Chris Dyer

Chris Dyer was a Republican candidate in the 2008 congressional elections for the 1st Congressional District (map) of Nevada. He was seeking the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.). He was defeated in the primary that took place on August 12, 2008, placing third with 14.68% of the vote.

Bio
Chris Dyer, a former garbage man and CAT bus driver, is a restaurant expeditor at a Las Vegas Hotel/Casino. Dyer has lived in Nevada for 10 years. Dyer, his wife, and 2 children live with his mother-in-law in North Las Vegas.

Nevada Republican Convention
On January 19, 2008, Nevada held it's first Presidential Caucuses. Ron Paul won 13.7% of the vote, coming in second behind Mitt Romney with 51%.

On April 26, 2008, Chris Dyer and a group of Ron Paul supporters launched an unsuccessful effort to change the party rules as they had in the county conventions, hijack the Nevada Republican Party Convention in Reno , and elect delegates for their candidate to the national GOP convention in September.

Because there were neither enough ballots or time after the rules were changed to vote on the 200 nominations from the floor for Nevada's Republican Delegation, the Nevada GOP was forced to recess the convention before the delegates could be named. Voting irregularites, including some convention-goers attempting to cast more than one ballot, contributed to the addiditional time needed to insure a fair election.

June 28 Rump Convention
Although Ron Paul officially dropped out of the Presidential race on June 12, 2008, Chris Dyer and the Paul supporters continued to push for their slate of delegates to go to the national convention. Dyer helped organize a rump convention of the Nevada GOP on June 28, 2008.

On June 24, 2008, Dyer released a music video on YouTube satirizing Nevada Republican Chairwoman Sue Lowden. A message accompanying the video on Dyer's website stated, "As you may know, the Nevada state GOP delegates are coming together on June 28th in Reno. Unfortunately, this has some of the party officials upset. As a candidate for office I'm torn between my supporters and my crush on Sue Lowden, the state GOP chair. In order to express my pain I wrote a song. Please enjoy."

Because the rump convention was not called by the state central committee and fell several hundred attendees short of a quorum, the Republican National Committee refused to recognize the slate of delegates elected there. Instead, the RNC instructed the Nevada Republican Party to proceed with selecting its delegates for the national convention.

The Nevada GOP scheduled a reconvening on July 26, but not enough delegates responded. Chairwoman Sue Lowden announced the Executive Committee would then select Nevada's delegation.

Lawsuit Against the Nevada Republican Party
In July 2008, Mr. Dyer and a group of approximately two dozen Republican Delegates filed a lawsuit against the Nevada GOP to block the party from selecting delegates to the GOP National Convention. That case was dismissed, and on July 25, 2008 the Nevada Republican Party named 31 delegates to go to St. Paul. According to a statement released by the party, Presidential preference was not a consideration in selecting Nevada's delegates.

2008 Republican National Convention
The dispute over delegate selection at the Nevada Republican Convention was heard by the RNC Committee on Contests in August 2008. In a report issued on August 28, the contest committee described the state party's attempt to elect delegates as “flawed, inadequate, and unacceptable.”

Both the slate named by the state party and the slate named at the June 28 Rump Convention were rejected. Instead, the committee recommended a compromise list of delegates, which included at least four backers of Paul. Chris Dyer was one of the Ron Paul delegates selected to attend the Republican National Convention.

When the roll call vote came, Dyer reportedly forfeited his seat so a McCain supporter could fill the slot. In an interview with Anjeanette Damon of the Reno Gazette-Journal, Dyer explained his decision saying, "Party asked nicely for a unanimous vote, we said yes. They got what they wanted. We got to see Rage (Against the Machine). Everyone wins."

Related SourceWatch articles

 * 2008 U.S. congressional elections
 * 2008 U.S. congressional election dates
 * Portal:Nevada and the U.S. Congress

External resources

 * 2008 Campaign Finance for Nevada U.S. House Candidates - NV District 01
 * "Chris Dyer for Congress." Official Chris Dyer for Congress Website.
 * Paultards Ruin GOP Convention Wonkette, April 28, 2008
 * Dave Nalle GOP In Crisis, Conflict or Common Ground Blogcritics, April 30, 2008
 * Mike Weber, Message from Mike Weber about the Nevada Republican Convention UNR College Libertarians, June 9, 2008.
 * Amanda Becker, "Nevada Ron Paul Supporters Stage Rogue GOP Convention," Huffington Post, June 23, 2008.
 * Chris Dyer Selected as Delegate at Nevada GOP Rump Convention NevadaGOPConvention.com, June 28, 2008.
 * Chuck Muth The Little Convention That Couldn't Muth's Truths, July 17, 2008.
 * Delegates at State Convention Sue Nevada Republican Party MSNBC, July 24, 2008.