Chuck, it is an odd spin to claim the Democratic Party followed our rules very carefully in the Laura Thielen case. We had a rule that someone had to be a member of the party for at least six months in order to be eligible to run on the ballot as a Democrat. Or, if they lacked the six months. they could be interviewed by the county party to decide if they were sincerely aligned with the party.

Then county chair Tony Gill did not like that Rule, so he re-interpreted it. He said any such evaluation of whether an applicant was a "good Democrat" was inherently subjective and he was uncomfortable with party officers playing that role. So he refused to recognize that essential part of the Rule, saying only the OBJECTIVE portion of the Rule should be followed, that is, had the person been a member for six months or not? That provided a "clear, bright line" rather than a subjective appraisal.

He didn't like the Rule so rather than "follow it closely," he re-invented it according to his whim.