County Chairmen for Rick Crawford?
Charlie Frago with the Arkansas Democrat Gazette (subscription required) has an interesting look at the First Congressional Race in east Arkansas. But one item in the article caught my attention when discussing Republican candidate Rick Crawford…
Crawford, 44, who owns an agricultural radio network, touts his war chest more than $200,000 raised so far – and organizational strength. He said he has lined up the support of party county chairmen across the district.
Support of Republican Party County Chairmen? My understanding was that was frowned on in a primary and Crawford currently has to face Republican Princella Smith before he is the nominee. I asked Jonah Shumate, campaign manager for Crawford for Congress, about this and he attempted to clear up the confusion.
“The context of that statement was made in regards to starting the campaign early and going to First District GOP Committees to garner support for Rick’s Congressional run,” said Shumate. “And, that support was going to come from grass-roots supporters not the direct endorsement or support of County Chairman. Rick has not asked any County Chairman to support him directly or endorse him because GOP Party Rules prohibit just that.”
Tags: 2010 Candidates
March 12th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Whoopsy…
Someone pulled the curtain back a little.
March 12th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
You are correct. Neither the county chairman or Secretary can endorse a candidate. If Rick Crawford says they have, he is lying. If in fact chairmen across the county have, they are wrong to do so and violate the county committee rules.
March 12th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
A committee chairman is charged to not “endorse or otherwise publicly show favoritism” to one nominee over another. Nothing in Crawford’s comment states that a certain chairman has made a public endorsement or is publicly showing favoritism. The rule can be interpreted so that a chairman is able to voice his support to a candidate and help that candidate as long as it is not public.
That being said I will not show any favoritism during a primary, public or private.