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March 22, 2013

Mark Zaccaria: RI GOP Leadership Election Continued

Monique Chartier

Mark Zaccaria, whose tenure as Chair of the RIGOP was unexpected extended last night, issued the following statement this morning.

RIGOP Deadlocked on New Chair

Cranston: The State Central Committee of the Rhode Island Republican Party met in convention Thursday night to elect new leadership for the upcoming two year term. The convention was held in the Imperial Room, at Shriners’ Hall, in Cranston. Candidates and their supporters addressed the crowd of more than 200 Delegates and Alternates before balloting began.

After the voting the members of the GOP had a prolonged wait for results. This delay was made necessary by an extremely tight race for the position of Party Chair for the 2014 cycle. Dr. Daniel Harrop, of Providence, and Mr. Mark Smiley, of Warren, were the two contenders for that post. Following several recounts the results were inconclusive.

Raymond McKay, of Warwick, was the Parliamentarian for the meeting. In that capacity he offered the opinion that the voting for State Chair was invalid. His recommendation was accepted by outgoing State Chair, Mark Zaccaria, who gaveled the convention. By the time this decision was made many of the delegates had left the meeting and questions of both quorum and curfew were raised. On that basis the meeting was continued, rather than adjourned.

The convention was able to elect its remaining leadership for the upcoming term. These newly elected office holders will assume their duties at the adjournment of the state convention. They are:

Giovani Calise, of West Warwick – 1st Vice Chair

Michael Grossi, of North Providence – Treasurer

Eileen Grossman, of Cranston – Secretary

Danny Hall, of Warwick – 2nd Vice Chair

“We are confident we can hold a second vote for party leader as early as April 2nd so our newly elected State Chair can then make his way to his first RNC Meeting the following week.” Zaccaria said in a prepared statement.

Comments

Some both in and out of the RIGOP have claimed that this is some sort of "there they go again" moment for the party.

Not so! Odds on favorite is that 2 hardworking volunteers forgot to check off a single delegate out of 187 in a crowded room with people rushing to vote.

I was an observer for Dave Talan in the count room. The count was professional, accurate and resulted in a 1 vote victory for Chair.

The Parliamentarian made a decision in accordance with RIGOP By-laws and Robert's Rules that we could not declare a winner by a 1 vote margin with 1 extra ballot in the mix.

We followed our rules. Compare this to the RI House's #read Speaker Fox's# action with the ethics bill. They twisted the rules to get the result they wanted.

We'll continue our convention and get it done correctly.

Phil Hirons, Jr.
VP, Providence County, RI Republican Chairs' Caucus
Chair, Smithfield RTC

Posted by: Phil Hirons, Jr. at March 22, 2013 1:42 PM