The Maine Sun Journal reports on the lastest in the brouhaha over seating Maine's Ron Paul-dominated delegation to the Republican National Convention in Tampa later this month has some members of the delegation trying to get the RNC's dithering over the question declared over and the already-selected Paul delegation to just take its rightful place:
Friday delegates Stavros Mendros, Brent Tweed and Matthew Mcdonald filed a request for an injunction with Belfast Superior Court.
It asks that the court rule against the Republican National Committee and stop its process of investigating whether 21 Paul delegates from Maine were elected legally during the party's state convention in Maine.
Mendros said the injunction notes the RNC was suppose to rule on the issue last Friday but instead asked for more evidence against the Paul delegates.
"We filed an injunction that basically states the RNC has no authority at this point," Mendros said. "We were duly elected."…..
"They have to rule based on the evidence given to them in the complaint," Mendros said. "They didn't do that, they asked for more evidence. They can't do that. By asking for more evidence they are admitting they didn't have enough evidence to rule against us which means the contest is over, they don't get a second chance to bring in more evidence."
The story sums up the complaint against the delegation:
In their complaint Jan Staples, the committeewoman and Peter E. Cianchette alleged:
• The failure of the credentialing process at the state convention led to illegal votes being cast and counted.
• There was not a quorum when votes for at-large delegates and alternates were cast.
• Widespread credentialing irregularities and lax floor security led to illegal votes being cast and counted.
• Convention officials repeatedly violated party and parliamentary rules.
But Mendros and other Paul delegates have said the state convention was conducted legally and within the rules. Other prominent Maine Republicans including Gov. Paul LePage have said the Paul delegates deserve to be seated.
