ONCORD, N.H. - Supporters of Reform Party presidential hopeful Patrick J. Buchanan have split with the state's Reform chapter, saying they were being treated like second-class citizens by state party officials.
The Buchanan backers plan to incorporate themselves as the Granite State Reform Party this week, said Shelly Uscinski, Buchanan's New England campaign director.
The split took place Saturday at a state party convention in Manchester, at which the party elected officers. About 30 people seeking to follow Buchanan into the Reform Party disagreed with new bylaws that prevent new members from voting, Uscinski said.
''We weren't allowed to vote. We weren't allowed to speak,'' Uscinski said. ''There was a bit of shouting, a bit of a ruckus. ... They were very exclusive in preventing the Buchanan folks from participating.''
Buchanan joined the party last week, citing differences with the GOP, which he said has abandoned conservative principles such as opposing abortion.
State Reform Party spokesman John Talbott said the dispute concerned whether the chapter would endorse Buchanan for president. It refused because it has not yet given other possible candidates, such as Donald Trump, a chance to compete for the chapter's five delegates, Talbott said.
The state party convention was originally scheduled for Sept. 25, but was postponed after Buchanan backers threatened to crash it and elect themselves officers, Talbott said. As a result, the state party changed its bylaws to prevent new members from voting for 30 days, and rescheduled the convention.
''We implemented those changes, and they didn't like them,'' Talbott said.
Talbott said he did not understand the Buchanan supporters' strategy, since only one of the officers elected Saturday, the chairman, automatically becomes a delegate.
Daron Libby, of Londonderry, was reelected chairman.
