State GOP warning

Exclusion Or Inclusion By Rule Forward?

The 2023 Tulsa County Republican Convention was the smallest in modern history. They are failing dramatically by practicing exclusion rather than inclusion as the Oklahoma Republican Party Rules demand. Every party official participating in the multiple abuses of power ignoring the OKGOP Rules may and should be removed from party office.

Last Saturday, 118 delegates were not credentialed that by all rights and rule should have been voting delegates. Only a few appealed.

This scam by rule-breaking dictators is damned and includes State Party Officials monitoring the procedures. This writer will never forget the couple I have known for decades as active party members, committee members and contributors pleading to be allowed to participate this year. It broke my heart. There was nothing I could do. I am excluded by current leadership. I have made the case for “same day registration” for weeks as you can read in these Straight Up Substack Archives.

I was also under attack, but I expect that from the cult in charge of the Tulsa County GOP. I wrote on their maliciously fraudulent election held in 2021 in 2022. My criticism was not personal, it was functional on policy and procedure. Sadly, those who worship celebrity and perceived power (as small as it may be) cannot abide criticism of their beloved.

However, the good news is that party minions comprise less than forty percent of Tulsa County Republican Primary Voters and falling. The possible good news is that on the floor of the 2023 TCGOP Chair Ronda Vuillemont-Smith promised to accomplish what her critics demanded in financial transparency and monthly County Committee meetings. Don’t hold your breath - hasn’t happened her first term.

This email list was built initially with one-third Tulsa County GOP delegates, one-third State GOP Chairs and Vice Chairs, and one-third associates of www.TulsaToday.com which is the oldest independent conservative local news service worldwide. More join as Substack grows, but the point of this post is to alert Oklahoma Republicans that the upcoming 2023 State Convention will be rigged just like Tulsa’s.

William Westfall, Credentials Committee, TCGOP Convention 2023

William Westfall, TCGOP Credentials Committee, filed a complaint with the State Party writing, “The Validation of Confirmed Delegates to the Tulsa County Convention was NOT in accordance with OKGOP Rules as posted on the OKGOP website and this information was expressed to ALL the Tulsa County Committee and others. It is noted that the State Chair and State Committee both are going to use the same tactics at the State Convention AND since Ronda Vuillemont-Smith is the Chair for the State Credentials Committee she will ram-rod her Agenda and Guidelines through regardless of the OKGOP Rules, which is NOT Allowed according to our current Rules. You may want to Allow Same Day Registration and Optional Pay at the State Convention to stay compliant with the OKGOP Rules.”

The following report by William Westfall was attached and is provided so it may be shared statewide with all Republicans attending the 2023 State Convention in Tulsa.

Hello Oklahoma State Delegates,

       This is a late update on what happened at the Tulsa County Convention on 03/25/2023.  My name is William Westfall, Precinct 114 Chairman, Tulsa County. I was on the Appeals Committee for the Tulsa County Convention. There were a total of 5 of us on the Appeals Committee. All were new to the Appeals Committee including the Appeals Committee Chair, Lori Gracey-Odom. In contrast, I have served on the Credentials Committee for 20 years and the Appeals Committee for about 16 years. This is what happened at our Tulsa County Convention in regards to the Appeals Committee process that day.

       I arrived at the location for the Convention at Embassy Church about 7:05 am. Everything for Credentials was already set up and appeared ready to go. Donny Tiemann, the Credentials Chair asked me to find the room where we were supposed to have the Appeals Committee and make sure it was open. I proceeded to the room (already setup) to find all the other Appeals Committee members were there and the Appeals Committee Chair Lori Gracey-Odom had a laptop setup and connected to verify if a Delegate was Verified and Pre-Registered AND Pre-Paid before the cut-off date of Thursday 03/23/2023 at 5 PM.

I asked Donny Tiemann if there was any provision setup to allow Verified and Qualified Delegates to have Same Day Registration and Pay in order to attend the Tulsa County Convention. In the past Tulsa County Conventions we always had Same Day Registration and Pay for Verified and Qualified Delegates. He stated there would NOT be any Same Day Registration and Pay to allow the Verified and Qualified Delegates to participate. I did remind him of OKGOP Rule 3a, but he disregarded what I had to say.

       Before we began hearing Appeals from the Delegates who were denied access, we had a lengthy discussion about the Rules governing the Appeals Committee. The Chair, Lori Gracey-Odom stated we were following the guidelines that the Tulsa County Chair, Ronda Vuillemont-Smith had established for all Delegates to attend the County Convention. Ronda’s Guidelines were – if a Delegate did NOT Pre-Registered AND Pre-Pay then NO admittance was to be given for ANY Verified and Qualified Delegate to the County Convention. I declared to ALL the Appeals Committee Members and Lori Gracey-Odom that the OKGOP Rule 3a allowed for any Registered Republican in Oklahoma to be Qualified and to be able to participate in the County or State Convention in regards to Official Oklahoma Republican Party Business.

Here is OKGOP’s Rule 3- Rights and Qualifications of Members and Officers

(a) Members: All citizens of Oklahoma are invited to join the Oklahoma Republican Party to perpetuate this Republic. All qualified voters of this state who are registered Republicans are members of the Oklahoma Republican Party, and shall have the right to participate in the official affairs and governance of the Republican Party in accordance with these rules as set forth herein. Such right shall be sacred and inviolate, and the willful disregard or abridgement of such right by an officer or member of any committee of the Party shall be deemed sufficient cause for the removal of such officer or committee member.

       We did have two Representatives from the State Committee with us in the Appeals Committee room. I only have the name of the Legal Counsel for the State Committee who is – Sarah Clutts. I did not get the name of the Representative from the State Committee, the young man who was also at the first Credentials Committee Meeting as well as observing the Appeals Committee actions. The Legal Counsel argued with me that the County Chair had the right to enforce their own guidelines regarding on who could attend the County Convention and be able to participate in the Convention. I stated that I have read the OKGOP Rules and could find nothing that allowed the County Chair who was responsible for the organization and oversight of the County Convention to make their own Rules or Guidelines to allow or deny any Verified and Qualified Delegate to participate in the County Convention. I asked her to find in the OKGOP Rules where the County Chair could make their own Rules or Guidelines to exclude Verified and Qualified Delegates from attending the County Convention. She looked and looked and never did show me where in the OKGOP Rules this privilege was given to the County Chair.

Our Appeals Chair, Lori Gracy-Odom again stated that we were going to follow the Guidelines that Ronda provided as how we were to allow or not allow any Delegate who was NOT Pre-Registered AND Pre-Paid to attend the Convention as a Delegate, regardless of what the OKGOP Rules stated. She said, “We will follow Ronda’s Guidelines and not the OKGOP Rules since Ronda is the County Chair.”  The other three Appeals Committee Members agreed to follow Ronda’s “Guidelines” and NOT follow the OKGOP Rules.

       Now I will have to say that the other guy who was on the Appeals Committee with me he did agree with me about following the OKGOP Rules until we were out voted by the two ladies and the Chair Lori Gracey-Odom. After the second vote where the Verified and Qualified Delegates were denied to attend the County Convention he sided with those who were following Ronda’s Guidelines. I was overruled 4 to 1 against the Verified and Qualified Delegates to allow them to participate in the County Convention for the remainder of the Appeals process. It was obvious to me that Ronda had already talked to and possibly coached the Appeals Committee Members on how to Vote in regards to any Delegate who DID NOT Pre-Register AND Pre-Pay. I did remind the other Appeals Committee Members that the OKGOP Rule 3a still applies and NO WHERE in the OKGOP Rules does it stated ANY Qualified Delegate HAS to Pre-Register AND Pre-Pay OR No-Play in order to participate in the Official Business of the Republican Party. They simply WOULD NOT HEAR IT PERIOD!

     The SAD thing is that Ronda’s Rules and/or Guidelines were approved by the entire Tulsa County Committee, the entire Tulsa County Executive Committee and a Majority of the State Committee which includes the State Chairman. The State Chairman could have refused to entertain this protocol for Delegates to attend the State Convention AND could have or should have let our Tulsa County Chair know that the OKGOP Rules apply to every County in Oklahoma. Tulsa County is NOT an exception to the OKGOP Rules, but he did not. We would have to get the transcript for the Minutes of the State Committee Meeting when this was proposed and voted on and accepted by the State Committee to know who was for and was not in favor of allowing this NOT APPROVED Rule or Guideline to be followed without an Official Vote of the Registered and Verified Delegates of the State of Oklahoma at the State Convention. When I read the Official OKGOP Rules, only the Rules voted on and accepted by the Delegates at the State Convention become a part of the Official OKGOP Rules. This was not in accordance with our established OKGOP Rules and Protocol. No County Chair has the right to overrule any OKGOP Rule in favor of their own preferences or likes or dislikes.

      In all honesty if we follow the process for Appeals of the Actions of any County Chair for what they have done to disregard Rule 3a which is as stated:

Such right shall be sacred and inviolate, and the willful disregard or abridgement of such right by an officer or member of any committee of the Party shall be deemed sufficient cause for the removal of such officer or committee member.

     We have no one to Appeal to as the Corruption goes all the way to the top of the Republican State Committee. The only thing that could be done is to sue the Tulsa County Committee, the Tulsa County Executive Committee and the State Committee in a Court of Law or, WE the Verified and Qualified Delegates of the Great State of Oklahoma could simply replace the State Committee with Members who WILL FOLLOW the OKGOP Rules and remove ALL the Tulsa County Committee and Tulsa County Executive Committee Members who have violated OKGOP Rule 3a.

The Tulsa County, Tulsa County Executive and State Committees were forwarned but bent on having this CVENT Software for the Pre-Registration process and Ronda added Pre-Pay or No-Play before being APPROVED by any of the Delegates at the County Convention or State Convention. Duly Verified and Qualified Delegates are having their Rights as a Registered Republican in our Great State of Oklahoma trampled on and counted as poop because they would not play their silly Reindeer Games. We did have 15 Qualified and Verified Delegates who were denied participation in the Tulsa County Convention on 03/25/2023 just because they did NOT Pre-Register AND Pre-Pay. This is my story based on what I saw and experienced and I’m sticking to it!

      This is just to give the Oklahoma Delegates to the State Convention in Tulsa, Tulsa County a heads-up on what to expect. Tulsa County Chair Ronda Vuillemont-Smith is also the State Credentials Chair and is in charge of Credentialing ALL the Oklahoma Delegates who will be attending the State Convention. I have been told by Ronda herself that it is the State Committee’s intention to use the same Standards and Guidelines to run the Oklahoma State Republican Convention that were used at the Tulsa County Convention.

That would mean ANY Oklahoma Delegate who DOES NOT PRE-REGISTER AND PRE-PAY will NOT be allowed to participate as a Verified and Qualified Delegate to the State Convention. Even their County Chair could NOT override Guidelines of Pre-Register AND Pre-Pay or NO PLAY! If a Delegate drove from the Panhandle of Oklahoma and did NOT Pre-Register AND Pre-Pay they would not be allowed to participate in the Official Republican Party Business at our State Convention, according to Ronda’s Guidelines.

She DID NOT allow Same Day Registration and Pay at the Tulsa County Convention for Delegates and has NO INTENTION of allowing Same Day Registration and Pay at the State Convention for Delegates. The ONLY ONES who were allowed to have Same Day Pay at the Tulsa County Convention were the Guests. Many Delegates chose attending as Guests, but could not vote.

You could contact your County Chair and ask them to question and apply pressure to the State Chair to allow Same Day Registration and Pay, or simply flood the State Chair and State GOP with emails in regards to this matter. Your Rights are being trampled on and you are not being allowed to attend unless you Pre-Register and Pre-Pay for the State Convention. The Future of the Republican Party of Oklahoma is in the hands of the Verified and Qualified Delegates of our Great State of Oklahoma. Get involved don’t allow the few who think they are smarter than us to Rule the Oklahoma State Republican Party.

Nowhere in the current OKGOP Rules does it even hint of any Pre-Register requirement to participate in any Official Business of the Oklahoma Republican Party. We cannot allow Ronda to ADD her own Guidelines of “AND Pre-Pay or NO-PLAY” in order to attend the State Convention. This is totally against our OKGOP Rules and Rule 3a in particular. My recommendation is contact your own County Chair and the State Chair and State GOP HQ. The Future is yours! Don’t let it go to the few!

William Westfall, Precinct 114 Chairman, Tulsa County

This eyewitness testimony must go out statewide to every delegate. Please share.

As for this writer, I will attend as a delegate, but because of State Party machinations noted above, I will not vote for the reelection of AJ Ferate, as Chairman. Now a target under fire from the establishment, I will wear a hat to self-identify. If a target, at least you should be a clear and obvious target.

I recommend that if AJ Ferate and his crew win another term, all County Parties consider disassociation with the Republican Party of Oklahoma. Have they helped you all that much or just raised money from your people? In Tulsa, those not associated with GOP Party Leadership win sixty-percent of the Republican primary vote. It’s sad that it has come to this. If a Party doesn’t follow rules passed in general convention, they are not an association of Constitution Loving Liberty Focused Patriots.