MDGOP Bylaws Committee Rejects Waterman Amendment
Earlier this week I discussed Kevin Waterman’s reasonable and practical amendments to the Maryland Republican Party bylaws he was proposing be adopted at next weekend’s State Party Convention. Well, it seems like the proposal has hit a bit of a snag.
One of the requirements for the introduction of a bylaw amendment is that it be considered by the Maryland Republican Party Bylaws Committee. The Committee has considered and rejected Waterman’s proposed amendment.
This is not the end of the Amendment process; the full convention can reconsider, debate, and discuss the amendment notwithstanding the objections of the Bylaws Committee.
Below is the text of an email that Waterman sent to fellow Central Committee members. I would urge you to consider contacting your County Central Committee members and voice your opinion on this practical change that we can make to ensure that our party is run more effectively and closer to the people.
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From: Kevin Waterman
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 12:09 PM
Subject: Proposed Bylaws Amendment for the Upcoming MDGOP Convention
Dear Central Committee Member,
My name is Kevin Waterman, I’m a member of the Queen Anne’s County Republican Central Committee. I am writing to you concerning a proposed change to the MDGOP Bylaws that I have offered.
You should be familiar with this proposal as I emailed both an earlier draft of the proposal and several possible changes to it to your County Chairman and asked them to send it on to all their committee members for review and discussion.
Unfortunately, the MDGOP Bylaws Committee has decided not to give their approval for the measure to be presented for a vote at the upcoming convention. However, this does not mean we cannot discuss and consider the proposal at convention, it simply means we, as a body, must vote both to consider the amendment (3/5 approval) and then on whether or not to approve it (2/3 approval).
Since I think this is an issue of great importance to the State Party and have received a lot of interest from many parties, I believe we should take the step of voting for such a consideration. To that end, I am including the full amendment (you can find the text below my signature). I would ask that you please review the proposal and contact me with your thoughts on it.
Additionally, based on some of the feedback from the Bylaws Committee, if approval for consideration is given I am considering making a motion to divide the question, separating out the issue of regional chairs and regional conventions (and making a minor amendment to the elections process as well so we don’t have an issue if one half were approved and the other rejected). In other words, first we would debate and vote on changing from a 1st Vice Chair plus two additional chairs to a 1st vice chair plus four regional chairs. Then we would debate and vote on changing to one Statewide convention and one regional convention in odd numbered years.
While I believe that both pieces will help us in our goal to elect more Republicans by promoting cooperation between counties in a region and promote unity across the State, some feel that we should make these changes incrementally.
Please also let me know if you think this proposed amendment is a good idea or not. And if you would support it in its entirety, or one part or the other.
I look forward to seeing you at convention!
Sincerely, Kevin Waterman
