GA: GOP Demands Loyalty Oath Pledging Allegiance to Party

From the AJC:

Raymond Boyd, the self-funded newcomer to the Republican gubernatorial race, is in a major dispute with state GOP officials over the party's insistence that he sign an oath pledging allegiance to the party.  Boyd, 67, a commercial real estate broker who dropped $2 million of his own money into the race in late March, said Republican Party officials told him he either signs the oath or he can't run under the party's banner.

The dispute comes days before Boyd, who lives in rural Morgan County, is to make his public debut as a candidate at a debate Thursday and a week before qualifying opens for candidates. State GOP Chairwoman Sue Everhart said Monday that the oath is spelled out in both party rules and state law.  "We've never had anybody who ran as a Republican yet object to it," Everhart said.