The St. Louis County Republican Caucus was held today at the Missouri River Township Caucus at the Westminster Christian Academy – near highways 40 and 270 this afternoon.
Lloyd Sloan was at the conference today.
Here is his firsthand account:
There were two slates that were voted on today at the convention. One was called “Cruz” and the other “Trump.” So there was no confusion there. The vote took place by a public count. It’s when there is a standing vote and everybody is counted off. It is pretty above board. The vote was tied, 27-27. But a few people in the center of the room did not vote. One guy got up and voted for Trump. So Trump won the standing vote.
I proposed a motion to combine the two slates. The chair chose to ignore my motion. It was seconded but the chair, Mark Dunn, decided to ignore the motion.
At that point the chair entertained a motion to do a secret ballot because he was a Cruzer and the wrong guy won. The motion was presented by the head of the Cruz delegation who put together and submitted the Cruz slate. It was seconded and voted on.
And, surprise! Cruz won the secret ballot!
At that point I led a small group of Trump people from the room, saying, “You wanted a divided party. You got one.”
The delegates plan to contest the results. We are collecting evidence to show what exactly happened.
I saw what I saw. I walked out. It was highly irregular.
Ted Cruz lost Missouri to Donald Trump.
UPDATE: Cruz supporter Marty Bennett wrote in with his side of the story.
To be fair I am printing his letter:
I am contacting you in regards to what Lloyd Sloan wrote. I would encourage you to use journalistic Integrity and remove the false article on your site.
I was the winning Cruz Slate Leader and was there at the Missouri River Caucus. Lloyd Sloan is not telling the truth and is making misleading statements. I have met you and supported you and Bill Hennessey’s St. Louis Tea Party as a volunteer and donator when it was active. I am no establishment Republican.
First of all, there was no guy who stood up and voted for Trump in the public count at the last minute. That did not happen. If it did happen then why would the Trump Slate Leader, Todd Lifka, allow for paper votes without protest? Furthermore he signed off, literally, on the final secret ballot votes. Todd Lifka was the Trump Slate Leader, not Lloyd Sloan.
Secondly, there was a motion to vote by secret ballot for the Slates and Lloyd Sloan tried to stop the vote. He was not recognized. I would not have agreed, as Lloyd correctly pointed out, to split the Slate anyways. If that was brought to a vote it would have been defeated. The vote was to use secret ballot and that motion passed 30-27.
Third, the secret ballot was on paper and Caucus voters wrote either Cruz or Trump. Todd Lifka, Missouri State Representative Dean Plocher (R-89 who acted as Parliamentarian), Credential Committee Chairman Tony Jokerst, and I, all witness the paper ballot counting and Cruz won the Congressional Caucus vote. No one stole an election or ripped anyone one off. Trump simply lost the Missouri River Township Caucus.
The first vote was on the Congressional District Slate. The Cruz Slate won 29-27. At that point Lloyd made his statement and stormed out. The Sate Convention vote was called and voted on. Cruz won 29 to 20.
All the while some lady video recorded our proceedings without asking us. The recording will show there was no late standup voter. It will show that the Trump Slate Leader, Todd Lifka, said nothing about being ripped off or a deciding vote cast at the last minute. As previously written he witnessed the counting of the vote and signed off on the vote with signature and left resigned that they had lost fair and square.
