Republican Convention Delegate from Will County David E. Smith then took it upon himself to attempt the monumental task of getting a petition signed by the heads of 50 delegations before 9:30 a.m. the next morning to reinsert the prior 2012 language.
Yesterday was the concluding meeting of Delegates at the Republican Convention held in the late Spring every 4 years in Illinois. One day earlier, the Platform Committee announced to a packed audience the detailed and nuanced draft platform that was 98% agreed. However, the committee had taken out the wording from the 2012 Platform that ”While not universally achievable, the ideal environment for children is within a two-parent family based on the principle of marriage between one man and one woman” and substituted the following sentence, “ We acknowledge and welcome the diversity of opinions within our party regarding families, including the views that marriage is defined as the union of one man and one woman, that non-traditional families are worthy of the same respect and legal protections as traditional families and that marriage ought to be the purview of religious institutions and not of the government.”
Yesterday was the concluding meeting of Delegates at the Republican Convention held in the late Spring every 4 years in Illinois. One day earlier, the Platform Committee announced to a packed audience the detailed and nuanced draft platform that was 98% agreed. However, the committee had taken out the wording from the 2012 Platform that ”While not universally achievable, the ideal environment for children is within a two-parent family based on the principle of marriage between one man and one woman” and substituted the following sentence, “ We acknowledge and welcome the diversity of opinions within our party regarding families, including the views that marriage is defined as the union of one man and one woman, that non-traditional families are worthy of the same respect and legal protections as traditional families and that marriage ought to be the purview of religious institutions and not of the government.”
Late in the afternoon Crete Township Republican Chairman, Executive Director of the Illinois Family Institute and Republican Convention Delegate from Will County David E. Smith then took it upon himself to attempt the monumental task of getting a petition signed by the heads of 50 delegations before 9:30 a.m. the next morning to reinsert the prior 2012 language. No one in the history of Illinois Republican Conventions has been able to meet this high hurdle before. Four years ago in Tinley Park a group came close after working TWO days to get the signatures.
David E. Smith’s volunteers did work through the night and ended up with 71 signatures in order to be challenge proof. In the final hour of the Convention, Chairman Schneider came to the point of dealing with David E. Smith’s resolution. Chairman Schneider outlined to all in attendance the rules where each side could have three persons make short speeches on their side of the argument and that a standing vote would follow where there would be an actual count of each person standing. In high drama, eloquent arguments were made. With almost a thousand delegates voting, 79% voted to reinstate the language that included ”While not universally achievable, the ideal environment for children is within a two-parent family based on the principle of marriage between one man and one woman”.
Kudos to David E. Smith, his numerous volunteers and supporters for successfully making a historic motion from the floor and having it pass with a vast majority of delegates unifying around the prior language. Kudos to GOP lawyers John Fogarty Jr. and Laura Jacksack for their fair and accurate advice to the committees and leadership. David E. Smith stopped Chairman Schneider afterwards and thanked him for the clean, fair and straightforward way he allowed it to come to a vote. As Delegate Sharee Langenstein artfully noted “We now have a new, and obviously better and more fair, chairman.”
Written by Ed Ronkowski 5/23/2016
David E. Smith’s volunteers did work through the night and ended up with 71 signatures in order to be challenge proof. In the final hour of the Convention, Chairman Schneider came to the point of dealing with David E. Smith’s resolution. Chairman Schneider outlined to all in attendance the rules where each side could have three persons make short speeches on their side of the argument and that a standing vote would follow where there would be an actual count of each person standing. In high drama, eloquent arguments were made. With almost a thousand delegates voting, 79% voted to reinstate the language that included ”While not universally achievable, the ideal environment for children is within a two-parent family based on the principle of marriage between one man and one woman”.
Kudos to David E. Smith, his numerous volunteers and supporters for successfully making a historic motion from the floor and having it pass with a vast majority of delegates unifying around the prior language. Kudos to GOP lawyers John Fogarty Jr. and Laura Jacksack for their fair and accurate advice to the committees and leadership. David E. Smith stopped Chairman Schneider afterwards and thanked him for the clean, fair and straightforward way he allowed it to come to a vote. As Delegate Sharee Langenstein artfully noted “We now have a new, and obviously better and more fair, chairman.”
Written by Ed Ronkowski 5/23/2016
