SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Bullied GOP delegates claim Susan Hutchison ignored them

Oct 11, 2016, 7:46 AM | Updated: 9:16 am

Susan Hutchison, GOP delegates...

(KIRO 7)

(KIRO 7)

First, she excused Donald Trump’s lewd behavior caught on film and now Todd Herman says state Republican chair Susan Hutchison ignored two GOP delegates who became victims of physical intimidation on the floor during the Republican National Convention in July.

Amy Davis and Manette Merrill told KTTH’s Todd Herman Show they were in Cleveland to have a constitutional conservative voice be heard. But they were under siege by their own party ahead of the roll call vote.

Herman: It’s time for Hutchison to resign

A Trump supporter in a green hat started intimidating Amy on the floor at the convention, she explained.

“Not long before I began to stand there, Fredi Simpson, our national committee woman from Washington state, said, in a very not nice tone, ‘You know the microphones are on.’ ‘Yes, I understand that.’ And she just walked away. Not long after that, another person (I will not call him a gentleman because I went to high school in Georgia and that is not how we are supposed to behave when we are from Georgia), he came up and he got as close as physically possible to me without touching me and I turned around and very politely asked him to back up.”

Amy said he began getting closer until he was actually touching her. He said he was trying to prevent Manette from cutting in a line, but Manette said she was trying to wedge herself between the two.

“He moved even closer and pressed his entire body up against mine,” Manette explained. “Then I started feeling this blowing on my neck … consciously, specifically blowing while he’s pressing the front of his body up against the back of my body.”

The GOP delegates said Hutchison was to their left and didn’t say a word. The sergeant at arms, who keeps order on the floor, approached the women.

“He asked to hear all three of our stories, he then looked at the young man, and said, ‘This taped line here on the floor? You stay behind this line, do not get within three feet of these women for the rest of the day.'”

There was a break in the physical aggression but it continued when another man stepped in between them, according to Amy.

At that point, Amy said Hutchison walked over, pointed her finger, and started lecturing them about how the sergeant at arms would remove any party causing a conflict, and if they caused a conflict they’d be removed, and their credentials would be revoked.

After excusing Trump’s behavior on Friday and Hutchison’s blind eye in Cleveland, the pair is asking for the chairwoman to refrain from running for re-election.

“She does not need to run for re-election at her post,” Amy said. “She needs to step down following the election and promise that she will not run again because she has failed in her duties to Republicans.”

On Monday, Hutchison released a statement: “As a Republican leader in this state, I regularly face a hostile media and partisan attacks – all in a day’s work … My role as party chairman is to serve Republican voters, elected officials, party members, donors and our team of hardworking volunteers throughout the state. I have received overwhelming support from them. The state party will continue to work to elect Republicans at every level of government during the next four weeks. We are united to defeat all Democrats who wish to change the character of America and our state with far-left progressive policies that hurt our communities and our children’s futures.”

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Bullied GOP delegates claim Susan Hutchison ignored them