Jason Moore Reveals why Eric Opiela should NOT be elected

The following letter was emailed to me to pass on. The letter is from Jason Moore and it reveals why Eric Opiela should not be elected:


EmpowerTexans

Mr. Opiela’s Opus

February 13, 2014 by Captain Watchdog

In the crazy campaign season where every nook and cranny of a person’s life and statements about the most obscure things are brought out in TV ads, mailers and social media posts, I find it incredible that the wreckage left behind by Eric Opiela is scarcely mentioned anywhere!

You may recall that Mr. Opiela served as the Executive Director of the Republican Party of Texas until terminated by interim party chair Cathie Adams. What most of the people outside the bubble of RPT party politics don’t know is that under Mr. Opiela’s directorship the party was virtually weeks from having to consider bankruptcy!

Yes in a red state like Texas the Republican Party was nearly ¾ of a million dollars in debt! When confronted at a closed door meeting by myself and a fellow SREC member that it appeared to us that the Party was going broke, Mr. Opiela looked us straight in the eye and said “If the Party was going broke I would tell you”. A couple of months later as the next administration started their term at the RPT the financial realities were revealed to be obvious and serious.

Most people ask “why does this matter” in Mr. Opiela’s current race for Ag Commissioner? With the 5 year anniversary coming up for the organic forming of the TEA Party it is interesting to recall the things that have most irritated the taxpaying public that was the initial core of the TEA Party movement. It was overreach, dishonesty, obfuscation and financial mismanagement.

As a member of the State Republican Executive Committee during the employment of Mr. Opiela I can attest to the similarities of Mr. Opiela’s management of the party and government in general.

In fact at one meeting I specifically warned the party that we had no moral authority to demand of government what we were not willing give ourselves; accountability, transparency & honesty. When I and a fellow member questioned some of the financial reports given by Mr. Opiela we were accosted by him later and told that we were making “the chairman look bad”.

As part of the governing body for the state party it is our job to make sure that we fulfill the mission we set out in our bylaws. It is also our responsibility to make sound financial decisions. Most party supporters were never aware that Mr. Opiela signed a 7 year “iron clad” lease that at one point was exponentially more dollars per square foot than the average Austin high rise was leasing for at the time. Another revelation during the Opiela term was ridiculous fundraising agreements signed by him that saw the party essentially raising large sums of money just to pay the firm raising the money!

Even worse when the finances got so bad that he needed additional credit security for this firm to continue doing business with us he put the 64 members of the Executive Committee at financial risk by REMOVING our individual liability from the bill collectors, though most of us were unaware of the agreements he was entering into on behalf of the party!

These are just a few of the financial disasters overseen by Mr. Opiela. At one point Mr. Opiela finally admits that he knew the party’s finances were in bad shape but he thought he could get it corrected “before anyone found out”.

Finally, as if these financial decisions alone would not disqualify ANYONE from public office, Mr. Opiela’s political connections should be equally disconcerting. As a reminder, who could forget this great little paragraph from conservative warrior Erick Erickson over at Redstate regarding Mr. Opiela:

When the state’s Republican Executive Committee expressed concerns about the maps drawn for the state’s board of education, Straus lawyer and failed legislative candidate Eric Opiela expressed disdain for committee chairman (and Tea Party activist) Jason Moore in an email to other Straus allies, sarcastically saying, “need I say more.” Straus’ legal counsel said he did not “really trust” Moore – presumably because — in the words of Mr. Johnson — Moore “gave us hell.”

Or from the same article this: Similarly, when Straus adviser Eric Opiela forwarded along information from a Tea Party activist, Straus consultant and close friend Gordon Johnson wrote that they were “doing battle with idiots.”

By now everyone knows just how cozy Eric Opiela is with Speaker Joe Straus even to the point of being paid by the Speaker for “legal work”. However, during the initial forming of the ad hoc committee for the RPT for redistricting most of us were not aware of his financial commitments to various people for particular outcomes related to redistricting.

As most Republican primary voters already know the redistricting process has been chaotic at best. Mr. Opiela has been a central figure in that chaos. When I proposed a resolution (as an SREC member) that the GOP members of the Texas legislature needed to caucus together to select their choice for Speaker of the House, Mr. Opiela fought vigorously against this resolution. Even when I reminded members that the other party has this caucus requirement as part of THEIR bylaws, Opiela was still determined to thwart the will of grassroots Republicans.

So, when an individual serves as an employee of a political organization and hides information, works to undermine its board of directors, makes bad financial decisions and encumbers that organization with those bad decisions far into the future then why would we want him as a state elected official? I realize this makes him great blue state congressional material, but NOT a Texas elected official. However he might just be that half step democrats need to turn Texas “blue”.

Profane Emails From Texas Speaker Joe Straus’s Office Reveal War Against Conservatives

Private emails between Texas Speaker of the House Joe Straus staff/leaders reveal Straus's profanity-laden disdain for Texas Conservatives. These emails were revealed on RedState.com.

This is TEXAS for crying out loud! How is it possible that we have a speaker who hates conservatives? These emails that have been revealed should not come as a surprise to anyone because Straus already has a proven record of attacking Conservatives, Hurting them in redistricting, Campaigning against them, and even giving money to Democrats to beat Republicans. Straus is no conservative leader and should NOT be the leader of the Republican majority Texas House of Representatives. The only reason Straus is leader is because he was elected leader when the house was split between Republicans and Democrats and all Straus had to do was get a few liberal Republicans to join with all the Democrats to elect him as the Speaker. Once he became speaker he was able to hold on to the power by threatening any State Rep who opposed him by hurting them in redistricting and not putting them on important committees. Not to mention Straus has tons of money that he uses to pay off his supporters in races against conservatives who did not support him for Speaker.

It is time to OUST STRAUS! Call your State Reps RIGHT AFTER THE ELECTION and ask them to vote against Joe Straus..... We all know Joe Straus is going to have people calling all the State Reps in TX after the election to try to get them to support him for speaker so we need to call our State Reps before Straus does.

The last time someone ran against Joe Straus for Speaker of the House, it was a last minute effort to remove Straus from power and therefore was not able to gain the steam it needed before the Speaker Election. This go-around is different though because State Rep Bryan Hughes has come out VERY EARLY and has announced he is challenging Joe Straus for Speaker. This will give the Conservatives and Tea Party groups in Texas the time needed to mount a campaign to defeat Straus. This will give them time to put pressure on their State Reps to vote against Straus. Hopefully, articles like this that reveal how Straus is waging war against Conservatives will help keep the momentum going and be the proof needed to OUST STRAUS!


from RedState.com:

Private Emails From Texas Speaker Joe Straus’s Office Reveal War Against Conservatives

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  November 4th, 2012 at 03:33 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

“These e-mails from the redistricting process shed new light on just how dismissive the Straus team was of Republican Party and conservative efforts to draw more fair districts – and should serve as a warning bell to the new House that it is time for Straus to go.”

RedState has uncovered never-before-seen, profanity-laden e-mails between senior staff and legislative lieutenants of Texas’ liberal GOP House Speaker Joe Straus demonstrating disrespect for, and even hostility towards, grassroots activists and conservative lawmakers.
Tea party activists are called “idiots,” allies of U.S. Rep. Joe Barton are called “mother f***ers,” and decorated U.S. Marine and State Rep. Van Taylor is dismissed as “stupid,” by a top Straus political strategist.
Despite efforts by grassroots organizations, new media writers and others, most of the coordinated efforts against conservatives by Straus and his allies regarding Texas redistricting have been hidden from view. Speaker Straus has exerted various privileges and exemptions to keep the public from seeing emails or any other evidence of their activities. In fact, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has most or all the emails because of the re-districting litigation, but has not released them at the apparent request of his client, the Speaker.
However, in a batch of emails RedState has managed to get hold of (through other sources), it has become clear that Straus’ key strategists were openly hostile to conservatives. In particular, his top confidant Gordon Johnson (a Straus horseracing partner and former lobbyist) was clearly running the show — not the speaker’s chief of staff or other official office members.
But let’s be clear, this fits a pattern. Some readers may recall a post I wrote a few months back in the heat of the battle between Ted Cruz and David Dewhurst. In that, a friend in Austin detailed a conversation overheard at a coffee shop between a Dewhurst and a Straus staffer. The conversation was similarly dripping with disdain for the Tea Party and all things conservative.
Now, as a quick reminder, Joe Straus was elected Speaker by Texas House Democrats and a gang of 11 liberal Republicans back in 2009. I will get into Straus’s record again in a later post, but there are a host of reasons Democrats backed him – not the least of which is a questionable record on life, a penchant for “new revenue,” and a track record of obstructing the will of conservatives.
In late 2010, before the start of the legislative session, State Rep. Bryan Hughes of Mineola (now the conservative opposition candidate for speaker) came forward with charges that he was told conservative lawmakers would be punished if they opposed Mr. Straus’ re-election. He specifically testified under oath that it was clear Reps. Erwin Cain and Dan Flynn would be punished.
The investigating committee (appointed by Straus) took no action, despite the charges constituting a breach of law. When the re-districting process concluded, Messers. Cain and Flynn were indeed paired. Meanwhile, conservative stalwarts Wayne Christian and Jim Landtroop were drawn out of 80 percent of their districts.
The Straus team therefore successfully eliminated three of four conservative opponents, replacing them with representatives more compliant to Straus. Of course, because the grassroots conservatives understood what was happening, these three were the only Straus opponents to lose re-election. Meanwhile, a number of Straus supporters — including five committee chairs — lost re-election, and still other Straus allies chose to retire rather than be challenged in their primaries.
But the looming question is whether the ongoing threats by Straus will lock down the race for speaker yet again.
These e-mails from the redistricting process shed new light on just how dismissive the Straus team was of Republican Party and conservative efforts to draw more fair districts – and should serve as a warning bell to the new House that it is time for Straus to go.
When the state’s Republican Executive Committee expressed concerns about the maps drawn for the state’s board of education, Straus lawyer and failed legislative candidate Eric Opiela expressed disdain for committee chairman (and Tea Party activist) Jason Moore in an email to other Straus allies, sarcastically saying, “need I say more.” Straus’ legal counsel said he did not “really trust” Moore – presumably because — in the words of Mr. Johnson — Moore “gave us hell.”
In fact, the Straus team had far more than just distrust for conservative input. Two long-standing House members — Wayne Christian, of Center, and Phil King, of Weatherford — were talking with members about ways to improve the maps. But Straus confidant and redistricting committee chairman Burt Solomons of Carrollton would hear none of it. In an email to Straus’ chief of staff, Denise Davis, he wrote: “Just got up… f**k Wayne & Phil. Let’s go to the Floor.” Straus’ official counsel replied, “Couldn’t agree more.” While Straus’ chief of staff, Denise Davis, wrote approvingly, “I love Burt!”
But, again, it appears Davis was just a cheerleader, not actually in charge. That fell to consultant Gordon Johnson. And it was Johnson who, it appears, was setting the tone opposing conservatives.
In one mid-June 2011 e-mail, Gordon Johnson refers to decorated Marine hero and State Rep. Van Taylor of Plano as “stupid” and “impolite” for having posted to Twitter news that a senior lawmaker wasn’t going to give early support to Straus.
The problem was that legislators clearly knew supporting Joe Straus was politically dangerous leaving the 2011 legislative session and preparing for 2012’s elections. (As noted, record numbers of Straus allies lost re-election bids, while others — like Mr. Solomons — chose to retire rather than lose primaries.) As a result, House members refused to sign the traditional “pledge cards” to the incumbent speaker for the next session.
Similarly, when Straus adviser Eric Opiela forwarded along information from a Tea Party activist, Straus consultant and close friend Gordon Johnson wrote that they were “doing battle with idiots.”
Apparently one such “idiot” was Kaufman County Tea Party chairman Ray Myers who called Straus’ office upset by the previously mentioned pairing of Mr. Flynn and Mr. Cain. An email describing the call by Straus aide Tyler Rutherford inconveniently noted that Myers said House Speaker Joe Straus “promised through a surrogate not to do this.”
Reminding Mr. Straus and his allies of their promises clearly wasn’t welcome.
Another person helping the Straus team draw maps was Lee Padilla, the “Central-West Regional Political Director” for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Apparently he and others on the Straus team did not like getting input from the friends of US Rep. Joe Barton. He referred to them as “Barton mother f**kers.”
Other concerns are being raised by various House members, Republican and Democrat alike, about the depths to which the redistricting process was abused by the Straus team.
In the next 72 hours, right after the election, members of the Texas House will have to begin considering who they will support for the speakership in 2013 — Mr. Straus, a self-described moderate dripping with disdain for conservatives, or the conservative Bryan Hughes.
These emails appear to me to be just the tip of the iceberg. Straus is a known liberal who was empowered predominantly by Democrats, and has held on to power through threats and intimidation. Conservatives in Texas have been fighting back; the question now is whether House Republicans in Texas will do what they have been elected to do… and stand up against Straus.
If you live in Texas, make sure your representative knows what to do.

Joe Straus Tricks at TX GOP Convention – Straus REJECTED from National Delegate List

Texas Speaker of the House Joe Straus had to play some dirty tricks at the State Convention in order to keep from being humiliated from the silent walkout that was planned against him. He wrongly used fellow State Reps as Pawns and Shields. Joe Straus did not leave the Convention without humiliation though because Straus was rejected from being a National Delegate! Sadly, Texas GOP leaders are bashing the conservatives who removed Straus (see below)

Straus Dirty Trick – Used State Reps as Pawns at Texas GOP Convention

Joe Straus is not a popular guy among conservative Republicans in Texas. At the last convention he was loudly booed when he was introduced and came on the stage. This year the opposition to Straus wanted to be more respectful so they planned to just get up and walk out when Straus was introduced. The 2012 Convention Schedule that was VOTED ON had Joe Straus coming on to the stage to speak before the rest of the Texas State Representatives all came on the stage. Joe Straus and his buddies in the Texas GOP did not want Straus to be embarrassed so they decided to change the schedule and use the State Reps from Texas as pawns and shields. Instead of Straus coming out and speaking first, the schedule was changed last second to have the State Reps come out first and stand behind Joe Straus as Straus gave a speech. This was downright dirty to use my State Rep as part of his trick. My State Rep, and all the State Reps, had to walk out to the Stage while a pro Joe Straus political video was playing. If someone did want to boo the Joe Straus Video they would look like they were booing the State Reps walking out. These State Reps were treated like doormats. They did not get their introduction and were really just the backdrop for Straus. Once all of the State Reps were on the stage and the video ended, there was no introduction for Straus. Straus just stepped up and started talking with all the State Reps standing behind him to protect him from any possible backlash. Even with the change in schedule and the trick of using the Texas State Reps as Pawns, there was still a group of well over 100 who realized what was going on and went into the hallways to start chanting OUST STRAUS and NO STRAUS. watch video here

Daniel Greer also wrote about this tactless move on his AgendaWise website here

Speaker Joe Straus removed from National Delegate List

The At-Large National Delegates are nominated by the Permanent Nominations Committee at the State Convention. In order to allow room for regular republicans to be delegates to the National Convention, the only elected officials who get preferential treatment are the Statewide elected officials. People who are actually elected by the entire state of Texas (Governor, Attorney General, etc.)

This year, State Republican Executive Committeeman Eric Opiela was on the Permanent Nominations Committee. Eric tried to include Joe Straus into the list of Statewide Elected officials who get to be National Delegates.

Joe Straus is NOT a statewide elected official. Joe Straus IS NOT elected by the people of Texas and he probably WOULD NEVER BE. Joe Straus is only elected by the people of his San Antonio House District. He is not more a statewide elected official than my State Rep or any of the other 150 State Representatives. Joe Straus is given the title of Speaker and is not elected in a statewide vote to be Speaker.

One brave woman on the Nominations Committee, Kathy Haigler, made a motion to remove Joe Straus from the list of Statewide Elected officials because Joe Straus is not a Statewide Elected Official and if you opened the door for State Reps to get preferential treatment then there would not be any room on the national delegate list for regular Republicans to be delegates. It was also brought up that the delegates at the State Convention would likely reject Joe Straus when the Nominations Committee presented the report to the Convention Delegates. Other members of the Nominations Committee, including Bill Eastland, also openly supported Haigler’s motion.

It was obvious that this was another one of the Joe Straus bag of tricks. It was planned beforehand to try to get Joe Straus on the list of National Delegates as a Statewide office holder. Eric Opiela made his rounds and tried to get people to vote for Joe Straus, but the majority of the members on the Nominations Committee voted against Joe Straus and his name was removed from the National Delegate List. The people on the Nominations Committee are chosen to be on the committee by the delegates at the convention.

TX GOP Leaders are Attacking Kathy Haigler for Doing the Right Thing!

Sadly, Kathy Haigler is being attacked for doing the right thing and removing Straus from the list of statewide elected officials who get to be on the list of national delegates.

According to an article by Donna Garner on Voices Empower, on Monday, Michael Bergsma (who nominated Haigler), sent out an email accusing her of ambushing him, hurting him personally, hurting the CD27 Caucus, and hurting the State Republican Party. He said he has “egg on his face” and now suffers from reduced credibility.  He attacked Haigler for striking Straus from the national delegate list and repeatedly stated his embarrassment.  Bergsma said Haigler cannot be trusted and will never be given a position of trust again.

An hour later, SREC Committeewoman Becky Berger piggy-backed on Bergsma’s e-mail, expressing the same sentiment.

SREC Committeeman Bob Jones also jumped on the bandwagon in a reply to the distribution list.

Lee Brandon, a CD27 state delegate, told Haigler she will forever wear a scarlet letter of betrayal.

So let me get this right…. Joe Straus is elected by Democrats and even campaigns for Democrats against Republicans, and it is Haigler who is the bad guy and not Straus? Haigler did the right thing. Joe Straus is not a statewide elected official and he should not get preferential treatment over other republicans to be a delegate. Straus would not even have been voted by the delegates of the convention to be a delegate anyways and he certainly does not represent the conservative Republicans in Texas. Kathy Haigler did the right thing.

Shame on these Republican leaders for attacking Haigler.

I guess I am not surprised though. Becky Berger is a nice lady and I get along with her. She is dead wrong sometimes though and this is one of those issues. I was also shocked at some of her actions earlier this year. I send out my articles, like this article, via email. I actually got an email from Becky earlier this year asking me to not send any emails to ANY Republicans in her district. I was shocked! Not only does that go against the First Amendment, but it also goes against transparency and, even worse, she is making the decision about what emails people in her district should or should not get! It is up to the individual Republicans in her district to make the decision of what emails they want to get. She does not speak for them and cannot make their decisions for them. I never got one complaint from anyone in her district and if any of them want to not get emails from me they just have to click a button at the bottom of my email to get off of my list.

Joe Straus is NOT Conservative. 2011 Texas Legislature Passed Conservative Bills IN SPITE of Straus

Joe Straus is not stupid. He is a politician and a weak leader who will side with whatever will not stir up too much controversy among the State Reps. In 2010, the people of Texas overwhelmingly elected conservative Republicans to the State House. Part of the reason so many new conservative State Reps were elected was in an effort to Oust Straus. The 2011 session of the Texas Legislature had a super majority of Republicans. Joe Straus knew that he would not be able to stop some of the big pro life and voter id bills from getting passed. This is why some good legislation was passed out of the 2011 State Legislature. It had nothing to do with Joe Straus. For all we know, Joe Straus is not even pro-life! When Straus was a regular State Rep he certainly did not vote pro life and Straus has not come out and said he has changed to pro-life. All Joe Straus did was not stand in the way of the pro-life bills in the Texas House. He did this because he knew it would be the nail in his coffin if he tried to get in the way.

Democrat Rep. Castro had this to say to the Texas Tribune just this past weekend, “Joe, if it were up to him, I think would have a more moderate Texas,” he said. “But he’s presiding over a Republican Party that is very extreme today, and if he’s going to stay Speaker, he’s going to have to curry favor with them.”

I guess we should be thankful to Straus because Straus could have tried to stand in the way. Thanking him for not standing in the way of pro-life bills does not mean that Straus was the reason or even wanted these conservative bills to pass. Truth be told, besides the big issues that we wanted to get passed, Straus actually did hurt many of the low key conservative bills that were presented by the new, conservative State Representatives.

Joe Straus is Hurting and Facing Many Challenges. Bryan Hughes is Running for Speaker

Joe Straus is hurting. His favorability ratings are very low statewide. People just do not like him. The problem is that the people of Texas do not get to elect him. He is only elected by his district in San Antonio and he is given the Speaker of the House position by fellow State Representatives. If the people of Texas had the choice to determine who the speaker is it is very likely that he would not be speaker for very long as there would be a massive grassroots effort to elect someone else. Joe Straus even had a challenger in his own district which is something that does not happen to the Speaker of the House.

So why is he still Speaker if people do not like him? Joe Straus was a left leaning Republican. He even voted against pro-life bills and got money from Planned Parenthood. He first got in, not by a vote of Republicans but because Joe Straus teamed up with the DEMOCRATS and got all of the Democrats to vote for him. Joe Straus was elected by the Democrats to be Speaker. Once he became Speaker it becomes very difficult to get everyone to try to beat a sitting Speaker. State Reps know that if they try to oppose Joe Straus they can be greatly punished because of the power that the Speaker has. They could be hurt in Redistricting (Joe Straus hurt good conservatives in redistricting last year) and they would be given bad committees where they will not be able to do anything. Most of Joe Straus’ Committee Chairmen have failing conservative ratings so we know which direction Joe Straus leans.

Many of the attacks Joe Straus made against conservative State Reps failed thankfully. One such attack was when Joe Straus tried to get rid of super conservative James White by putting him in a district with a Straus Chairman. White voted against Straus for Speaker of the House. Thankfully, Super Conservative James White WON and defeated his Straus Chairmen opponent Mike Hamilton (who had some ethics problems revealed during the race) . In fact, many of Chairmen and Leaders for Joe Straus were defeated! Once again, the grassroots Republicans are speaking but Straus does not and will not care.

Even under the threat of getting hurt by Straus, one State Representative Bryan Hughes has stood up to face the uphill battle for the Speaker of the House against Joe Straus. Putting Pressure on Joe Straus all the time will help get the word out about Joe Straus, and also it will push Straus into a corner where he has to try to at least act conservative in order to fend off the attacks against him from conservatives. Eventually Straus will be beaten and we have to keep up the pressure.