Glenn Hegar Has the Momentum, Endorsed by Tea Parties and Half of State GOP Officials

Glenn Hegar for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts seems to have all the momentum in the race right now. The Texas Comptroller is one of the few, statewide elected officials. It is not a glamorous position, but it is a very powerful and important position.

The race for Texas Comptroller will not end on the March 4^th, 2014 Republican Primary Election Day. The Comptroller’s race will likely go to a runoff along with the Texas Attorney General and LT Governor and Railroad Commissioner races.

Glenn Hegar is certainly beginning to stand out among the crowd in his race. He is being embraced by Tea Party groups and grassroots organizations all across the entire State of Texas.

Just a week ago, Hegar was endorsed by the highly respected Texas Patriots PAC. Texas Patriots PAC is one of the top Tea Party organizations in the entire State of Texas. They are based out of the Woodlands, TX.

Also this past week, Hegar was recommended by the Montgomery County TEA Party.

Wrapping up the past week, Hegar also announced that half of the Texas State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) members endorsed him for Texas Comptroller.

I was on the SREC recently. Just in case anyone was thinking of saying that Hegar was only endorsed by moderates on the SREC, I looked over the list of SREC member endorsements, and I know a few of them personally and know them to be very good conservatives. From Mark Ramsey and Valoree Swanson in SD 7, to Naomi Narvaiz in SD 21, and many others on the list.

The SREC, although not well known, is an important group of individuals. The SREC is the committee that governs and manages the Republican Party for the entire State of Texas. There are 31 Senate Districts in Texas. Every 2 year at the Republican State Convention, each Senate District in Texas elects a man and a woman to serve on the State Republican Executive Committee.

Oh, and did I mention that Grover Norquist, the President of Americans for Tax Reform and an NRA board member, has recently endorsed Glenn Hegar?

Look, I could go on and on about all the conservative support that Glenn Hegar is getting in his campaign for Texas Comptroller, but I think you get the picture.

If support from grassroots conservatives is any indication, Hegar certainly has the momentum in the race right now.

Texas GOP Funds Pro-Abortion Activist - $20,000 to Sarah Davis - Demand they STOP Violating Platform

While national attention focuses on Republicans fighting for unborn babies in Austin, TX, one Texas Republican State Representative, Sarah Davis, is fighting against Republicans and trying to kill the pro-life bill. The worst part is that she is funded by the Texas GOP! Demand the Texas GOP to STOP funding her URGENT! Contact the Republican Party of Texas and the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) and DEMAND that they STOP violating the Party Platform by GIVING OUR MONEY TO CANDIDATES WHO ARE FOR KILLING BABIES LIKE PRO-Late Term Abortion advocate State Representative Sarah Davis CLICK HERE for the email list of the 62 SREC members (2 members per State Senate District) and also contact the Texas GOP Chairman and vice-Chairman and Staff at smunisteri@texasgop.org and mfredricks@texasgop.org and info@texasgop.org Unfortunately, it is not expected that all GOP candidates and GOP elected officials will follow the values of the Texas Republican Party platform. It IS EXPECTED that the PARTY FOLLOWS THE STATE PARTY PLATFORM. also see: TX GOP Rep. Sarah Davis Pledges Support for Gay Rights

Here are the disturbing facts:


* Texas GOP gave approximately $20,000 to Pro-Abortion Candidate Sarah Davis Just Last Year according to research done by Mark McCaig (see Mark's McCaig's letter to the State Chairman and the SREC below)

* It is AGAINST the Platform of the Republican Party of Texas to give ANY money or support to Pro-Abortion Candidates. The Texas Republican Party Platform is a set of values that has been voted on by the thousands of delegates and the SREC and State Party are charged with upholding and promoting the values of the Party Platform. No one is saying that the Party should oppose Pro Abortion Republican Candidate Sarah Davis against her Democrat opponent. This platform values just says the Party should not give money or support to a pro abortion candidate and let the candidate run their own election. There are thousands of other candidates who could use the money that the party gave to Sarah Davis anyways because her campaign already had a massive amount of money. There is NO excuse for the party to violate the platform and go out of their way to send money and support to Sarah Davis and not sent money and support to so many other candidates who are PRO-LIFE.

*State Representative Sarah Davis is for Late Term Abortions and Opposes Republican Pro-Life Bills. Sarah Davis was the ONLY Republican to vote against the pro-life abortion bill being fought in Austin, TX right now. She is for late term abortions after 20 weeks when babies can feel pain. She is the ONLY Republican State Representative to vote against last session's Sonogram Bill. She also got a 100% pro-choice score from Planned Parenthood and is openly opposed the overturn of Roe v. Wade. The Party should have known this information when they gave Sarah Davis money and they should put measures in place so it does not happen again.

*Email from Mark McCaig to Chairman Steve Munisteri and the SREC Asking them to Stand up for the Party Platform and Stop Funding Pro Abortion Candidates (as a side note, some in the Texas GOP have defended giving money to Pro Abortion Sarah Davis by saying that Mark McCaig is works for a big Democrat so we should not believe what he says. Well, I don't really care who McCaig Works for, I only care if what McCaig is saying is true. I looked into what McCaig said and what he says is true. Although McCaigs employer is a bad dude, bringing up who McCaig works for is a distraction from the real issue which is that it is a FACT that the Party gave money to Pro Abortion Sarah Davis and it is a FACT that it is against the Party Platform for the Party to give money to Pro Abortion candidates)

Mark McCaig

to Steve Munisteri

Dear SREC members,

I would like to thank all of you for the RPT's support of the pro-life legislation currently being considered in the state legislature. As you are all aware, this legislation will go a long way to protect innocent human life and women's health in our state.

During the last special session, this legislation had the support of every Republican member except for one- State Representative Sarah Davis of Houston. The Houston Chronicle has an article today about Rep. Davis' opposition to this legislation that I would encourage each of you to read: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/falkenberg/article/Houston-s-Davis-is-sole-GOP-no-vote-on-abortion-4643941.php

The RPT sent out an e-mail this morning rightfully thanking the GOP legislators who are fighting for the pro-life plank of our platform. Unfortunately, I must remind the SREC that the RPT has failed to abide by the following plank of our platform:

Party Candidates and the Platform on Protecting Innocent Human Life - We implore our Party to support, financially or with in-kind contributions, only those candidates who support protecting innocent human life. Further, we strongly encourage the State Republican Executive Committee to hear and recognize the longstanding and overwhelmingly consistent voice of the grass roots and revise its by-laws to make this action binding on our Party.
 

This plank of our platform expressed the clear desire of our grassroots that the RPT only fund those candidates who support protecting innocent human life. The RPT has limited funds with which it can support candidates and it is unable to financially support every Republican candidate in the state. In fact, only a small percentage of Republican candidates across Texas receive financial support from RPT.

During the last election, the Republican Party of Texas contributed (either directly or through in-kind contributions) approximately $20,000 to Sarah Davis' campaign. When I discovered that the RPT was violating this plank of the platform, I sent Chairman Munisteri and the SREC an e-mail outlining my concerns. After the concerns expressed in my e-mail were not addressed, I then arranged for delegates to our last state convention to be informed about the RPT's financial support of Rep. Davis (who also opposed the sonogram bill in the 2011 legislative session and received a 100% score on Planned Parenthood's candidate survey in her most recent campaign) and gave the contacted delegates an opportunity to be connected to the RPT's office to express their opinion on the matter if they so desired. This resulted in an overwhelming response. Instead of addressing the Party's failure to abide by its own platform, the RPT directed callers to a recorded message that attacked me and my employment. I was also told that some within the Party encouraged Chairman Munisteri to seek criminal prosecution against me for making it possible for these GOP activists to make their views known to the Party (of course, the First Amendment clearly protects this kind of political speech).

While I certainly agree that, despite her flaws, Rep. Davis was a huge improvement over her Democratic opponent, the money she received from the RPT represented only a small fraction of her entire campaign budget. The funds used to support Rep. Davis' campaign would have been better used elsewhere and I believe it sent a negative message to the grassroots that this plank of the platform was disregarded.

I wish I could say that Rep. Davis' opposition to this pro-life legislation was a surprise, but it is not. I think it is important that each of you as SREC members know that her campaign was subsidized on your watch as SREC members at the expense of other pro-life candidates. I hope I am not the only one that finds it troubling that a candidate who received this level of financial support from the RPT is now criticizing this key conservative legislation in the media as a political stunt and publicly questioning the motives of the Republican sponsors of this bill.

While I recognize that is probably not feasible to seek a refund from Rep. Davis, I would hope that the SREC takes all steps possible to ensure that the money contributed to the RPT by hardworking grassroots conservatives is not misused in a similar manner in the future.

Best Regards,

Mark McCaig

mark@markmccaig.com

URGENT: Texas GOP Prepares to BAN Recordings of their Votes at SREC Open Meetings

update: I has been said that video and pictures are not needed at SREC meetings because audio recording is allowed. The problem is there are no roll call votes so audio recording will NOT show how SREC members vote. Only Video Recording will show how each SREC member votes.

Please pass this information around to Grassroots Republicans in Texas. The vote is THIS Saturday June 8th, 2013

URGENT: Contact the Texas GOP Headquarters (click here) and Contact your Texas SREC member (click here) NOW and ask them to vote in FAVOR of transparency! Ask them to NOT BAN their voting records from being recorded. 

This Saturday, June 8th, 2013, the Texas GOP State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) will be voting on a standing rule to either allow or ban video and photographs of Texas GOP open meetings.

I am not bashing the Party. I just want to keep the party from making a HUGE mistake. I stand by the conservative values of the Texas GOP platform and many of the SREC members are great conservatives, but unfortunately, many Texas GOP Officials this Saturday plan to vote to NOT ALLOW video recording or photographs of their votes at Texas GOP SREC meetings. Not allowing video or photographs goes against Texas GOP rules requiring open meetings, it goes against the wishes of the thousands of Republican Delegates who, at the last Texas GOP State Convention voted to allow recording of Republican meetings, and it also is a slap in the face of transparency. How can we demand open government and demand to know how our elected officials vote if the Texas GOP officials who run the Party do not even want their votes to be recorded?

This vote should be a no brainer right? You would think it would be an easy YES to allow recording so constituents can see how the elected members of the SREC vote. Surprisingly, MANY Texas GOP elected officials want to BAN grassroots Republicans from being allowed to record their votes. That is right, the same Republican leaders who are now wanting to hide their votes from the cameras are also the same people who turn around and demand transparency in government and demand that constituents have the right to see how their elected officials are voting. Hypocritical don't you think?

TEXAS GOP RULES REQUIRE OPEN MEETINGS EVEN TO THE MEDIA

It is important to understand that, per current Texas GOP rules, the SREC meetings are OPEN to EVEN THE MEDIA. If there is something confidential that the SREC must discuss then they can go into executive session. Other than closed executive session, the meetings are required to be open to even the liberal media. The Republican Party has this open meetings rule because we are FOR transparency and FOR constituents being able to see how we vote.

Republican Delegates at Last State Convention Voted to ALLOW Video Recording of Meetings

At the most recent Texas Republican Party State Convention, thousands of delegates voted to ALLOW video recording of all the Republican Convention committee meetings. How can the SREC go against the wishes of the Republican delegates who elected them to serve on the SREC by denying recording of open State Republican meetings?

So why, if the meetings are open and even members of the media are already allowed to be at the meetings, would Texas GOP officials want to ban even just photographs of the meetings?

I was a member of the SREC last year and I pushed for this kind of transparency during my term. I received MANY comments from fellow current SREC members as to why they are not for more transparency like photographs of meetings. Some of the members against recording are not bad people but are misguided. Then there are some of the members though who just plain and simple do not want you to know how they vote. 

THE ACTUAL RESPONSES FROM TEXAS GOP OFFICIALS WILL SHOCK YOU (See Below)

Some Texas GOP officials told me that they do not want video or photographs at the open meeting because they say that "if their constituents want to know how they are voting then their constituents can go to Austin like them and see how they vote." This response is one of the most shocking. The members of the SREC are elected to represent their constituents. The SREC members are elected to go to Austin so their constituents do not have to. How dare anyone say that if you want to know how they vote you can come to Austin and see for yourself. By the way, the Texas GOP does not even post on their website the schedule of when and where the SREC meetings will be so how do constituents even know about the meetings? Can you imagine the uproar that these same SREC members would be in if their congressman told them that they are banning all recording and video stream of congressional votes and if Republicans wants to know how their congressman votes well then the constituent can just go to Washington D.C. and see for themselves.

As another example, I actually had SREC members tell me that they do not want to be recorded because they "might vote or act differently if they know they are on camera." What? So you don't want your constituents to see how you vote because you might vote differently if you know they can see you vote?

Some of the Texas GOP officials told me that they do not want photographs or video because they "do not want liberals to know what they are talking about in the Republican meetings." That excuse would make sense if the Texas GOP SREC meetings were CLOSED. That excuse is laughable because the meetings are required to be OPEN and liberal members of the media are ALREADY ALLOWED to be at the open meetings and can hear and see what is voted on. The SREC Bylaws even SPECIFICALLY WELCOME the media to the open meetings. Do you really think that the liberal members of the media do not already have secret recorders at the meetings? Even if they don't, they are there at the open meeting and can still hear and report about what happens in the meeting regardless of whether or not they recorded it. That is what executive session is for. Per the Texas GOP rules, all SREC meetings are open, but when something confidential needs to be talked about, away from the ears of the liberal media, the rules allow for executive session behind closed doors.

There were many other excuses given for why SREC members should not have their votes recorded, but I will give you just one more surprising excuse. One SREC member told me that their constituents do not need any recordings of the meetings because "they will tell their constituents everything the need to know about the meetings." Who are you to determine what your constituents need and do not need to know about what issues you vote for and against at the SREC meetings. Your constituents have a right to see all the votes you make at the meetings and not just the ones that you think they need to know about!

MANY TEXAS GOP SREC MEMBERS DO NOT WANT THEIR CONSTITUENTS TO SEE HOW THEY VOTE

So the question still remains, why would anyone in the Texas GOP be against allowing people to record their votes in the OPEN SREC meetings?

The answer is simple, many SREC members who are against recording at the open meetings do not want their constituents to know how they vote at the meetings. You see, when the elected SREC members vote on an important issue, the overall vote is recorded in the minutes, but there is no record of how each individual member voted. It is very rare for the SREC to allow a roll call vote. What does this mean? This means that, unless you are actually at the Texas GOP meetings to watch the voting, there is no recording of how your SREC member votes. (Did I mention that the Texas GOP does not even post on their website the schedule of when and where the SREC meetings will be?)

If Video or Photographs are allowed, these SREC members would not be able to keep their votes hidden. Their constituents who want to know how they vote would not even have to travel to Austin because they can just see the video or picture of who voted for or against important issues. This is not what some SREC members want. Some of them don't want people to know how they vote. Well, in my opinion, that is exactly why we NEED recording of how they are voting. Most of the time when someone wants to hide their vote, that means they are doing something that they know the people who elected them would not like.

Call the Texas GOP and State Republican Executive Committee NOW. If they vote against transparency it will give the Party a black eye.

The time has come for more transparency in the Texas GOP. If the SREC votes against voting transparency and open meetings, then it will leave a black eye on the Party. The party will be seen as hypocritical to demand transparency in government votes but not transparency of their own votes.

Regardless of what happens this Saturday, this Issue WILL be brought up at the next Texas GOP State Convention and I am confident the Republican Delegates in Texas will vote, once again, for transparency and to allow recording of votes in Texas Republican State Meetings.

Thank you SREC Member Bill Eastland for calling for this vote to allow recording of votes at open Texas GOP SREC meetings!

Weston Martinez is Voice of the Conservative Vote for Texas GOP Vote this week

from TexasGOPvote.com


Weston Martinez has a proven history of service to the Republican Party. He has dedicated his life to living the Texas conservative values we hold dear. Weston is a proud husband and father of 5 children. He’s an active member of Friendship Church in San Antonio and he has 17 years of Corporate business experience with AT&T and now is involved in the Oil & Gas Field in Texas. Weston has worked with conservative candidates and organizations across Texas to ensure our values continue to spread.
Weston’s involvement with the Republican Party began as a precinct chairman, then as President of the Young Republicans of Bexar County, then as the State Republican Executive committeeman for Senate District 25. Weston was honored in the last legislative session to be appointed to the Texas Real Estate Commission by Governor Perry and was confirmed by the Senate.
Follow Weston Martinez on Facebook and Twitter.

"I tell people daily that Hispanics believe in Texas conservative values such as: welcoming anyone to our country who enters legally, traditional marriage, the 2nd amendment, balancing our budget, securing our border, and that life begins at conception. Our future will not be won on the battlefield of compromise!"

CSCOPE – A rogue program hidden within the Texas Education Agency that should be shut down

by Mark Ramsey posted at Texas GOP Vote

If you have not heard, a rogue group hidden within one-and-then-more regional service centers (RSC) of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) called CSCOPE (no particular acronym meaning, except that software possibly started from a progressive leaning company with similar initials). It has been hidden from public view due in part to some questionable 501c3 filings that seem to have only one purpose—to keep their operations as secretive as possible.
Senator Dan Patrick (SD7), chair of the powerful Senate Education Committee, held an informational hearing where parents and grassroots activists concerns about lesson plans and suggested curriculum were confirmed. In some parts of the hearing, the CSCOPE officials were evasive at best. Some of the lesson plans included:

• Comparing the original Boston Tea Party act of throwing tea into a harbor as “terrorist” 
• Comparing Christianity to a Wiccan cult 
• Presenting Communism as a superior economic system to free market capitalism 
• Having zero mention of American Exceptionalism as required by Texas standards 
• Presenting more lesson time/space to Islam than any other religion 
• Having students imagine they woke up in a new communist country and having to design a flag for it 
• Abysmally poor math lessons

When activists discovered this, CSCOPE has been trying to cover its tracks, but of course that’s really not possible in today’s world. Truth has a way of coming out eventually, especially when dedicated activists are involved.
To help encourage the Texas legislature to do something about it, the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) unanimously passed a strong resolution this past Saturday (Texas Independence Day!) to immediately start formal oversight and perhaps shutting it down entirely by cutting off funding. (Yes, it was being run with taxpayer money through a tangled web that has still not been revealed entirely.) Representative Steve Toth (R-The Woodlands) has filed HB-760 to do many of the items in the Resolution. (Other “authors” since filing now include Reps. Debbie Riddle, Dwayne Bohac, Linda Harper-Brown, and Lois Kolkhorst, and many additional “co-authors”.) We encourage you to read the entire Resolution from the SREC below.
The Republican Party continues to show that it clearly has better ideas than Democrats. Republicans work hard for solid education for your children—we do not just blindly support union wishes like the Democrats.
The Republican Party values are better for your family.

Re-Elect David Bellow to SREC - Moderates are Trying to Remove Conservati​ves from Republican Party!

Please forward this message on to any Republicans in the 19 counties of Texas Senate District 3 (Anderson, Angelina, Cherokee, Hardin, Henderson, Houston, Jasper, Liberty, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Newton, Orange, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Trinity, Tyler)

There is a push to kick out the most outspoken conservative Republicans on the SREC so that the party will attract more moderates to join the party who do not believe in our Republican values. I want more people to join the Party too, but not at the expense of our values. Compromising is what got America in this mess in the first place! We need to stand for what we believe!

I fought against the Moderates in the Republican Party on the SREC. I boldly stood for Republican values if our State Platform when others on the SREC wanted to water them down.

When I first got on to the SREC two years ago, I was a fresh face and was not part of any groups and did not play any political games. I just went in with a fresh mind and stood for what was right. I immediately saw needed changes and made them and stood where I saw moderates trying to take over.

If you want someone who is just going to show up to your meetings and pay you lip service and go along with the crowd never rocking the boat then don’t vote for me. If you want someone who is really trying to make a difference and is FIGHTING to protect our conservative values, and who will strive to always inform everyone of important issues going on in the Republican Party of Texas, then VOTE FOR ME

In my first year I proposed and passed a resolution calling for the proposed platform to be posted up online the night before the vote on the platform (I was tired of people not having time to read the proposed platform changes because they get the proposed platform on the day of the platform vote).

I amended the Bylaws to create an official Chaplain for the RPT when some did not want to have a Chaplain anymore There was also a question of whether or not to have a chaplain for the Republican party of Texas, I thought it would be crazy not to have one. It was revealed that the party did not officially have a chaplain position in the bylaws. Well I thought the answer to that was easy. Change the bylaws!

I fought to follow the 2010 Platform Legislative Priorities Report that required the RPT to publish a list of voting records of our leaders compared to our Party Values so we know how people really vote.  The 2010 State Republican Convention Delegates passed in the platform a section that asks the SREC to put out a legislative priorities report so that republicans can see how their leaders voted compared to the Party Platform values. I fought hard for the republicans of Texas who voted to put out this report, but the report did not pass due to the moderates voting it down because they do not want people to see that some Republicans do not really have Republican values.

I Kept Texas Republicans informed about IMPORTANT Texas Republican News and Issues via my Blog and Emails, more than any SREC member in the past has ever done. From redistricting/election date news to important issues that the Republican Party of Texas (SREC) was debating, I ALWAYS kept everyone informed. I posted hundreds of articles on my blog and sent out probably over 100 emails in the last 2 years with important updates. I strive to make sure everyone knows what is going on behind the scenes of the RPT. It is YOUR party and you should know what is going on!

I was ALWAYS Available to Help ANY County Chairman or Republican in or out of my District. When Jasper County’s chairman died and Cherokee County was having problems and their Chairman resigned, I was called by them about the problem and I immediately stepped in to help them through the process of getting back up and going with a new chairman. These are just two examples of how I have always been readily available and eager to help my district. I am not your chairman and I do not run your county party, but I am always here if you need any help or have any questions about the State Party. Just pick up the phone and call!

I Fought for our East Texas Conservatives that Moderate Joe Straus tried to kick out in Redistricting. Joe Straus was elected to speaker by the Democrats. Last year he did not stand in the way of the Republican Majority in the House of Representatives so we were able to get some Conservative Legislation passed, but he is not conservative himself and he has waged a war against the strong conservatives in East Texas who voted against Straus for Speaker of the House. He gutted Wayne Christian’s District so that Wayne lost and he tried to do the same with David Simpson and James White. I fought for James White against Straus and helped Super Conservative James White stay in office. I know that some fellow Republicans to not like me because I am not a fan of Joe Straus, but I stand first for our Republican Platform Values before I stand for people. Without our values we are just a big social group with nothing to stand on.

I Am Asking to be Re-Elected for Only one more 2 year term and then I Will Ask Someone Else to Run I am asking for 2 more years on the SREC so I can energetically fight Obama in this upcoming election and stand for conservative values on many important issues coming up this year (like redistricting in which many of our east Texas Conservative Republicans were hurt in redistricting by the more moderate Republicans in Texas) During this next two years, I would like to invite ANYONE who is interested in running for SREC to come to the meetings with me so you can start to understand the SREC and will know what you are getting into when you run in 2 years. I will not run again in 2 years because my wife and I have our first baby coming at the end of this year and in two years I will want to take a break from politics to focus more on my family and being home to raise a young child with good values. Family and God come first!

In less than 2 years that I have been on the SREC, I visited all 16 Counties in SD3 at least once and sometimes twice or three times (except one county that unfortunately did not have regular meetings to go to so I just visited with republicans in that county on my own). This was a hard task because the district is hundreds of miles across and many counties have meetings on the same day of the month.  I ran for SREC at the last convention and vowed to visit every County in Senate District 3. Some of the rural east Texas Counties had not been visited by a Committeeman in years and many of them did not even know what the SREC was. I knew I might make some of the bigger Republican Counties mad by not focusing on going to their meetings every month (I know some in Polk and Montgomery have asked why I have not gone to more of their meetings in the last couple of years). The way I saw it is that there were 16 counties (now 19) in SD 3 and I wanted to visit all of them, not just a select few that have the most votes to get re-elected.

Many on the SREC thought I did too much. I even had some SREC member come to me in my first SREC year and they told me I was doing too much and that I needed to just sit back and watch everyone my first two years to see how they run things. I told these SREC members that I was only elected for two years and my voters elected me to come to Austin to stand for conservative East Texas values and not just sit and watch.

I didn’t just sit and watch. Unfortunately I knew that the establishment and/or moderates would not like that I stood so strongly for Conservative values and did not play the political game.  I knew I would have people run against me for SREC. Some probably want me gone because they don’t like that I do not just follow along with everyone else, and some of the more moderate Republicans want me gone because I was too conservative. As a result, I believe I will have at least two challengers running against me to take my place on the SREC. So Please Vote to Keep Me on the SREC as a Strong Conservative Fighting for You!

I first got elected to the SREC only 2 years ago when Jim Wiggins was term limited out. The RPT has 8 year term limits because the Republicans in Texas understand the importance of not allowing someone to be in power too long so that fresh faces can come in and see potential problems that have been overlooked and give new life and energy to the Party. Even nice people in power for too long will get set in their ways and become part of a system. Jim completed his 8 year term and could not run again because he was term limited out. That is when I ran and got elected to the SREC.

I hear that Jim Wiggins is one of the gentlemen asked to run against me. He is a nice guy, but he did his term limit and we don’t need someone who will just fit in and go with the crowd. We need someone with energy who will stand strong for conservative values and fight off the push to make out Party more moderate. Jim didn’t even have anything to do with the district after he got off of the SREC. He even just sent an email to former Jasper Chairman Gene Acree because he did not even know that Gene passed away last year and Jasper has a new chairman now. I fear his interest is only to defeat me because I am too conservative and do not go along with the crowd. Please vote for me so I can continue to fight hard for conservative values for one more two year term.

Importance of Texas GOP State Convention THIS WEEK June 7-9, 2012 at Fort Worth Convention Center

This week is the 2012 Texas Republican State Convention in Fort Worth, TX

The State GOP Convention happens every 2 years and is the end of a long process. This year was especially frustrating because of the changes in our election date and convention process due to redistricting lawsuits.

Typically, Texans vote in the Republican Primary Election and then go to their precinct polling place the night of the election (right after the election is over) and there takes place the Precinct Convention. At the Precinct Convention, delegates submit platform ideas and rules changes. They also nominate people from that precinct to be delegates to the County/Senatorial Convention.

At the County/Senatorial Convention, the rules changes and platform ideas are voted on to be passed up to the State Convention. The County Convention also votes on the delegates to go to the State Convention.

Then there is the State Convention. This is very important because this convention will shape the entire Republican Party of Texas. The delegates at the State Convention will do everything from determine what Republican Party Platform Values are for the next 2 years, to selecting a State Chairman and SREC members to run the State Party, to selecting National Delegates to the Republican National Convention to nominate the Republican Presidential Candidate and create the national GOP Platform

Full List of Important Events at Texas GOP State Convention:

Vote on Party Platform Values

Vote on Party Rules

Elect State Chairman and VP

Elect National Committeeman and Committeewoman

Elect Delegates to National Convention

Elect Presidential Electors

Elect State Republican Executive Committeeman and Committeewoman

2012 Texas GOP State Convention Schedule, Events, Parking Map – June 7-9 Fort Worth Convention Center – Click Here

TX Woman gets over 3000 signatures for Texas Presidential Debate (w/ Mitt Romney & Ron Paul?)

Update: Petition now has over 5000 signatures!

This past weekend at my County Convention in Hardin County, TX, I was pleasantly surprised when a young woman from my county,
Chelsea Willis, approached me and said she had a petition with over 3000 signatures on it. The petition was to try to persuade Mitt Romney to come to a Texas Republican Presidential Debate. The petition is titled "Potential Nominees, attend the GOP Debate (Houston, TX on May 24th, 2012)"

In recent years, Texas has had little say in the Republican Presidential Race. The Texas GOP tried to put Texas on the map by getting together a debate on May 24th in Houston, TX. Mitt Romney was the only candidate to snub this Texas debate.

Even with Santorum suspending his campaign (dropping out of the race), Chelsea knew that the race was not over and many states still have not voted, so on April 14th Chelsea sprang into action by starting an online petition in support of this Texas debate with Gingrich, Paul and Romney. The petition specifically urges Mitt Romney to attend.

Since the start of the petition, Gingrich has also announced he suspending his campaign (dropping out)

Although it now seems unlikely that any other Presidential candidate other than Mitt Romney will get the Republican Nomination, it is encouraging to see that even regular voters in little Texas counties are standing up and trying to make a difference. Getting over 3000 signatures is pretty impressive for this rather low-key controversy.

Even with just Ron Paul and Mitt Romney left in the race, the point is to show Romney that Texas does not like being ignored, so I encourage everyone to go to this link and sign the petition http://www.change.org/petitions/mitt-romney-debate-ron-paul-houston-tx-on-may-24th-2012

Who knows, if she gets enough signatures maybe Romney will actually take notice. I hear that a major news outlet would be interested in a debate with just Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. That would be interesting!

Below is a personal letter from Chelsea Willis regarding her petition:

I created a petition titled "Potential Nominees, attend the GOP Debate (Houston, TX on May 24th, 2012)" because I care deeply about who becomes the GOP nominee.

I understand that the SREC has received a commitment from a major television network to televise the debate, and that the remaining GOP nominees, except Romney, have pledged to be at the debate. In addition, it is my understanding that the SREC passed a resolution that intensely urged the uncommitted nominee to attend the Texas GOP Presidential Debate. In response, I have created an online petition to encourage Romney to debate Gingrich and Paul. The ultimate purpose of the petition is to gather constituent support for the debate, and I could really use your assistance in getting out the word. A substantial number of signatures will convince the uncommitted nominee that attending the debate is in the best interest of his campaign.

To read more about what I'm trying to do and to sign my petition, click here.

It will just take a minute!

Once you are done, please ask your friends to sign the petition as well. Grassroots movements succeed because people like you are willing to spread the word!

Sincerely,
Chelsea Willis

Texas Winner Take All to Be Voted on at GOP State Convention, not Emergency SREC Meeting

The recent controversy of whether or not the Republican Party of Texas will go back “Winner Take All” will not be decided in an Emergency Texas GOP SREC Meeting. The question will be tackled at the June 2012 Texas Republican State Convention in Fort Worth, TX.

The Texas GOP will not be calling an Emergency SREC meeting after many SREC members (including members in favor of Winner Take All) expressed interest in holding off on making the decision until the State Convention. Instead of an Emergency Meeting, the issue of going back to Winner Take All will be given to the Convention Rules Committee and then voted on by the thousands of Republican Delegates and the Texas Republican State Convention.

I, along with the current and former Texas GOP Chairmen, am for Winner Take All. Texas has always been Winner Take All and it is something that has been voted on by the thousands of grassroots Republican delegates at the Last State Convention and past State Conventions. It is a system that allows Texas to have a bigger voice in the Presidential Race instead of being irrelevant in the Presidential Race, like we are this year. The only reason Texas went to proportional from Winner Take All was because the SREC was forced by the RNC to go to proportional because we were having a pre April Primary Election. Now that our Primary will be well after April, we should go back to Winner Take all because that is what the Delegates at the State Convention voted on. Who are we (62 SREC members) to defy the decision of Texas Republicans?

To make things easy and less confusing, I am not advocating for any drastic changes. I just want to go back to our old Texas Winner Take All system that Texas Republicans know and have voted to have. Our old Texas Winner Take All was not a true Winner Take All. It is a very good “modified” Winner Take All that is based on local level Congressional Districts. Basically, if you win a Congressional District you get the Republican Presidential delegates from that Congressional District. So it is a “winner take all” system because a candidate can win all the delegates in Texas, but it is actually fair and better than proportional because it allows the local Congressional Districts the ability to have a voice.

I would have liked the SREC to go ahead and have the emergency meeting to go back to our old Winner Take All system. We have the 15 members needed to call the meeting and we probably have the votes needed to change back. We already know Winner Take All is what the Republican Delegates in Texas want because that is what they voted on at the last convention. I guess I am one of those “remember the Alamo”

Although I would like to go back to Winner Take All NOW in an Emergency Meeting while there is still time to work out any kinks, I am satisfied with holding off and bringing the issue at the State Convention for the Republican Delegates to vote on.

My push to go back to Winner Take All instead of being bullied into proportional does not end here now that there will not be a meeting. My push for Winner Take All will continue until the State Convention. I hope the Texas Delegates at the State Convention will not cave to the threats from the RNC. Texas is known for standing our ground, not for backing down.

Texas “Winner Take All” is NOT about Romney or Santorum. It is about TEXAS

Texas MUST go to Winner Take All in order to be relevant in this Presidential Election. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain! This has nothing to do with Santorum or Romney. It is about TEXAS. Also, the RNC and DOJ cannot stop us or scare us!

I am a Santorum supporter and I am a Texas GOP SREC member in favor of an Emergency Meeting to go to Winner Take All, but it is very important to make it clear that I have been for winner take all WELL BEFORE I was a Santorum supporter. In fact, I was never in agreement with Texas being forced by the RNC last year to change from to Winner Take All to proportional. My past blog articles serve as proof that winner take all has never been about Santorum for me because I have been for Winner Take All well before I supported Santorum. My support for winner take all has always been about giving Texas a voice and making us relevant. We are the biggest Republican State in the nation and we are always overlooked! Could winner take all for Texas benefit Santorum? Sure it could. That is why the Santorum campaign is really getting on board with this and it is exciting his base. But it could also benefit Romney if he comes here and campaigns hard because with his money and network he could win Texas and get all of our delegates under winner take all. Winner take all is not about Santorum or Romney. It is about giving Texas a voice and getting candidates to recognize Texas and campaign here and have debates here.

Texas GOP SREC Members are for Winner Take All to Make Texas Relevant, Not to Help Santorum or Hurt Romney

The media is making it look like the push for winner take all is about trying to help Santorum. The truth is that Santorum supporters are not the only SREC members in favor of winner take all. In fact, the entire SREC (including Romney supporters) voted to last month to pass the resolution warning Romney to come to our debate. That is proof that this is not about Romney or Santorum. We are just tired of being ignored. This is about making Texas relevant instead of having candidates ignore us every election. A national debate can give Texas a place in the national race and it is insulting for the frontrunner Romney to reject coming to our Nationally Televised Texas Presidential Debate. Winner take all will make Texas relevant on a national level because all the candidates will want to come to TX to compete for our 155 delegates. Winner take all will shake things up and keep the race alive until Texas votes. Santorum will compete hard in Texas because he wants to keep Romney from getting 1144 delegates and force a brokered convention. Romney will want to come to Texas and campaign here to try to get our 155 delegates to help secure his bid for the nomination. This is not about Santorum or Romney. This is about Texas. Considering all the national attention we have stirred up, I think it is safe to say that it is already working!

The DOJ and RNC will not Hurt or Stop Us from going Winner Take All

In February, I proposed going back to Winner Take All but the SREC voted against it because we did not have an election date set in stone yet and there was fear that the DOJ would push our election day back even more if we tried to go back to Winner Take All. Now that our election date is set in stone, the DOJ does not worry us anymore. If we go to Winner Take All now then what do we have to fear from the DOJ? The DOJ cannot push back our election. The only thing that the DOJ can do is to say no and try to get an injunction to stop us from going to Winner Take All. What do we have to lose? I do not think the DOJ will reject it anyways because if they do reject us then that just sets us up to be able to sue them because it is CLEARLY unconstitutional to tell Texas that we cannot be Winner Take All, but at the same time they allow other states to be Winner Take All.

As far as the RNC goes, we are not worried about them either. We followed their rules and went to proportional when our election was before April. Now that our election is after April, due to liberals and a federal court unfairly pushing our election back, we should be allowed to be Winner Take All like everyone else. The RNC has no authority to punish us anyways. Only the national convention can do that. The RNC spokesman try to say that we will for sure be punished, but in reality, they cannot punish us and the only way we can be punished is if someone at the national convention objects to what we did and then the entire body would vote. I do not believe that the majority of the national convention delegates would vote to penalize Texas for going Winner Take All because any state with an April or later Primary is allowed to be Winner Take All.

Proportional is not More Fair vs. Winner Take All

If you run for city council with 2 other people do you split up the city council seat based on the percentage of the votes you get? NO. The person who gets the most votes wins the city council seat. The same thing with the Presidential race, there is no proportional “popular vote” in the Presidential race. If a candidate wins a state in the November General Election then they get all of the Electoral College delegates from that state. The same thing should apply to the Republican Nomination. The Republican candidate who wins Texas should be the candidate that the State of Texas gets behind. Otherwise we might as well throw states rights out the window and just go to a nation-wide popular vote (proportional).

We Have Nothing to Lose But Everything to Gain! Let’s go Winner Take All!

Ultimately, we have nothing to lose but everything to gain. We are completely irrelevant now as it is so no threats of penalties can make us any more irrelevant than we already are. On the other hand, we have everything to gain by taking a shot at changing our rules and possibly putting Texas in the spotlight and making us a must win state that candidates will not want to ignore. Win or lose, we should stand up for Texas and fight back against us slipping off into not ever being relevant. Our message to America should be 'Don't Mess With Texas' the race is not over, bring it on!