The state GOP is no longer requiring county party chairs to sign a confidentiality agreement to participate in a planned meeting of local party leaders.

Local party chairs and vice-chairs were asked ahead of this weekend’s convention to sign non-disclosure agreements in order to participate in an afternoon meeting today.

As WisPolitics reported in yesterday’s PM Update, some chairs were refusing to sign the NDA or skipping the convention entirely, saying the confidentiality agreement raised questions about trust among state party leadership. 

“We decided that in the interest of unity it would be wise to drop the requirement,” executive committee member Pete Church said in a text message this morning. 

Church sent out an email last week requesting county leaders sign NDAs to participate in “frank discussions about issues affecting our operations and success as County Parties.”

Church told WisPolitics yesterday that the meeting was intended to solicit feedback from party chairs and seek solutions to any issues county parties may be facing.

A later meeting going over convention rules and hearing from statewide candidates was not subject to the NDA requirement. 

Some chairs and vice-chairs said the NDA request rubbed them the wrong way. 

“There’s questions as to what’s the point? Why are we looking at an NDA? What is going to take place that is so confidential that an NDA is required, and what does this say about building trust within the party that leadership is looking over their shoulders?” said Marathon County Chair Jack Hoogendyk yesterday. 

Hoogendyk said he would attend the state convention but would not sign an NDA in order to participate in the county chair meeting. 

He jokingly compared the planned meeting to a scene in “The Untouchables” where Al Capone, played by Robert De Niro, murders a subordinate with a baseball bat during a white-tie dinner. 

Price County Chair Tammy Hastings said she’s skipping out on the convention entirely, citing the NDA as well as broader irritation with party leadership. She drew a connection between the NDA and reported efforts by some members of the party’s executive committee to oust state Party Chair Brian Schimming. 

“This convention is about facilitating an election, not facilitating people’s dislikes and personal issues,” she said. 

The executive committee voted in December to require NDAs from members of that group as well as elected members of county parties and congressional district organizations.

Schimming told WisPolitics in an interview this week that the NDAs were a “common sense” measure for businesses and nonprofit organizations so leaders could discuss sensitive issues like personnel matters. 

“We need to make sure that kind of information, which is proprietary, stays in the family,” Schimming said. 

Church told WisPolitics yesterday he’d included the NDA requirement in order to comply with the new bylaws.   He said the NDA requirement has faced blowback since becoming policy.

“Some of the noise about this has been good, because it may send a message that it’s something we need to take a look at again and have a discussion about,” Church said yesterday. “Certainly some of this has been uncomfortable and hasn’t been very pleasant for me.”

Follow coverage at the GOP Convention Blog.