Elected officials will no longer be part of the executive committee of the Hamilton County Republican Party.
The issue was discussed at a sometimes stormy meeting of county Republicans on Thursday night.
Arch Trimble IV, party chairman, declined comment, saying, "As a rule, we dont comment on party business."
Sources said the move puts the Hamilton County Republicans in line with other county parties across the state that earlier changed bylaws so that elected officials are not eligible for the executive committee.
Another change was that the president of the Pachyderm Club will no longer be on the executive committee, nor will all three presidents of GOP womens' groups in Hamilton County.
Other cities across the state don't have Pachyderm clubs apparently, whereas Hamilton County at one time had two.
The leaders of the local Republican womens' clubs were asked to get together to choose a single represenetative for the executive committee.
The move drops the number of executive committee members from dozens to under 10. Mainly it will be the party officials, such as chairman, secretary and treasurer.
One move that the chairman might take to retain involvement of the elected officials would be to name them to steering committees that would advise the executive committee on policies, it was stated.
At one time seats on the executive committee were given even to municipal officials, including an East Ridge commissioner. It was pointed out that the municipal officials run non-partisan "and don't have an R behind their name."
The change went through at a meeting with a lower attendance than usual. State legislators were still in Nashville finishing up the session.