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After Refusing to Sign Party Pledge, GA GOP Hopeful to Run as Independent

By: James Richardson (Diary)  |  April 27th, 2010 at 04:12 PM  | 

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Georgia real estate mogul Ray Boyd announced Monday he would run for governor of the Peach State as an Independent, pledging to spend $2 million of his own money on the race.

Boyd, who for weeks had been flirting with a Republican bid but encountered opposition from state party leaders after refusing last week to sign a GOP loyalty oath, has little more than two months to collect upwards of 51,000 signatures from registered voters to qualify for ballot eligibility.

The pledge reads in full: “I do hereby swear or affirm my allegiance to the Georgia Republican Party.”

But Boyd, a relative new-comer to politics whose Republican-turned-Independent campaign is predicated on his ability to self-finance, objected to the oath, which more than 150 would-be and current Republican office holders signed Monday. The businessman said he could not pledge allegiance to a party that has deviated from good policy for the sake of politics; alternatively he offered a “compromise oath,” and was quickly rebuffed by party leaders.

“They’ve left me no other choice,” Boyd said of his decision to run as an Independent after a terse stand-off with an attorney for the state GOP. “Maybe I’ll set up a Ronald Reagan Republican wing.”

The oath, an election law requirement to run under the banner of the GOP, has never before been rejected by a candidate, according to state party chairwoman Sue Everhart . “I don’t know what the big problem is – you either are a Republican or you’re not,” Everhart said last week when Boyd first aired his grievances with the rule.

Boyd blamed the controversy on term-limited Governor Sonny Perdue . Perdue, who has yet to endorse any of his seven potential successors, had “anointed Karen Handel to be governor,” he said. “He must think this is the best way to get her there.”

RedState endorsed former Secretary of State Karen Handel for the post in August.

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  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens
    • Tbone

      without conviction he would be.

    • jcincy

      “?I do hereby swear or affirm my allegiance to the Georgia Republican Party.?

      I support proven conservatives, not candidates that sign empty pledges or place an insignificant letter behind their name.

      Let’s say he signed the pledge and governed like Bob Taft (Ohio Rino-corruptus) or Arnold S. (CA – Rino-liberalus)?

      Then what would the Georgia Republicans do… take away his official party membership card?

  • romeg

    with Mr. Boyd’s position party is still important. We don’t wish or need to splinter the party. We need to unite the party; to bring the party’s leadership back to the altar for a re-commitment ceremony to conservative ideals, back to Constitutional Government.

    We need a Governor that will demonstrate the courage of AZ’s governor and put Washington on notice that the days of the Open Ended “Living, Breathing” Constitution are drawing to a close and that the Enumerated Powers clause and the 10th Amendment are alive and well and for that we need everybody on the same page.

    • libertyatstake

      “We don?t wish or need to splinter the party”

      But, we do need to ensure the GOP will in fact go forward as the conservative party. I, for one, have to see more to be convinced. If Georgia GOP were asking people to sign the Tenth Amendment Center’s pledge, rather than an empty pledge to the party name itself, I’d be more impressed.

      btw: (R) + (T) > (D) will work just fine in 2010. Do the math yourself.

      http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
      [For a light hearted take on our present peril]

    • Bill

      Governor and dedicated to the 10th Amendment. Check him out.

      • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

        She spoke in Atlanta at the RS Gathering and was quite impressive.

  • toadold

    So he doesn’t want to run as a Democrat because their chances are too low. He won’t run as a Republican unless they play by his rules.
    His main goal seems to be to bleed off voters from the Republican side.

    Nothing personal, but the next time he goes home I hope his mother runs out from underneath the porch and bites him.

  • pantera

    i would like to see the pledge he wanted to sign as well as the entire GOP pledge..

  • swami7774

    …an oath pledging loyalty to conservative ideas.

  • Tbone

    contract, inclusive of a promissory note, that requires them to return all campaign contributions collected under the color of being a Republican should they leave the Party.

  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    my campaign contributions, pointing to the 2008 Republican Party plank that says the Party is against granting amnesty and explaining I voted for him and supported his campaign because I thought, based on his pronouncements, he supported our Platform.

    He sent me a check.

    Thank you.
    ColdWarrior, PC
    Conservatives, UNITE! CHANGE the Republican Party and save the country by UNITING INSIDE the Party as precinct committeemen. NOW!

    • eburke

      All I got was more donation request campaign literature.

      Apparently I don’t have your touch.

  • lynnbo

    Is Boyd a spoiler set up by the dems who are desperate? What better way to pull votes from the Republicans.
    Somebody better check him out, what is his voting record. We need information on this guy…..

  • ahab627

    to run for governor of Georgia. I know you’ve endorsed Karen Handel; but, I think a Georgia First guy, Ray McBerry, is the better candidate. He’s absolutely for Georgia in accordance with the 10th Amendment to the Bill of Rights, and to me that’s infinitely preferable to establishment GOPers.

  • Adjoran

    All it offers is “allegiance,” without defining the term, to the state Party. If you’re a Republican intending to run for office as a Republican in the Republican Primary, presumably raising money as a Republican, what exactly is the problem?

    It doesn’t promise to support every position the Party takes, or even to endorse or vote for all nominees. The only effect it has is to make someone look bad if they sign it and later run as an independent or endorse the Democrat. Again, what’s the problem?

    The next Governor will have redistricting as one of the first challenges. If a so-called conservative enters and splits the Republican vote and thereby gives the seat to a Democrat, how is that furthering “conservatism” at all – especially since we don’t know who the GOP will nominate yet, this jerk is doing it anyway.

    Don’t get stuck on stupid.

    If Boyd intends to get on the ballot in two months, he better start spending money right away on signature gatherers. 51,000 signatures translates to 2400 8.5″ x 11″ sheets with 25 names per sheet – assuming they are all valid, which never turns out to be the case. Everybody thinks getting signatures is easy, but without an existing structure to gather them, it is anything but.