Bruce
Ash, chairman of the national party's powerful rules committee, will petition
to amend the "40d" rule to bar the counting of votes in the televised
roll call of states for candidates who are not on the convention ballot. Mr.
Ash's proposal would "close and lock the back door to a hijacking of the
nomination" by the small but tenacious #NeverTrump and "vote your
conscience" factions.
Mr.
Ryan is expected preside over the Cleveland convention as its chairman, chief
shot-caller and final arbiter.
Although
he has not said he would use his power to deny Mr. Trump the nomination, he has
repeatedly criticized Mr. Trump and told fellow House Republicans that they
should vote their conscience in November. Many Republicans regard that advice
as treasonous aid to Democrat Hillary Clinton by encouraging people not to back
Mr. Trump.
Mr.
Ash, who says Mr. Trump was not his first, second or even third choice for the
nomination, nonetheless argues that Mr. Trump won the nomination fair and
square.
"Why
do I distrust [RNC Chairman Reince Priebus] and the rest of the
leadership?" Mr. Ash said. "Because as the RNC Standing Rules
Committee chairman, I asked for a public pledge to support our presumptive
nominee. I asked this from Reince, his convention leadership team, the various
chairmen of the standing committees and from the convention committee chairman.
I never heard back from anybody."
Mr. Ash
said he is distrustful as well because the "RNC doesn't appear to be
publicly defending our presumptive nominee against those 'vote your conscience'
and #NeverTrump factions."
Rules committee
member Solomon Yue of Oregon said leaders of a "vote your conscience"
faction have named a proposed change "the Ryan-Walker amendment."
Another
cause of distrust is Mr. Priebus' hiring as a convention whip former Texas
Republican Party Chairman Steve Munisteri, who was on the Rand Paul campaign
until it folded.
The
rule under which all 17 original Republican nomination contestants competed
said that to get on the convention ballot, a candidate would have to win a
majority of delegates from eight states during the primaries and caucuses.
Only
Mr. Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz have qualified, so only their names will be on the
convention ballot unless shenanigans materialize.
Mr. Ash
has publicly questioned Mr. Priebus' naming of two Mitt Romney acolytes - Utah
RNC member Enid Mickelsen and Massachusetts RNC member Ron Kaufman - to be
chairwoman and co-chairman, respectively, of the convention rules committee.
That panel considers and makes final calls on recommendations from Mr. Ash's
committee.
Mr.
Romney has led the #NeverTrump movement.
Mr. Ash
also has questioned Mr. Priebus' naming of a heavy-hitter in the Republican
establishment, former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, to head another powerful
committee - on permanent convention organization.
Mr.
Priebus did not respond directly to Mr. Ash's comments, but the chairman's top
aide, RNC chief strategist Sean Spicer, said in an email, "It's sad to see
people make up faux controversies instead of focusing all of the energy on
keeping Hillary Clinton out of the White House."
While
Mr. Priebus has declared Mr. Trump the presumptive Republican presidential
nominee, national party chairmen must consider a plan B in case something goes
awry before the convention.
The
suspicion among RNC members such as Mr. Ash, Mr. Yue and committee counsel
James Bopp is that Mrs. Mickelsen, Mr. Kaufman and Mr. Barbour were handed
powerful roles in case Mr. Priebus decides that the rules need to be changed so
delegates aren't bound to a particular candidate on any ballot. Current rules
bind them on the first ballot.