Democracy Does Die in Darkness, as Tennessee’s Robby Starbuck Is Again Removed From Ballot – Opinion

The swamp is real, folks, and it’s just not in D.C. Every state has a system that protects the status quo, and certain elites’ power. This needs to be eradicated.

This sham J6 Committee hearing is a representation of the macro. It is the micro that is playing out.

RedState has reported the events between Tennessee Congressional Candidate Robby Sternbuck and the Tennessee Republican Executive Committee. Read the reports here, here, or here. Starbuck had won a win over the TN GOP by the time we reported the story. A Chancery Court ruled the TN GOP violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act when it met in secret to take Starbuck off the August 4th primary ballot. The Chancery Court judge issued Starbuck’s request for an injunction against being removed, and vacated the Tenn. GOP’s decision, restoring Starbuck to the ballot.

The TN GOP quickly went to the Supreme Court of the state, and the Supreme Court just as quickly overturned the Chancery Court’s decision. Notable: The ruling was issued on Friday. This happened to also be the last day that Tennessee had to complete its primary ballots.

Coincidence?

It is possible to remove grassroots candidates, and any other candidate who does not conform with the Tenn. GOP model from the ballot by using powerful forces. This is evident from the TN GOP decision and back-and-forth with this court.

From Nashville’s Channel 5:

Robby Starbuck was removed from the 5th Congressional District vote after a dispute in court.

The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Tennessee GOP didn’t violate the state’s open meetings act in making the decision to remove Starbuck from the ballot back in April. An earlier appeals court overturned that decision this week, before the Tennessee Supreme Court considered the case. This was due to Starbuck’s attempt to reinstate his status as a candidate.

The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that the GOP wasn’t held to the same standard for other government meetings, and that the chancery erred in opining so.

“For the reasons stated above, we hold that the trial court erred as a matter of law in declaring that the defendants violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act by deciding in a non-public meeting that Mr. Starbuck was not a bona fide Republican. As a result, we hold that the trial court erred in granting the temporary injunction,” the justices wrote.

Robby Starbuck used Twitter to express his dismay at the decision. Below is a copy of Robby’s statement.

A very sad day for Tennessee voters who will be disenfranchised by today’s TN Supreme Court decision to overturn the State Court’s order to keep me on the ballot. In the end, I have been disqualified from voting. It is shocking to see the precedent set. This is my statement⬇️ pic.twitter.com/C7BA7VD2mZ

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) June 10, 2022

In a separate tweet, Starbuck challenged the “not a Republican” slur that the TN GOP slapped Starbuck with, and used to remove him from the ballot. Starbuck brought with him the receipts of long-standing loyalty and advocacy for the GOP. Now, he is basically being thrown under the bus.

THREAD: TNGOP’s stance is officially that I’m not a Republican. Let’s examine that @GOP @GOPChairwoman

• I’m a Chairman’s Circle donor to the Williamson County Republican Party, the Davidson Republican County Party and I was also a donor to the Tennessee Republican Party. pic.twitter.com/sJSJGyEUlg

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) June 11, 2022

Here is Starbuck’s official statement:

It’s official. State parties in Tennessee can meet in secret to remove candidates they don’t want on the ballot without any explanation. Supreme Court of Tennessee ruled in favor of TNGOP’s position that the State Executive Committee is not subject to the open meetings act despite them being elected officials.

Transparency and accountability have been thrown out of the window for those who elected them. All that the TN GOP is after is their freedom and disregard for Tennessee’s Constitution and people.

This is an incredible loss for the system which our founders designed for people to decide their own elections. I’m heartbroken for the people of Tennessee that this was allowed to happen. My campaign is not over. There are other options available that we will soon explore.

It is encouraging to see Starbuck fighting for his cause. Tennessee law requires that write-in candidates must be filed before the ballot deadline. We will therefore be interested to see the results of this process.

Today’s TN Supreme Court decision is sadly reminiscent to Cuba, where a central committee removed real candidates and gave the voters only puppets. It is an enormous blow to the system which our founders had in mind.

As stated above, this good ‘ole boy/girl network is merely interested in curating the candidates they want to succeed, while stamping out any grassroots efforts to elicit change. The elected representatives seem to prefer power over protecting the system that our founders created.

But we’ve seen this before.

I will continue to believe in integrity of elections, which includes equal competition for all candidates. Sadly, today the “powers much greater” than the SEC that one SEC member admitted “blindsided” the SEC at the vote to remove me, won.

Starbuck is proving to be a brawler, and the TN GOP’s failure to understand this is blowing up in their faces. The Tenn. GOP’s actions and Starbuck will be on the ballot regardless of whether they win.

Starbuck appeals once more to We The People of Tennessee for support in their cause on the ballot.

Use your voice to tell @TNGOP how you feel about the tireless efforts to take out your candidate in this election. As hard as they worked to steal your choice, I’ll work even harder to root out and end any and all backroom dealing and corruption in our party. I urge you to also call on the national @GOP @GOPchairwoman to step in and make a statement about how insulting it is for the TNGOP to say I’m not a Republican after all the work I’ve done to bring people to the party, especially my fellow Latino Republicans.

Also, they should strongly and publicly oppose any attempts to deregister Republican voters or take their choices in the primary elections. We must act like we believe in the integrity of voter voting.

Starbuck made it clear that the struggle for integrity in elections isn’t over.

Stay tuned….