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| Senator Nathan Dahm Colluding with AJ Ferate |
We warned the delegates that the emails coming from Chickasaw Warrior and Cherokee Maiden were associated with AJ Ferate if not from actually him.
You can read the pre convention warning email we sent out at this link. However the thought was that Ferate was stirring the pot, creating ill will between the conservative factions, perhaps hoping for a dignified loss if not making it into the run off.
Polling done prior to the convention had Ferate way under 20% to 30% with the other two candidates nearly tied or with Sean Roberts wi th a small lead. Ferate's emails started putting out the idea that Nathan Dahm would run but as late as the Tuesday before the convention Dahm was attending county conventions but sitting in the audience, not giving campaign speeches. Other sources besides Ferate's Chickasaw Warrior emails were warning that Dahm might get in the race.
And Dahm did indeed announce his candidacy a few days before the convention. Now this wasn't popular because it painted Dahm as not a team player as Roberts had been working the county conventions for months at that point. People don' like spoilers, in previous races we always managed to get most of the late entry candidates to hold off in the name of unity. But there was a sense of “we can't lose” if the run off was between Roberts and Dahm. Both had stellar voting records.
What we didn't count on was Nathan Dahm selling his soul to win the election. On the first ballot Ferate received around 16% of the votes with Roberts and Dahm at around 41% each roughly. What happened next stunned the crowd, Ferate commandeered a microphone and asked his supporters to throw their votes to Dahm. The Chairman rightfully scolded Ferate for taking advantage of the situation but the damage had been done.
Roberts had made mistakes, a huge one was putting John Bennett up on the stage to nominate him. Bennett was a disaster as Chair, selling out to the radical far right abolitionist crowd, constantly putting his foot in his mouth or announcing crack pot statements till the majority of the Congressional delegation, Republican state wide office holders, and even his own Vice Chair had to publicly denounce him. Bennett angered many with his refusal to prosecute the embezzlement from the previous chairman or provide justice to the multiple women that came forward saying they had been sexually harassed by his own staff, and Bennett's lockdown of the State Committees and the stripping of the contact information for County GOP officials didn't set well. And the Party was broke, Bennett couldn't raise money and what little he did raise was wasted by funneling to his cronies.
And the stolen valor allegations left more than half of his supporters disgusted. It is bad enough to claim combat status and entirely another kettle of fish to go after the retired Marine Major that had exposed Bennett as a fraud. Swatting someone is dangerous and there is no doubt the false suicide/red flag report came from Bennett's own office because the Veterans Administration Hot Line report stated just that. The Marine Major was also physically attacked at the Walmart in Sallisaw by Bennett's own office manager, which Bennett denied and claimed the guy hadn't worked at the office for over a year. The denials rang hollow though after the office manager showed up at Bennett's office while Bennett was telling the lie, carrying the sacks of lunch that the manager had gone to pick up. And how does a radical far right Pentecostal preacher raise funds at a strip club/bar and keep his crowd of lunatics from revolting?
Bennett was the kiss of death to the Robert's campaign. All Bennett did was to remind the delegates of just how horrible of a job Bennett had done and it smeared Robert's judgment and credibility.
Roberts was also damaged by the endorsement of Leslie Nessmith's GOP Action Committee or whatever she called it. Leslie came out of the Bennett administration with a terrible reputation for division, deceit, and dishonesty. At the end she was pretty much alone after one by one she ran off those that had been willing to work with her. Her reputation for toxicity was pretty well established. Roberts for his part claimed that he couldn't avoid people endorsing him and I suppose he needed the votes, but allowing Nessmith to pretend she had access alienated a lot of supporters that leaped at the chance to support Nathan Dahm. It was interesting to see Ronda Vulliemont Smith up in the Tulsa GOP turn against both Nessmith and Roberts, only a handful of Tulsa County Delegates applauded Roberts after his campaign speech and nearly all of the voted for Dahm.
The mood at the convention was one of partial disbelief over Dahm's partnering with the RINOs. Many didn't want to believe it, they had thought better of Dahm. Roberts and Dahm were on the same team down at the legislature, no one wanted to believe that Dahm had made a deal with the devil.
By Monday the pod casts and bloggers were waking up to the betrayal and loudly speaking against Dahm. People realized that this wasn't a fair election, Dahm hadn't earned the win in a fair manner, and no one knew what he had given away to secure the endorsement of Ferate. The Chickasaw Warrior did a victory lap, a well earned one as they helped pull off a huge backstabbing of Roberts and half of the conservative delegation, but he also wondered how Dahm would raise money including the 2018 FEC fines that are coming due.
Ferate for his part pulled off a spectacular pivot, damaging the conservative movement by splitting it in half on the way out the door. Leaving the Party facing tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands in penalties and fines from the FEC thanks to the feckless and irresponsible leadership of Pollard, Jemison, Curry, and of course Ferate's part in refusing to honestly file reports and earning huge fines during his tenure as General Counsel of the Party.
As for Dahm.... the poor bastard finds himself in purgatory with 40% or less of support in the Party. At any time Ferate and the RINOs can turn on Dahm and help cast him out, meaning that Ferate has Dahm by the short hairs. Even if Dahm turned on Ferate and backtracked on whatever promises he made as part of the deal for the RINO endorsement, the 40% of the conservative delegation that supported Roberts isn't going to trust Dahm even if he screwed Ferate over the next week. Dahm had a “landslide” win only in the mind of his supporters, Ferate can throw Dahm to the wolves at anytime,
One good thing was that the practice of harvesting proxies from elected officials was ended at the Convention with a rule change. Ferate would have never won office in a fair election of the State Committee and there were allegations of ballot harvesting and even cheating when Ferate won back when Bennett skulked away in shame. Still, with the 40% of Robert's supporters it won't take much for Dahm to face a challenge at a State Committee meeting so his fate hangs by a thread.
Can Dahm dig out of the hole? Maybe not, treachery in the fox hole isn't forgiven usually. Dahm didn't steal a march, he sold out to the RINOs and hollow pleas for “unity” of the Party are seen for what it is. People are not in a mood to reward treachery and making deals with the RINOs resulting in a dilution of conservative reforms to the Party.
As for Sean Roberts, working with Dahm would make him appear weak after this. This turned from a race into a civil war with what Roberts thought was a friend and ally into a backstabber in the fox hole. Robert's followers are justifiably outraged over Dahm selling out to the RINOs and cooperating with Dahm after this would be rewarding despicable behavior. Dahm could throw some scraps Robert's way but if I know Sean Roberts he will be too smart to take the bait. Robert's best bet is to wait till Dahm starts paying the bill to the RINOs, outraging his own supporters and all Roberts needs is 10 to 12% of the crowd to throw Dahm out of office. No way Dahm can please two masters so the second he betrays Ferate or further betrays his own supporters to appease Ferate they will turn on Dahm with vengence.
