On August 11, the American Independent Party (AIP) nominated Tom Hoefling for President at its state convention in Sacramento, California. The convention was in the meeting room of Perkos Restaurant, 925 Third Street.
Only seven delegates were present when the vote was taken: Markham Robinson, Mary Robinson, Mark Seidenberg, Rev. Wiley Drake, Dennis Aguirre, John Robertson, and Phelps Hobart. A majority of votes cast were proxies of people who were not in attendance. Most of these proxies were controlled by Markham Robinson. There were 7 in-person votes and 13 proxy votes. The original vote was 19 for Hoefling and one for Goode, but then the Goode voter switched his vote to Hoefling so that the vote was unanimous.
Several hours earlier, three delegates, all backing Ed Noonan for President, had left the convention in protest. Noonan, who was one of those three delegates, told the gathering that he should be the presidential nominee because he had won the presidential primary and he had contributed many years of service to the AIP. Noonan accurately perceived what the vote was going to be, even though that vote was still several hours in the future at the time he left, so he and his backers saw no reason to remain for the vote.
The convention chose Dr. Robert Ornelas of Anaheim, California, for vice-president. He works with a group that develops Christian hip hop evangelistic messages. He did not attend the convention but he had phoned in on speaker phone and had asked for the vice-presidential nomination. However, when he asked for it, he was holding himself out as the running mate for Rev. Wiley Drake. Drake, who did attend the convention, had asked for the presidential nomination but did not receive it.
