We Republicans shouldn't punish members for following their conscience

Last Saturday, the Minnesota Republican State Central Committee voted 59-55 to expel 18 well-known, self-identified Republicans from the party for supporting Tom Horner for governor in last month's election. Those expelled include two former governors, a former U.S. senator and more than a dozen former legislators. I am a delegate to this committee who strongly opposed this resolution and voted against it.

This vote reminds me of the 2008 Minnesota Republican State Convention in Rochester. Delegates who supported Ron Paul were prevented from voting for delegates of their choice to the Republican National Convention because the party believed that a show of unity was more important than letting people vote their consciences. The result was that strong supporters of Republican principles in Minnesota sat on the sidelines in the subsequent election.

Later that year, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman lost his reelection bid by 300 votes, fewer than the number of Paul supporters at the state convention. I am convinced a bitterly split state convention, where activists were excluded from the process, weakened the party and contributed to the subsequent election loss.

As one who disagreed with the party's actions in 2008, I must disagree with the party's action last Saturday even though I oppose on principle many of the policies put forward by the expelled individuals and the candidate they supported. I am prolife and believe the Republican Party must be a strong advocate for fiscal restraint.

I rejected Tom Horner's candidacy because he wanted to expand government, even arguing for using federal dollars to expand government medical programs. This makes Minnesota's most needy, and the state's taxpayers, more dependent on the federal government, an unwise proposition with the federal government's finances in bad shape.

While I criticize the individuals named in the resolution for backing a candidate who opposed limited government, the process used by the State Central Committee is not the way to handle the issue. As a delegate to the committee, I had no notice before the meeting that this vote was to take place. Worse, there was no opportunity for the accused Republicans to defend themselves before their expulsion.

As a private organization, the Republican Party has the right to set rules for its members. But I am disappointed that Republicans did not uphold the basic rights of due process in the party's own proceedings against its own members.

By its action, the State Central Committee set the precedent for a centralized body to decide who is and who is not a Republican. Rather than centralized control and exclusion, local Republicans must understand where these individuals stand on issues and why limited-government conservatives disagree with their positions. Convincing the voters of the wisdom of limited government on issues including helping the unfortunate and resolving our budget woes is the way to build a strong party.

Some defend the committee's action by arguing the party must enforce discipline against those who supported the candidate of a different party. The argument assumes that without such discipline, voters will not trust the Republican Party to stand for freedom and conservative values. However, a party supporting individual rights must be driven by individuals in the grassroots. Thus, when dealing with particular individuals and whether they should serve in the party, delegates and activists in the party at the local level must have the wisdom to decide if these individuals listed in the resolution represent their values.

I know fiscal conservatives, who do not affiliate with the Minnesota GOP, who are turned off by the tactics used last Saturday. The crisis in Greece and the fiscal problems in states from California to Minnesota demonstrate that big-government solutions to social and economic problems have failed. But to govern and solve these problems, conservatives must engage everyone who is sympathetic to their policy goals, holding to their principles yet avoiding the mistake of building artificial walls.

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Bill Paulsen, Lonsdale, is an engineer in the electronics industry. In 2008 he was the Rice County coordinator for the Ron Paul for President campaign and in 2010 sought the Republican endorsement for Minnesota Senate District 25. He is a delegate to the Minnesota Republican Party State Central Committee, representing Rice and southern Scott Counties. He is a source in MPR's Public Insight Network.

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