Mississippi Tea Party activist and former congressional candidate Bill Marcy said Friday that the GOP Establishment in Mississippi — headed by party Chairman Joe Nosef — are trying to bully potential convention delegates into backing Gov. John Kasich.

LifeZette reported this week that Nosef had sent text messages to supporters of front-runners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz demanding that they elect pro-Establishment delegates this weekend to the state convention in May when the national convention delegates will be selected.

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Marcy said on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that the GOP Establishment is addicted to power.

MARCY: They have threatened the delegates who are going to be going to the precincts and to the state that if you raise any type of dissent, then they are gonna call in the state police and have you removed. And this is not just an idle threat, because they did it four years ago. I’ve been involved in national politics and state politics here in Mississippi for years, and I saw the ’12 election, at the ’12 convention, that they actually brought in the state police to put down the Ron Paul people, so this is not an idle threat. They have done it in the past.

INGRAHAM: I think some of these folks have just, they’ve failed to see the writing on the wall. For some time. And rather than compromise with the grass-roots, they have taken part in an effort, either explicitly or implicitly, have been part of a lawyer to try to marginalize the good people across this country who really are the ones who do the heavy lifting in these elections … You read the reports, Bill, of what was being said in text messages to Trump and Cruz delegates, that they will be removed by armed guard from the caucus sites if there’s any quote “disruption” or anyone raises his or her voice against what the governor’s wishes are. Tell us about that.

MARCY: It’s not just a rumor. I’ve talked to an individual. The individual received a text. His name is attorney Mitch Tyrner … He received a text from Joe Nosef, the chairman of the party, threatening to call the state police if any of the Trump delegates or the Ted Cruz delegates raise any type of dissent this Saturday or in two weeks when we have our state convention. And this is horrible … If Joe Nosef, the chairman of the party, is not speaking for Phil Bryant, then Phil Bryant should ask for Joe Nosef’s resignation right now, today. And if he doesn’t do it, then obviously, Joe is speaking for the governor … They really want to put in a third person. And if you go to their parking lots, you look at their cars, they all have John Kasich’s bumper stickers. Now John, he’s a good man out of Ohio. He did not get one delegate. And they want him to be our, the presidential nomination. Forty votes might be enough to tip the balance to throw it into an open convention. It’s close enough now that they can put Donald Trump into a contested convention.”