Establishment Tactics Stifle Grassroots at Georgia’s 9th District Convention

Stephen Aaron, the new 9th district GOP chairman, and Cooper Whitmire, vice chair and resolution committee chair, are steering the district away from grassroots influence. Previously, Aaron limited resolutions to avoid media attention, slipping in a controversial one to honor David Ralston. Whitmire, continuing this trend, presented only 3 of 14 submitted resolutions, all bland. With only 205 of 369 allotted delegates present, participation was low, hampering grassroots efforts. A proposed rule change to lower the resolution vote threshold from 2/3 to 50+1 was rejected, citing harm to smaller counties, though establishment voting was unhindered. Jason Thompson’s repeated quorum calls and exit tactics disrupted business, notably blocking a motion for resolution to remove Jon Burns as speaker. By skipping new business, the convention leadership, including Blackburn, suppressed grassroots initiatives, reinforcing establishment control over the district.

Stephen Aaron is the new chairman of the 9th district, Cooper Whitmire is the new vice chair. Cooper is also the chair of the resolution committee of the 9th district. Cooper Whitmire calls BKP to have lunch. He was checking to see where BKP stood. Oryan Roy did the same thing, both from Turning Point.
Stephen Aaron was the chair of the resolution committee 2 years ago. There were a lot of resolutions that were submitted. Stephen Aaron said that there would not be any resolutions that would bring media attention. And limited the number of resolutions. Stephen wrote the report that the committee didn’t agree on and slipped in a resolution to honor David Ralston in the end.
Cooper Whitmire is the resolution committee chair and had 14 resolutions submitted and only presented 3 resolutions. The resolutions were very bland resolutions.
The ninth district was allotted 369 delegates, only 205 delegates. This is a problem.
The resolutions people think are no big deal because lawmakers won’t make a big deal about them. But if the grassroots take back the party then resolutions will be a big deal.
Now on the rules you have to have ⅔ votes to have resolutions because they know that by the time you get to resolutions you won’t have a quorum, but if you change it to 50+1 it is possible to have a quorum and get the business done. It was motioned to change the rule removing the 2/3rd rule to 50+1. The explanation was that it would hurt the smaller counties. It's ok if the big counties team up and vote in the establishment committee members and officers but it is not ok to have 50+1 for a resolution.
As soon as the resolutions Jason Thompson walks across the floor. He called for a quorum call several times. He wanted to stop business.
Blackburn went straight to announcements and skipped new business, telling us twice that it was not on the agenda. Remember Jason Thompson left and did everything to kill this convention.
There was a motion and a second to ask for the removal of Jon Burns as speaker of the house. Jason Thompson and others start pushing people out the door to lose the quorum. There was a quorum, they wanted to shut it down so a vote couldn’t be taken.