list of committees.
State Committee
Congressional Committee
Judiciary Committee
Senatorial Committee
Legislative Committee
County Central Committee
Each committee has different functions and contributions to our political system. For example, the county committees can write resolutions about specific issues which indicates their stance or opinion. The county committee generally endorses and financially supports the party candidate in the general election. They are supposed to remain neutral in the primaries, but they do have influence and can actually keep candidates from running on their party ticket. Frankly, I wish they'd do more of that requiring a pledge to the Republican Platform as the filter.
The county committees in question are actually elected positions. There's a good chance you didn't know that. If you haven't seen that on your primary ballot lately, it's because no one is filing to fill it or it's been filled and the seat holder continues to hold it until they are challenged on the ballot, which rarely happens. We'll talk more about that another day.
The county committees are made up of 1 man and 1 woman from each voting precinct or township. I.e., If your county has 10 voting precincts/townships then you have 20 central committee seats. That means YOU have a committee man and a committee woman on your county committee that is supposed to be representing you. If you don't know your committee people, please take time to reach out to your County Clerk and find out who they are.
Each county committee has its own set of bylaws. And it's interesting to note that the party itself via these bylaws can choose ANY process they want as far as how their committee functions, how they control their party ballot, etc. as long as nothing they do conflicts with Missouri statute.
Issues the county committee votes on:
Candidates for special elections
How they accept candidates onto their ballot (via bylaws)
Amending the bylaws
Resolutions
Endorsements
Fundraising events
County seat replacements
Other things that arise as necessary
The Chair & Vice-Chair of each county committee are automatically members of the higher level committees where they have a voice in higher level issues, including Presidential delegates and filling vacant seats in higher offices.
WHAT'S WEIGHTED VOTING?
Currently, the county committee votes are NOT weighted. Every committee person gets one vote. This means that every township/precinct has the same amount of representation - just like the senate. We like this system. It assures us that everyone is represented in an equal way regardless of the population of their voting precinct.
Cierpiot wants to weight the votes and worse than weighting the votes, he's created a ridiculous way to do it.
This means that every committee member would have a different number of votes and that amount would be determined according to the number of people who voted for the WINNER of the governor's or auditor's race in the last primary.
Here's a video that explains more about weighted voting. INTRODUCTION TO WEIGHTED VOTING.
EXAMPLE OF CIERPIOT'S WEIGHTING METHOD
Numbers given are only for informational purposes and easy explanations.
This is a fictional example created based on Cierpiot's method of weighting in SB 16.
There are 6 townships in X County, so X County has 12 committee members (1 man and 1 woman from each township).
Let's say Fitzpatrick got 1,000 votes total in the August 2022 primary broken down like this:
Township A - 100 = 10% of the 1,000
Township B - 300 = 30% of the 1,000
Township C - 200 = 20% of the 1,000
Township D - 50 = 5% of the 1,000
Township E - 100 = 10% of the 1,000
Township F - 250 = 25% of the 1,000
Weight Calculations. Based on Cierpiot's formula in SB 16. If I learn I'm incorrect, I will publish corrections but this is what we believe to be true. It's more than confusing so give me some grace if I'm wrong here. I've talked to several people and this is the best we can come up with following his language in the bill.
Township A 10 x 2 = 20 votes each member. (40 total votes for A)
Township B 30 x 2 = 60 votes each member. (120 total votes for B)
Township C 20 x 2 = 40 votes each member. (80 total votes for C)
Township D 5 x 2 = 10 votes each member. (20 total votes for D)
Township E 10 x 2 = 20 votes each member. (40 total votes for E)
Township F 25 x 2 = 50 votes each member. (100 total votes for F)
40 + 120 + 80 + 20 + 40 + 100 = 400 total votes
There would be 400 total committee votes every time the committee of 12 people vote on any issue other than county seat replacements.
In this example, both members from Township B & Township F are all that is needed for a majority of the 400 votes. That's a total of 4 individuals instead of 7, which would be required for majority if everyone got one vote each.
PLEASE NOTE: It is OFTEN the case that a husband and wife are the committee man & woman for their township!!
In this case, we end up with 4 dictators from 2 townships (if you didn’t watch the video, it explains what constitutes a “dictator”) that control everything that happens on the committee. And it's based on votes for the winner of ONE executive level primary race. It's INSANITY.
Oh...but is it??
INSANITY OR STRATEGY?
If you were a power seeking politician, wouldn't you LOVE to have this much control over the committee, its bylaws, its endorsements, its selection for candidates?
Cierpiot isn't insane. He's actually very strategic and this is a great way to sneak tons of dictator type control in right under the rug hoping no one notices.
Creating a dictatorship on the committees would mean ...
All you have to do is put the people in those seats you want.
You'd never get censured or left behind in the endorsements.
You could have them write bylaws any way they wanted
Control who goes on the ballot & how that happens by way of bylaws
Control who is on the ballot in special elections
Control Control Control
Zero grassroots candidates would have a chance which means your reputation wouldn't be tanked when those pesky opponents told the truth.
TAKE ACTION
1. PLEASE PRAY this ends with the senate committee!! The public hearing is next Monday, Feb. 6 at 2pm.
2. Stay tuned. Your voice may be needed shortly.
SHARE THIS WITH EVERYONE IN YOU KNOW WHO LIVES IN A COUNTY. (I know, that’s everybody. I did the math. 😄)