Elections, National

Did Larry Lindsey not understand full caucus-assembly process?

Larry Lindsey has become an overnight sensation in Colorado, thanks to “selfie” videos of his experience with the Colorado Republican state convention, and links from the Drudge Report.

Specifically, Mr. Lindsey has accused the state GOP of barring him from the state convention because he was a Trump supporter.

However, Complete Colorado has searched the Facebook archives of Mr. Lindsey, and his post on Super Tuesday — the original caucus date at the precinct level of March 1 — raises new questions of whether Mr. Lindsey fully understood the entire process of electing delegates to the national GOP convention, at least via the process in place in Colorado.

In a Facebook post from March 1, Lindsey says, “Natasha and I just got back from the Douglas County Caucus, where I was elected as a delegate.” He later concludes his post by saying, “Next, I go to the State Caucus. GO TRUMP!!!”

LarryLindseyScreenShotWATERMARKED

Mr. Lindsey is wrong on two accounts. Given that he went to a precinct caucus on March 1, he could not have possibly attended the county assembly on that evening as he claims he did in the post. The county assembly was on March 19 for the Douglas County GOP.

Secondly, if Mr. Lindsey was elected as a delegate from his precinct on March 1, his next step was to attend the county assembly, and either run for a spot as a state delegate, or vote for a delegate to the state convention that he supported.

The process for being a state delegate requires that you be elected from your precinct to the county assembly. At the county assembly, you run to be elected to the state assembly. The Facebook post suggests Mr. Lindsey thought the process had only two steps, when in fact, it contained three steps.

It is still unknown at this time if Mr. Lindsey attended the Douglas County assembly, despite whether he was confused about the process or not when he posted on March 1.

Additionally, the Douglas County GOP has issued a press release, claiming Lindsey did not pick up his credentials at the county assembly on March 19, nor did he receive any votes on that day, which the GOP is saying backs up their assertion that Lindsey missed the meeting altogether.

Here is the embedded version from Facebook:

Natasha and I just got back from the Douglas County Caucus, where I was elected as a Delegate. When the discussion…

Posted by Larry Wayne Lindsey on Tuesday, March 1, 2016


The full press release from the Douglas County GOP:

Parker, Colo. (April 11, 2016) – Tanne Blackburn, chairman of the Douglas County Republican Party today issued a statement regarding an incident that occurred involving Larry Lindsey during the Colorado Republican State Convention this past weekend in Colorado Springs.

“You may have seen one or more of the videos posted by a gentleman from Castle Rock, Larry Lindsey, who feels disenfranchised by the process. It is disheartening to hear such sentiments as we worked diligently to provide a fair process for all involved.

“I want to specifically address one of the videos that Mr. Lindsey posted on social media. In the video, Mr. Lindsay attempted to pick up his delegate credentials for the Republican State Assembly last Saturday, April 9, 2016 in Colorado Springs. At the end of the video, I have just logged onto the State website to verify his status as a delegate from Douglas County. I told him he was not a registered Republican, at which point the video stops.

“He did not include the steps we took to confirm his status that followed. I, then, confirmed with him the spelling of his last name and confirmed that he is, in fact, a registered Republican. Then, I checked the list of delegates and informed him that he was not a delegate to the State Convention. I sensed his frustration and offered to help alleviate the confusion by calling his District Captain.

“His District Captain explained that Mr. Lindsey is not a delegate because he did not attend the county assembly, which is where delegates from each district were elected to the state assembly.

“Colorado’s caucus process is admittedly complicated, but my door and that of the entire executive team is always open for those who have questions or need clarification on the process. This situation has absolutely nothing to do with who Mr. Lindsey supports for President. We encourage healthy debate around candidates to ensure that all viewpoints are considered.”

Here are a few confirmed facts to consider about this unfortunate situation:

  • Mr. Lindsey did attend his local Caucus on March 1st where he was elected by the participants in his precinct to attend the County District Assembly on March 19th.  We have confirmed this in two ways. First, from the results list provided by the precinct person who ran the precinct caucus indicating that he attended the Caucus and was a delegate elected from that precinct to the District Assembly.  He also posted on his Facebook timeline on March 1st that he had been elected as a delegate, incorrectly indicating that he was a delegate to the State Assembly.
  • Mr. Lindsey did not attend the County District Assembly on March 19th.  We know this because he did not sign the official registry at Assembly check-in, nor did he pick up his voter packet with his credentials, name tag and ballots.  Although his name appears on the ballot for delegates to attend the State Assembly, he received no votes, which is another indication that he was likely not there. Had he attended, he likely would have, at the very least, voted for himself. There are no postings on his Facebook page on or around March 19th indicating anything about attendance at the County Assembly.
  • Since Mr. Lindsey did not attend the County District Assembly he was not elected to be a delegate to the State Assembly, nor could he have been, so there is no way that he would have been listed as a delegate to the State Convention when he tried to check in on Saturday morning.



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