Crook County GOP holds historic digital convention

With social distancing rules making it impossible to hold the 2020 Crook County Republican Party Convention in the usual manner, lateral thinking was needed to make sure the voting delegates could still come together to discuss the political issues of the day.

“It actually went really well, it was just pretty remarkable. I tell you, I’ve got a lot of respect for these folks in Crook County, they stepped up to the plate and dealt with a very difficult situation and they did it admirably,” says Chip Neiman, Chairman.

With little time to prepare and no prior experience of holding a digital meeting on this scale, it wasn’t an easy task, Neiman says. It involved, for a start, three trainings on how to use Zoom meeting software.

“I tried to get some information together and did a quick crash course on Zoom. I worked with the state party and they were fantastic,” he says. From the state party, Chairman Frank Eathorne, Communications Director Trinity Lewis and Executive Director Kathy Russell were involved in helping to prepare the conventions to go digital.

“Then we took it as chairs from each individual county and tried to get our people engaged and able to have internet. If not, we tried to get people to where they could get internet without compromising the governor’s orders to make sure nobody got in any place where there were more than ten people,” Neiman continues. “We were able to do it almost all from home, believe it or not. We had 44 voting delegates that showed up out of 48.”

The event was not without its technical hiccups. For instance, digital balloting was used via Google but it transpired midway through that the software will only allow a certain number of ballots to be submitted, which meant a second form had to be created.

However, says Neiman, there were no issues that couldn’t be solved.

“It really went well. I’ve got to give all the credit to the folks round here for their willingness to stay focused and make this happen. This has been a challenge, our state and a lot of different counties are trying to work through this,” he says.

“Everybody participated and was willing to learn and get on the trainings at night, and it really showed.”

Selection of delegates to the state convention included the three automatic delegates, Neiman, Ty Stutzman and Sherri Davis, and seven chosen at the county convention: Ted Davis , Caeden Reeves, Sherry Wood, Dale Wood, Tina Wood, Roger Connett, and Diana Burian. Alternates are Jeff Burian, Steve Wood, Ann Marie Mickel, Julie Baker, Jeff Mickel, Daryle Baker, Rod Geil, Tyler Lindholm, and Rod Mathis.

Other business conducted at the convention included the election of Dave Holland as Crook County’s alternate delegate for the national convention. Numerous resolutions were considered.

“Some were rejected, some were ratified and sent to the state to be acted on,” Neiman says.

The two most prominent of these resolutions included the “Non-relief Spending in the C.A.R.E.S. Act”, stating that the Crook County Republican Party finds the federal relief package passed recently to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak “careless and abhorrent given the nation’s $23.5 trillion debt”. The “COVID-19 Shutdowns” resolution meanwhile states that the county party does not support the “unconstitutional” shutdown of businesses and churches and resolves there will be no mandatory vaccinations as a result of the epidemic.

“You could tell people were definitely in support of those resolutions, so they both were passed and adopted,” says Neiman.

He also notes that, “The Crook County Republican Party recognizes the difficult circumstances that our state leaders are faced with and want to publicly state our appreciation to our health care providers and those charged with the responsibility of protecting the health of our community while preserving our fundamental rights and freedoms.” 

Additional resolutions included, among others, to keep Guantanamo Bay open; reinstatement of the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy; adequate military funding; opposition to subsidies for all energy sources; support for the state in continuing the fight for the right to ship Wyoming coal by rail to all ports; equivalent taxes for wind energy to the taxes levied on minerals; streamlining of the process to become a legal citizen; limiting unemployment benefits to six consecutive months; a limit on per-student spending in the public school system; the inclusion of financial management in high school curricula; and re-establishment of state control over water resources.

All things told, Neiman is pleased the party was able to conduct business at the convention despite the challenges.

“I can’t thank enough the people of the GOP in Crook County, these folks did a phenomenal job and were really up to the challenge,” he says.