At the end of November, Penobscot County State Republican Committee member Michelle Anderson, preparing to talk to voting members of the Penobscot County Republican Committee about her endorsement for the Committee Chair, State Committeeman Bryan Daugherty.
She was informed by the Treasurer, Harrison Clark, produced and emailed Ms. Anderson a list of the people who had paid between the May state convention and November 29. He claimed not to know when anyone paid their dues, only that they were paid between that time period.
It turned out that this list would be revealing in an atmosphere where information from either the Secretary or the Treasurer was impossible to obtain.
Given the bylaws dictate that dues must be paid within 60 days of the convention at the very latest in order for a member to retain their right to vote, this was making it near impossible to determine who were and were not eligible to vote.
The email message sent by Mr. Clark with the list indicated that he had decided, counter to the bylaws, that anyone who paid dues could vote. Here is that message:
"This is the list that I have of people who have paid dues in 2012 since the caucus. In some cases dues have been paid for only one member of a couple. Any duly elected or appointed member of the PCRC can choose to pay their dues prior to an issue being voted on."
There were 55 people listed as having paid their dues, some in time to be voting members, some not.
Of those 55 people, only 37 had been recorded as having been elected at their municipal caucuses to be members of the Penobscot County Committee or were ex-officio members.
So, it can be correctly and incontrovertibly deduced that there were no more than 37 voting members, that is, people who had both paid their dues and have been elected or were ex-officio members, per the bylaws.
Since the Secretary of the Penobscot County Republican Committee refused at every turn to call the roll at any meeting after the May 2012 convention, it is impossible to tell which of those 37 people missed three consecutive meetings.
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