The Associated Press

Thu, Aug 28, 2008 (11:57 a.m.)

A key Republican committee says it is troubled by the "ineptness" of the Nevada GOP and called the state party's attempt to elect delegates to next week's national convention "flawed, inadequate and unacceptable."

A ruling from the Republican National Committee panel said the state party violated rules when it appointed, rather than elected, its group of 34 delegates and 31 alternates, according to the report obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.

The RNC Committee on Contests was asked to review the delegates by a group of Ron Paul supporters who argued they were shut out of the delegate selection process. The Paul backers elected a separate delegation to the convention in St. Paul, Minn., which also was rejected by the RNC panel.

The committee recommended a compromise list of delegates, which needs approval of the RNC credentials committee. The compromise list included at least four backers of Paul, a former presidential candidate who won a large following in Nevada and inched out McCain for second place in Nevada's January caucuses.

State and national party officials continued to haggle over that list Thursday, as delegates from the swing state remained uncertain whether they should be packing their bags.

In a rejection of appeals from both groups issued Wednesday, the Committee on Contests wrote it was "deeply troubled by the ineptness of the state party" and "rejects any process to select delegates and alternate delegates that restricts party grass-roots activists from participating in that process, as appears to be the case here."

Zachary Moyle, the state party's executive director, did not immediately respond to a call for comment.

Wayne Terhune, a leading Ron Paul supporter, said the committee continued to "disenfranchise every voter in Nevada."

"It's tyranny. They're not a party of laws and rules," Terhune said by phone from St. Paul, where he plans to attend an alternate convention organized by Paul's Campaign for Liberty organization.

Nevada's dueling delegation dispute began when Paul supporters were poised to win delegates at a state party convention in Reno in April. The party abruptly shut down the convention and later attempts to reconvene failed because it could not get enough Republicans to attend.

Meanwhile, the Paul supporters held a rogue convention in June and named their own delegation.

The RNC committee ruled that the June convention was unauthorized. "Only a state party has the authority to convene a state convention," the committee wrote.