While Maine’s 2012 Republican State Convention process may have been flawed, the Republican National Convention officials’ recent response to its results has been even more unfortunate, and gives one the impression that the democratic process is not being respected within the party.

Several Maine delegates boycotted the convention in Tampa, Fla. earlier this week, and Gov. Paul LePage refused to attend, in response to the RNC’s decision not to honor Maine’s delegate picks. Back at the Republican State Convention in May, 20 of our state’s 24 delegates to choose the next Republican presidential candidate were aligned with libertarian candidate Ron Paul.

But last week, the RNC voted that Maine’s delegates should be split nearly in half. In the end, 10 delegates were counted for Paul and 14 for Mitt Romney.

The argument here is that the Paul supporters engaged in violations of rules of procedure during the state convention, and perhaps they did, but that’s not even the point at this stage of the game.

There’s no doubt that the Maine Republican State Convention was a disaster this year, with uncounted and miscounted votes in the caucus process, plus heated arguments between the Paul and Romney sides so lengthy that Senate candidates didn’t even have time to address the constituents. The convention chairman, a Paul supporter, was elected by a margin of only four votes and proceeded to reject objections from Romney supporters who felt rules were being violated during the convention, according to newspaper accounts at the time.

In the end, the RNC did side with those who said the rules were violated, but their announcement was made only last week ”“ just days before the convention was set to begin ”“ which led to the current drama among the delegates who went to Tampa, essentially for naught.

The RNC, at its own convention this week, voted to change the rules for delegate distribution, making them in proportion to primary or caucus voting regardless of the convention vote.

The change is controversial, as it takes away power from those who would put the effort into organizing to make a showing at the convention, but we feel that such a change will more accurately reflect the will of the majority of the people who turn out to choose their party’s candidate.

And while we feel the change will help avoid issues such as those that Maine encountered this spring, the desire for this change should not have applied retroactively.

Knowing that Paul did not have as many delegates as Romney anyway, the party should have left well enough alone and simply changed the rules for next year, thereby avoiding any hard feelings. Instead, it seems as if the RNC actually went out of its way to ignore and disrespect Paul supporters, which has led to a rift that could cause the party to lose respect and possibly even votes this November.

And it is not just Maine’s Paul supporters who were offended and felt disenfranchised by this recommendation from the RNC. According to news reports, the delegates’ votes from each state were announced before Romney was formally nominated at the convention, and the convention chair refused to repeat Paul’s total votes, announcing only Romney’s. It’s little instances of disrespect such as this that show voters their voice doesn’t count because they are not supporting the majority candidate.

The RNC has clearly taken a heavy hand in forcing the party to unite behind Romney, whereas they would have been able to easily appease Paul supporters by allowing their preferred candidate to at least speak at the convention. Paul supporters knew they didn’t have enough delegates, even when all were approved, to make Paul the Republican candidate for president, even with a vote from the floor. What they wanted was recognition of their dissent and a little respect.

Instead of making this small concession to acknowledge that the party is not, in fact, entirely united behind Romney, the RNC instead marginalized and ignored Paul’s supporters, which in turn has caused them to act out in protest. This is basic human nature, an expected reaction when an entire movement’s views are so purposefully and obviously kept out of the process, and the RNC should have known better, even from a public relations standpoint, than to allow this situation to arise.

The Paul supporters’ protests no doubt lie in the frustration that has taken hold of many in the Republican party who are unhappy with what either President Obama or Romney have to offer. Paul’s libertarian views align more closely with many people’s view of the Republican party as a “small government” watchdog, but it’s clear our two-party political process needs some changes if supporters of a candidate like Paul can be so easily shut out.

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Today’s editorial was written by Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski, representing the majority opinion of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Kristen by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.