I will be attending my third Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL, from Aug. 26-31.
I previously attended the 1996 and 2006 national conventions as an alternate delegate. I was elected from the 12th Congressional District which spans six counties in southwestern Pennsylvania. I was the highest vote-getter with over 29,000 votes cast for both delegate and alternate delegate positions between 14 people running.
The 12th Congressional District elected four delegates and four alternate delegates. Each congressional district normally elects three per district, but a handful elect four based on Republican turnout from the previous presidential election in the congressional districts every four years.
A delegate or alternate delegate is elected by Republican voters every four years in the April primary. Each candidate must secure at least 250 Republican signatures to make the primary ballot.
Then candidates' names are pulled from a "lot selection" to determine the ballot appearance. Each candidate has to file a $25 filing fee to the Pennsylvania Department of State for each position. Then nominating petitions must be notarized and taken to Harrisburg, PA, to make the ballot.
The process happens before the primary and you have 3 1/2 weeks to make the ballot. A candidate must gather the signatures in the winter months—normally January and February—when the weather is not the best.
The delegates and alternates are responsible for all their expenses, which can cost up to $2,000 to $3,000 for the national conventions. This covers airfare, host hotel expenses and costs paid to the Republican Party of Pennsylvania for food, ground transportation and various activites.
It can be a costly five to six days while attending.
The local and state Republican parties do not cover any costs at all. This is solely up to the delegates and alternates who got elected from their congressional districts.
I have been active in the North Hills in the Republican Party for over 20 years.
I have been on the Hampton Republican Committee since 2008 as an elected GOP Committeman from District 11. In addition, I am the elected Republican State Committeeman from the 40th Senate District, which encompasses 12 townships and boroughs in the North Hills.
I am humbled and honored to represent the Republican voters of the 12th Congressional District at the Republican National Convention in Tampa this month.
It is a privilege to attend.
I will be blogging from the convention for Patch.
And here's an economics lesson for you: if they find cheaper labor outside of the US, it's most likely because we can't produce that widget as effectively as the other country. So what I'm getting at here is that I don't think it's a question of what political ideology is right, because what it boils down to is the people who live here in America. I'll begrudgingly give my vote to Romney this year, if for nothing else because my taxes will probably won't go up and I'd rather have more money in my pocket at the end of the day. I think economics can give a pretty good explanation of what's happened up to this point in this country and what's happening now, and regardless of what political party you're affiliated with I would urge you to turn off Fox News or CNN and pick up an economics book. Better yet, pick up an economic history of the US book. Instead of pointing the finger at the other party and rattling off baseless figures, you might be able to have an intelligent conversation. Can you tell this has been building up for a while?
Econ 101, spend less money than comes in the door. The other 390 pages of the economics book can be overlooked until we have this basic understanding.
"The total amount invested in Fannie and Freddie so far is $187 billion. They have returned none of the money invested so far—and might never do so. The Treasury has been earning a return on its investments. So far Fannie and Freddie have paid $41 billion in dividends to the Treasury." WHEN IS Fannie and Freddie going to pay back all the money they were loaned, after all this money belongs to the PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES>
By the way, if there's anything that econ 101 will teach you it's that you can bend numbers to make them say what you want pretty easily. When I wrote the first post it was intended to be in reply to the argument that was about to take place above, not the article.
People are now talking about "where were you when ...." and "I can remember ..." (and I do recall both), one wonders about the value of the moon landing. Yes, we got Tang from the project. Whoopee!!! Yes, there were many other technology innovations that came from the moon project. But, one has to wonder if those would have emerged without the cost of the moon project. I've yet to find one person to tell me the value of those expenditures. "Just to prove that we can do it ..." is not a reasonable answer. The moon project has been dead for a couple of decades. Are we worse off now than we would have been had the moon projects continue? As for the Mars rover project, I think the cost is $19B and counting. Again, nobody has given me any good reason, innovations, or other advancements that will come from the $19B. Again, "to prove that we can ..." is not a reasonable answer. What ever came from the findings of what we found on the moon? What can we expect to do with the findings that will come from Curious? Oh, to be sure, lots of interesting information. But, "interesting information" hardly moves us along in our path of life, especially at the cost. So, moon projects and Mars Curious projects are not ones that have positive cohesiveness.
Additionally, I'm in agreement with Mike and Amanda. There's been a lot of discussion lately about our differences, and it seems like those bases have been covered. Lets move forward in these conversations with a positive outlook.
Thank You Mr. Obama... ... For slashing Medicare for seniors by 716 BILLION DOLLARS! ... For promoting homosexuality and sodomy! ... For supporting the murder of babies in the womb! ... For putting jobs for illegals before jobs for Americans! ... For protecting the criminal activities of the BATF, DOJ and Eric Holder! ... For secretly and quietly disarming the US Military! ... For assisting our enemies and subverting the US Constitution! ... For turning American against American, black against white... ... For doubling the US Debit with absolutely no results! ... For refusing to enforce US marriage laws! ... For refusing to enforce US immigration laws! ... For stopping the Keystone Pipeline and killing US jobs! ... For forcing every American to purchase bad health insurance! ... For stopping the Keystone Pipeline and increasing the cost of gas! ... For stopping oil drilling in the Gulf and increasing the cost of gas! ... For blocking coal production and increasing the cost of energy! ... For encouraging class warfare, young vs. old, poor vs. rich, black vs white... ... For turning our allies into enemies and our enemies into nuclear superpowers! ... For turning our schools into government propaganda centers... mmm, mmm, mmm! ... For dividing our great nation... citizen against citizen, Democrat against Republican... Vote American This Time! Vote Romney/Ryan
Just kidding, I like where this conversation is going. Agreed. People need to put aside their differences and talk about what's going on. But do I think people will ever agree on a solution to the national debt? Heck no. I do agree with Roger though, on his point about NASA though. Does it really matter to me when we determine the climate or geography of Mars? Um no. Besides having an impressive fact at my disposal I don't think this concerns me or (more importantly) my tax dollars. Then again, talk to a physics or astronomy professor and they might tell you otherwise. And before anybody goes off on a "NASA is awesome and here's why" tangent I'm using the example of NASA to refer to things the government does that I simply have no use for or don't care about.