HOLLYWOOD, FLA. — The Republican National Committee’s rules committee on Thursday chose to punt on changing rules for how a presidential nominee is chosen in a contested convention.
In avoiding a high-profile battle to simplify the rules, the committee rallied behind chairman Reince Priebus’s repeated insistence that no changes should be made before the July convention.
The committee adjourned just one hour after it began without making any changes, including one that could have made it more difficult for party leaders to nominate a “white knight” candidate — someone not currently in the race who could take on Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.
Committee members repeatedly warned against provoking the ire of the voters by suggesting rules changes just months before Republicans meet for the convention in Cleveland.
The meeting comes as GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump has repeatedly assailed the entire primary process as rigged, and as many rule committee members cited intense media scrutiny in the run-up to what’s typically a wonky and dry event.
“We are basically in the seventh inning of the ball game and it’s not right to change the rules of the ball game in the middle,” Georgia committeeman and rules committee member Randy Evans said.
“This is a very hotly contested election and any change that we make will be viewed with a large degree of cynicism.”
The RNC’s standing committee doesn’t have the final say on the convention rules — that’s left to the delegates elected to the convention rules committee. But the standing committee can make temporary changes to the rules that would need to be agreed on by the convention delegates.
The lion’s share of the debate centered on a bid by a longtime Oregon committeeman Solomon Yue to change the rulebook to Roberts’ Rules of Order, a common rulebook in government meetings.