State Plan of Organization Opinion 2024 - 002
Date: March 1, 2024
Question From: Moore County Republican Party
Question(s) Presented:
- Under the State Plan of Organization, is the County Convention a [proper]
authority to remove Party officers in the middle of their terms and is it in
order for the Convention to consider a motion to do so? - Under the State Plan of Organization, is the County Convention a [proper]
authority to declare that a Party officer elected by the County Executive
Committee to fill a vacancy was not validly elected and is it in order for the
Convention to consider a motion to do so?
Answered by: The NCGOP Plan of Organization Committee Dan Barry, NCGOP Plan of Organization Chairman
Answer:
1. No. Under the State Plan of Organization (“State Plan”), only the respective
relevant Executive Committee has the authority to remove Party officers.
Article IX.A.6.a.i of the State Plan reads in relevant part that:
“[a]ny member of a Committee organized under this Plan may be
removed... By a 2/3's vote of the respective Committee after being
furnished with notice of the charges against him, signed by the lesser
of (i) 50 members or (ii) one-third of the members of the respective
Committee. Any Republican against whom charges are brought shall
be furnished with 15 days’ notice of said charges and be given an
opportunity to present a defense. Removal by a vote of the respective
Committee shall be confined to gross inefficiency, Party Disloyalty (as
defined herein) or failure to comply with the County, District, or State
Party Plans of Organization1."
In short, the State Plan is explicit that removal authority is limited solely to the
respective Executive Committee that seeks the removal of a member of said
committee. The respective Executive Committee must first provide the accused with
15 days’ notice of said charges and be given an opportunity to present a defense.
Said charges must be signed by the lesser of (i) 50 members or (ii) one-third of the
members of the respective Committee. Lastly, at the removal meeting, the accused
may be removed by a 2/3's vote of the Committee members. Removal is limited to: 1)
gross inefficiency, 2) Party Disloyalty, or 3) failure to comply with the County,
District, or State Party Plans of Organization.
All in all, conventions have no authority to pursue, move for, or proffer removal of
any officer or member of a Precinct, County, District, and/or State Executive
Committee. This power is solely limited to the respective Executive Committee
under the State Plan.
2. No. Under the State Plan, the county convention is not the proper authority to
declare that a Party officer elected by the County Executive Committee to fill a
vacancy was not validly elected.2 The power to fill vacancies among the Executive
Committee rests solely with the remaining members of the respective Executive
Committee unless the County Plan provides otherwise. Therefore, the county
convention is not the proper forum for such challenge to be raised.
BY UNANIMOUS VOTE
ALL MEMBERS PRESENT
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(1) See Generally Article IX.A.6.a.i of the State Plan.
(2) See Generally Articel III.A.5.a of the State Plan.