Georgia Young Republican’s Second Convention Proves How Broken Things Are

It’s fair to say that inside Georgia’s Republican Party there are factions of people – two of which are those looking to change the way things have “always been done” and the people who want to protect the way things have “always been done”.

As I look deeper into Republican held governments all over the country and the fact that the majority of America is in fact in the hands of the elephant, I cannot help but ask myself why there is such a war between the “old guard” and the “new blood”.

This internal battle is no different inside the Georgia Young Republicans (GYR). As Scot wrote back in July, the May 2024, GYR Convention election was overturned due to complaints filed by people close to a losing candidate, who are also members of a local Georgia Young Republicans chapter. Their complaints were regarding the legitimacy of the election process due to, what looks to me, like administrative errors surrounding the planning of the convention.

The Young Republicans National Federation (YRNF) Dispute Resolution Committee heard these complaints, which I’d like to note were supposed to be taken directly to the GYR first but weren’t, and issued an investigation that ultimately overturned the election – proof that elections can be overturned in the state of Georgia – and told the GYR that the YRNF would hold a new convention which took place Saturday, September 7, 2024.

In full disclosure, I’ve had a run-in or two with some crazy factions of Republicans who threw a RINO label my way because I didn’t 100% agree with their tactics on trying to change the way the party ran. I personally think we should overhaul how politics are done in this state, and country, but intimidating people, throwing fits at polling locations and manipulating the emotions of uninformed voters is not the way it should be done – who are we, Democrats?

At the meeting Saturday, it was very clear that no one wanted to be there for a second convention just 60 days out from an extremely important election, and attendees were making sure the Young Republican National Federation leadership knew it. The results of this convention election were nearly identical to the last with a couple people moving races due to vacancies.

What this entire mess underpins is a huge issue within the Republican Party: pride.

Oh, I know, you’re probably getting offended but I really don’t care. I’ve voted Republican my entire life and it wasn’t until getting involved in politics that I realized people who have power wanted desperately to keep it and were intimidated by anyone trying to “usurp” what they “rightfully deserved”. There is some sort of unwritten rule, at least locally, within these groups that says a groomed, approved and appointed person is the only choice after the previous leader steps down and anyone who wants to disrupt that system is the enemy because “they just don’t know how things are done.”

I know this is true, you know this is true, so let’s just know it together – okay?

While it may be accurate that someone new doesn’t know how things have been done in the past, commentary like this really says, “our pride won’t allow us to change, and we don’t want you making any changes either”.

And we’re watching that happen with the Georgia Young Republicans who should have been out door knocking Saturday instead of stuck in a hotel at Lenox where it cost $20 to park and the Lord only knows how much in gas to get there.

While the complaints that created the chaos in the GYR for the last four months stemmed around administrative errors at the first convention, even the new convention on Saturday had administrative issues including not hiring a professional parliamentarian which was prescribed in the dispute ruling, and that the convention attendees were not allowed to adopt the rules for the convention despite acceptance of the rules being general practice.

The Young Republican National Federation “should be something the GOP can rely on, both in Georgia and nationally, and unfortunately because of what happened they [YRNF] are not able to maintain good relationships with the RNC and other groups that quite honestly see this as child play time,” said Peter Giunta, Chairman for the New York State Young Republicans who was part of the defense team against the claims made about the May GYR convention.

Giunta is a 12-year political veteran who has been a member of the Young Republicans for four years and has dedicated much of his time to making his state’s Young Republican organization work.

“Part of the reason I’m running for [YRNF] chair is because I want to change the culture,” Giunta said after explaining that he’s been working to ensure each region is accurately represented in the national organization but is stonewalled at every meeting. Meanwhile, the current national leadership attempted to move sexual harassment claims from automatically going to legal counsel to the Dispute Resolution Committee – where disputes are not required in the bylaws to be confidential.

Priorities, right?

This insanity in the Young Republicans organization is simply a byproduct of what I mentioned earlier, pride, which keeps a man from examining himself, and instead throws blame on others and refuses to behave rationally. If you’re getting irritated right now, you’re proving my point.

When new blood wins, old guard should be willing to come alongside and help maintain order to maintain the legacy they want to build. When old guard wins, new blood should be willing to come alongside and offer solutions and perspective that should be taken seriously.

Quite honestly, this back-and-forth garbage between “maintaining power” and “changing the political landscape” just goes to show that man is flawed and easily corrupted by power which is not an encouraging thought to anyone who wanted to get involved in politics to serve the greater good – me included.