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!

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.

Texas GOP Passes Resolutions Warning Mitt Romney, Supporting Tom Delay and Approving Abortion Laws

If you are looking for the article about the Texas GOP having an Emergency Meeting to go to "Winner Take All" click on this link: http://hardincountyconservatives.blogspot.com/2012/04/urgent-texas-gop-winner-take-all.html

Below is the article about Texas GOP Passing a Resolution Warning Romney:


The State Republican Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Texas met for a quarterly meeting on Saturday March 31^st, 2012 in Austin, TX.

Several things of importance happened at the meeting, but this article will only cover the resolutions that were passed by the SREC. I will post other articles regarding the other things that happened at the meeting.

There were five resolutions passed at this meeting.

The most pressing and striking resolution that passed was a resolution warning Mitt Romney to go to the Texas Presidential Debate that the Texas GOP is putting together before the Texas Primary on May 29^th, 2012. Gingrich, Santorum and Paul have accepted the invitation to this nationally televised Texas Presidential Debate. Romney has not accepted.

We basically told Romney that if he does not go to the debate then we will take it to mean that he does not care about our large Republican state and therefore he should not get any of our delegates.

That is a strong warning from the largest Republican State Party in America! Don't Mess with Texas Mitt Romney!

The exact wording of the resolution does not say the word "warning", but in my opinion, as one of the people who was there and voted on this resolution, the intent and tone of the resolution was to tell Romney that he had better not ignore us and had better come to our debate or else!

Texas has 155 delegates and if we give our delegates to another candidate then that might be plenty enough to keep Romney from securing the nomination and force a brokered convention. When I say give our delegates to someone else, I mean that the people of Texas might get ticked off at Romney and decide to vote for someone other than Romney and I am not in any way insinuating that the Texas GOP will or can away anyone's delegates and giving it to someone else.

The Texas GOP is bending over backwards to try to get Romney to come here including asking him to let us know what date and location best works for him and the other candidates. We are not dictating to him when and where to be.

We are just tired of not having a voice in the national presidential race and Romney snubbing a debate in Texas when we finally get a national debate will not make us happy.

I of course will fully support the candidate who wins the nomination and join together to fight Obama, but until then the race is not over and Texas should have a say too!

As always, this blog is written by David Bellow, a member of the SREC, and my opinions are not the official voice of the RPT.

Another resolution of note was a resolution in support of Tom Delay. The liberal District Attorney shopped 3 Grand Juries in order to find one in the liberal Travis County that would indict Congressman Tom Delay for something that was not even against Texas law and no one has ever

Texas Republican Presidential Debate May 24th, 2012 in Houston – Nationally Televised!

Texas GOP will warn candidates that if they do not show up, they will be considered as not caring for Texas and should not get our vote

A Major Presidential Debate in Texas? This is pretty much unheard of!

Nothing is set in stone yet, but the Republican Party of Texas is close to finalizing a deal that will bring a nationally televised Republican Presidential Debate to Houston, TX on May 24^th, 2012. The debate will be only 5 days before the Texas Primary Election and there are 155 Presidential Delegates at stake. A candidate needs 1144 delegates to win the Republican nomination.

Texas GOP Chairman Steve Munisteri has been working hard behind the scenes to get this debate together. He has received a commitment from a major television network to televise the debate if there is enough candidate participation. So far, two of the four Republican candidates have responded and agreed to the debate.

Texas needs more than 2 candidates to commit to the debate in order to pull the debate off. This Saturday, March 31^st, 2012, the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) will present, and likely pass, a resolution calling on all four candidates to show they have concern for our state by committing to be at the debate, and under no uncertain terms to make it known that the state party leadership would consider it a major slight to the state party and to Texas Republicans for them not to show up. 

This resolution should put enough heat on the candidates to get all 4 of them to show up.

The Republican Presidential Nomination Race is being split 4 ways (Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul) with no signs of anyone backing out. This means that there will likely not be a winner yet by the time Texas gets a chance to vote in the May 29^th, 2012 Texas Primary Elections.

This sets up Texas to be something it has not been in a while, a Battleground State.

Texas Should Go Back to Winner Take All

Texas has gone from winner take all to proportional because the RNC forced us to make the change because we were originally going to have our Primary Election before April. This means that Texas will have less of an impact in the Presidential Race because the 155 delegates that Texas has will be split up between 4 candidates instead of the 155 delegates all going to the candidate who wins Texas. This is not good for Texas because it significantly lowers the impact that Texas will have in the Presidential race. I have advocated for Texas to go back to winner take all to reclaim our state sovereignty and give Texas a bigger say in the Presidential Race. Proportional dilutes the voice of Texas because our delegates are all split up, whereas other states get to put all their delegates behind the one candidate who wins their state. This puts Texas at a disadvantage. With winner take all, Texas could significantly change the Presidential Race because the

David Bellow is a Texas SREC Member who Writes a Blog with Conservative Republican Information and Opinions

For clarification purposes:

All the articles I ever write are based either my opinion or my take on the facts involved. I am a member on the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) in Texas, and I am involved in the inner workings of the Republican Party of Texas and yet I am also an outsider because I am young and was just elected to the SREC with no ties to anyone in the State Party. I desire to keep people up to date with what is going on in the Republican Party of Texas. Heck, some people do not even know what the SREC is or what we do. Most people certainly do not know about the important issues that we vote on during our meetings. I actively stand up for Republican values and I want more people to be more informed and involved. I even filed a personal lawsiot against the Unconstitutional healthcare law! I want people to be involved and be heard and and I want people to be informed. For this reason, I send out email updates about what is going on. I routinely send out information and polls that request input from you, the Republican voters in Texas. I do not speak for the other members of the SREC and I am not the official Party Spokesman. I have NEVER declared that I was. I always thought it was pretty clear that I am just a member of the SREC who writes a blog to get information out so people can know what is going on. If anyone every wants to stop getting emails from me they just have to click a link at the bottom of one of the emails they get from me. The other members of the SREC might not always completely agree on everything I say or they might have a different take on thing. That is just fine with me. The entire SREC rarely ever completely agrees on things and there are many votes split right down the middle. I work with everyone regardless of whether not we agree on every issue. I am not going to stop sending out information though simply because someone else on the SREC does not like what I am sending out. If someone does not agree with me then they can write their own article about what is going on and post it online for people to read. The more information the better! At least I am trying to keep people informed. The way I see it is I will gladly be guilty of putting out too many articles about what is going on instead of being guilty for not informing people enough about what is going on or for not standing for Republican values enough.


Sincerely,

Michael “David” Bellow Jr.
State Republican Executive Committee SD3


http://hardincountyconservatives.blogspot.com/
http://texasgopvote.com/users/david-bellow/track

Texas Precinct Conventions will be OPTIONAL under New 2012 Republican Delegate Selection Process

Update: The New Draft Plan has come out and all counties and senatorial districts will be able to have precinct conventions (if they want) and they can be whenever and wherever the county or senatorial district wants. There is no big conspiracy to keep people from getting involved. Read more here

clarification: to all the Ron Paul Supporters emailing me. I can promise you that whatever plan the RPT comes up with, it WILL NOT be an attempt to keep Ron Paul supporters from being involved. In fact, if the RPT decided on only optional precinct conventions, there will be more of a chance for grassroots individuals to be involved because they will be able to go directly to being involved at the county convention instead of having to be chosen as a delegate at the precinct convention before they can go to the county convention.

The Texas GOP is entering into unknown and uncharted territory. We are now faced with having to do our Republican Conventions/Delegate Selection Process BEFORE we even have a primary election! This process has always been tied to the Primary election but this year it will not because of the belated Primary Election (see below for the normal process from previous years). The 62 members of the State Republican Executive Committee will be developing an entire new Convention/Delegate Selection Plan. We have already had a conference call in which we discussed the many different ideas and we agreed on the basic plan. This plan is VERY intricate and has many different moving parts, not to mention our hands are tied in many ways. Over the next 2 weeks, the RPT will pound out all the details of the plan. We will then have an emergency SREC meeting in Austin on Wednesday, February 29^th, 2012 and at this meeting we will vote to approve the plan. We cannot have the meeting any sooner because we have to have a 12 day notice before the meeting. The plan then has to be presented to the three Judge Federal Panel in San Antonio and then sent to the Department of Justice for approval (We can thank the unconstitutional Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act for having to do this). DOJ approval will then take at least a couple of weeks (usually takes 2 months but they will try to do it faster).

We are still developing the full plan and it is very complex. Therefore, right now I do not have the complete details of the plan to send out to everyone, but I will send out more information as soon as the RPT releases the details of this plan.

I know that everyone will have MANY questions about the new plan after reading this article. I ask that everyone please wait until we have all the details worked out and emailed out to everyone. We should have a draft with more details to email out in the next few days. After we release the complete plan, feel free to ask questions or share concerns.

I WANT YOUR OPINIONS BEFORE WE VOTE! I would just like you to wait until we send out a DRAFT plan so that way you can ask questions AFTER you have read the plan. There will be time before we vote for you to send us your concerns!

Precinct Conventions will be Optional and will be the Morning of the County/Senatorial District Conventions.

The most important thing right now that I want to let everyone know, and this detail will not change, is that Republican Party of Texas Precinct Conventions will be optional. Each County Executive Committee will vote on whether or not to have them, and if they decide to have them, they will be on the morning of the County/Senatorial District Conventions which are currently approved by the Federal Panel to be on April 21^st (or April 14^th for some counties). This date for the County/Senatorial Cenventions could change if needed but that is what we are planning for and we would not want to push it back much more so that we will have time to get ready for the State Convention June 7^th – 9^th, 2012 in Fort Worth, TX. We cannot change the date and location of the Texas Republican State Convention 2012.

This is a Glimpse How the Convention/Delegate Selection Process Will Work THIS YEAR:

Rumors had gone around that the Republican Party of Texas would not have precinct Conventions at all and instead we would jump straight into the County/Senatorial District Conventions and then the State Convention June 7^th – 9^th, 2012 in Fort Worth, TX.

In response, there have been many emails going around stating that the Republican Party of Texas has to have Precinct Conventions because we have to keep the grassroots involved and so we must not do away with the Precinct Conventions. I was one of those people insisting that the RPT does not eliminate the Precinct Conventions. There were many great ideas and plans submitted to the SREC showing us how we can still have Precinct Conventions. I was 100% in favor of using some of these ideas or coming up with a way to have precinct conventions.

The SREC had a conference call to discuss a new Convention/Delegate Process and we got a little eye opening session.

We looked at the timeline and realized that we have NO IDEA when our new delegate selection plan will even be approved by the DOJ. This makes it impossible to create a timeline that includes a separate precinct convention date before a County/Senatorial Convention because we do not even know when we will get approval or even if that approval will be in time to be able to have a Precinct Convention. On top of that, there is an ENORMOUS amount of work that would have to be done by the County Parties in a very limited amount of time. There are over 5500 precincts in Texas what would need precinct conventions/locations/organization and Precinct Convention Chairmen. Even if we get approval in time for a precinct convention, and each county had the precinct conventions all combined in one location and used old precinct chairmen, the counties would simply not have enough time to organize 5500 precinct conventions and then have to turn around and quickly plan the county convention and process all the paperwork from the precinct conventions.

It is just not possible. There are MANY reasons why it is not possible and the reasons above are just a couple of the many reasons. Ya’ll know me and ya’ll know I fight for things. I was ready to fight for Precinct Conventions but we just simply do not have a choice.

We listen to the grassroots Republicans and we have come up with a solution so that we can still have Precinct Conventions.

You CAN still have Precinct Conventions if your County Wants to…

It would not have been fair for the State Party to FORCE all counties into scrambling to organize Precinct Conventions with limited time and resources. At the same time, we are listening to the grassroots and we WANT any County to be able to have precinct conventions if the Republicans of that county would like to and are able to. For this reason, we are allowing the Executive Committee of every county in Texas the option of voting to have Precinct Conventions in their county. We do not have a timeline set because of the DOJ approval holdup, so if a County approves having Precinct Conventions, the Precinct Conventions would be on the morning of the County/Senatorial District Conventions and at the same location. It does not seem possible to plan for Precinct Conventions in 5500 different locations and on a different date before the County/Senatorial conventions so the next best thing would be to have Precinct Conventions on the same day and same location as the County/Senatorial Conventions.

Having No Precinct Conventions and Only a County/Senatorial District Convention Actually Allows for MORE Grassroots Republicans to be Involved

One of the reasons why I and others were insisting on having Precinct Conventions was so that all of the grassroots Republicans would still be able to be involved in the process. What I found out was that MORE people will have to opportunity to be involved if there are no Precinct Conventions. You see, when there is a Precinct Convention, each precinct selects delegates to go to the County/Senatorial District Convention. That means not everyone at the Precinct Convention gets a chance to be involved in the County/Senatorial Conventions. On the other hand, if there are no Precinct Conventions, EVERYONE gets to go to the County/Senatorial District Conventions. Everyone gets to be involved in that next step. Not having a Precinct Convention actually allows MORE Republicans to be involved in the process. It will also cut down on confusion and workload by having one date and location to be able to announce to all Republicans in the County.  Not having a Precinct Convention will of course mean the County/Senatorial Conventions will be much bigger than normal and it might take a little longer to decide on rules/platform changes.

The 155 National Delegates elected at the Texas Republican State Convention will NOT be assigned a Presidential Candidate to Vote for, initially.

Due to the Election being right before the June Convention (maybe even after), the National Delegates chosen at the State Convention will NOT KNOW who they will be casting their ballot for in the Presidential Nomination at the National Convention. Once Texas certifies the Presidential Primary Election Results, the national delegates who were elected at the State Convention will then be told who they will be voting for at the National Convention. It will still be proportional as already planned. Proportional means that if someone, let’s say Santorum, gets 60 percent of the votes in the Texas Republican Primary Election then Santorum will get 60% of the 155 national delegate votes that Texas has. The delegates just will not know who they will be pledged to initially because they will have to wait until the Primary Election Results are in and certified.

Texas Might Actually Have an Impact in the Republican Presidential Race – Brokered Convention Possible.

I would have never believed this, but it looks like Texas might actually still have a voice in the Presidential Race. It looks like we might have all 4 current Presidential Candidates stick in the race until the end. So far, no one has jumped ahead very much in the Delegate Count because the vote keeps getting split and different candidates are winning different states. This means that there STILL might not be a clear Republican Nominee by the time Texas Votes on May 29th or in June. Texas will have 155 delegates and could swing the election for a candidate. Or, if one candidate is already in the lead, let’s say Mitt Romney, and Texas gives most of our Delegates to Santorum or Gingrich, then that might be enough to deny Mitt Romney a chance to get a majority of delegates and we will end up having a brokered convention. At a Brokered Convention, Texas will have a full 155 Delegates and therefore would have a huge say in the negotiations at a brokered convention.

For Those of You Who Are New to This Convention/Delegate Selection Process, Below is a little History Lesson on How the Convention/ Delegate Selection Process Has NORMALLY Worked IN THE PAST in Texas:

Each Precinct in Texas has a voting location on Election Day. In the past, voters would go to their polling place on the night of the Texas Republican Primary Election Day and there would be a Precinct Convention. Republicans at the Precinct Convention would submit changes/additions to Republican Party rules and Platform values. They would also pick delegates to go represent their precinct at the County/Senatorial Convention. Next would be the County/Senatorial District Conventions. The delegates at the County/Senatorial conventions would vote on the changes/additions to the rules/platform that were passed up to them from the Precinct Conventions. The delegates at the County/Senatorial District Conventions would also select delegates to represent the County/Senatorial District at the State Convention. Then there is the Texas Republican Party State Convention. All the delegates to the State Convention will vote to create the new Party Rules and the New Biennial Texas Republican Party Platform. The delegates of the State Convention will also vote on things like to elect a State Republican Party Chairman, new SREC Members, Delegates to the National Republican Convention to vote in the Republican Presidential Nomination, and two National Committee members to serve on the Republican National Committee (RNC). There is then a National Republican Convention and the National Delegates from every State will vote to pick the Republican Presidential Nominee. That is how the process would normally look if we were not in this big mess.


Sincerely,
David Bellow
State Republican Executive Committee

TX SREC Emergency Meeting over New Delegate Selection Process Due to May 29th (or June) Texas Republican Primary Election

The San Antonio Federal Court over the redistricting lawsuit has declared that Texas will not have a Primary Election before May 29th, 2012. We have been told to plan for an election on May 29th but that we could also have it as late as June 26th, 2012.

The problem with this late election is that we have to have the Republican Party of Texas State Convention at the beginning of June. Typically, we have a Precinct Convention, then a County Convention, and then the State Convention. The Precinct Convention, by law, is on the night of the Primary Election. With a May 29th, Primary there will be no time for all of that.

The only option that we have is to not tie the convention process tied to the Primary Election night.

We will have to go ahead and have the Precinct and County Conventions (maybe even the State Convention) BEFORE we have the Primary Election.

the State Republican Executive Committee will be having an emergency meeting (via telephone) with the RPT Chairman, Steve Munisteri, sometime in the next couple of days. We will then have an emergency meeting in Austin to vote to approve a new process. We will be coming up with a new convention/delegate selection process and timeline. We then have to present what we come up with to the 3 Judge San Antonio Federal Panel.

As soon as we come up with something, this information will be pushed out to everyone.

If anyone has any comments or suggestions for the SREC regarding a new process, please email me with you idea and I will pass it along.

Thanks!

Sincerely,

David Bellow
State Republican Executive Committeeman
Senate District 3
mdbellow@gmail.com



Below is the latest update from the Republican Party of Texas:

Urgent Redistricting Update X: Primary Moved Again

This afternoon, the San Antonio three-judge panel indicated that the April unified primary election will be postponed and that it was probable (but not a certainty) that the new primary date will be May 29th. As previously reported, on Tuesday, county clerks and elections administrators testified that they need 88 days of lead time to prepare for a primary election from the date that new district maps are issued. Today at the hearing, the Texas Secretary of State's office indicated that this timeline could be shrunk to 77 days and reduced even further if military ballots were accepted for a short period of time after the primary.

Consequently, new maps need to be in place sometime between early and mid-March in order to maintain the May 29th primary date.

Chairman Munisteri discussed with the Court the problems a May 29th primary creates for the party's delegate selection process for the RPT State Convention. He reiterated that it is impossible to comply with the current Texas Election Code as it pertains to delegate selection, with the primary on May 29th and the State Convention in the first week of June. He strongly urged the Court to issue an order that would allow the State Republican Executive Committee to adopt a new delegate selection process which varies from the Election Code. He told the court that if there is sufficient time for planning, that in consultation with party leadership, he had several different options in mind which: would allow district conventions to still occur on schedule, allow for a May 29th primary, and still allow for a convention the next week. In general terms, he suggested different options which would completely de-couple the selection of delegates to the State Convention from the primary election.

The Court indicated it was very likely that they would grant such a request from the State Party, provided it received U.S. Department of Justice pre-clearance. Chairman Munisteri made the case that DOJ pre-clearance is not required in a case where the changes are made as a result of court order. However, the Court indicated that they thought it was a safer route to obtain pre-clearance. A Department of Justice attorney testified that his office would expedite such a request and anticipated that the approval time could be reduced from a couple of months to a couple of weeks, thereby allowing the change to occur.

The Court instructed both political parties to consult on a new schedule for a May 29th primary. It also invited the state parties to put forth separate proposals as to how they would select delegates and conduct their conventions. Chairman Munisteri is hoping to hold a telephone conference with members of the Republican Party of Texas Officials Committee tomorrow to go over various options. He plans within the next few days, to have a separate telephone conference with the entire SREC to go over recommendations from the Officials Committee. It is his hope that a consensus plan can be agreed upon by the SREC. If this is accomplished, he will distribute this plan to all County Chairmen to obtain their input, and then once a final plan is agreed upon - to propose the plan to the three-judge panel in San Antonio.

It is the Chairman's goal to develop a process around existing Senatorial and County conventions so as to minimize inconvenience and logistical problems. It remains his objective to keep the State Republican Convention scheduled as planned during the first week of June. We will provide further information over the next few days as to developments in this regard.

Also on Wednesday - Chairman Munisteri, RPT lawyers and staff spent another day in the courtroom listening to final arguments in the redistricting case. It appears as though there is an agreement between the Attorney General and the Democrats on a new Texas State Senate map. As soon as we have full details, we will provide them to you - but it is expected that the final lines will make it possible for a Republican to win the district in controversy, SD 10, although not a certainty.

At the time the hearing concluded, General Abbott's team had not reached agreement with all the plaintiffs on all districts pertaining to the Texas House map. With one set of plaintiffs, there is still a battle over Republican districts HD 144 (currently held by Ken Legler), HD 117 (currently held by John Garza) and HD 81 (currently held by Tryon Lewis). Another set of plaintiffs wanted to change the lines of another 30 districts on the State House map in an even larger grab for seats.

With regards to the Congressional districts (discussion of which took up most of the day) the prime battleground appears to be over CD 33, 25, 23, 35 and 27. Of particular concern to the Republican Party of Texas is CD23, which is represented by Congressman Quico Canseco. General Abbott's map is roughly equivalent to how that district was configured before redistricting, while the Democrats are pushing for an increase of Democrat voters there.

There was also a big argument with the Democrats over CD 25, currently represented by Lloyd Doggett. Travis County and other Democratic plaintiffs are arguing that the district should not be converted to a Republican district, since in their opinion the district is protected under the Voting Rights Act - General Abbott's team disputes this. There are also several different proposals regarding Congressional District 33 in Arlington. Additionally, Congressman Joe Barton's legal team (led by former State Representative Joe Nixon) argues that the configuration of that district in the Attorney General's compromise proposal is not allowable under current legal standard. At the end of the hearing today, there was also no agreement on the Texas Congressional map.

Chairman Munisteri issued the following statement regarding today's proceedings. "I am disappointed that the San Antonio three-judge panel again delayed the Texas Primary Election. The Secretary of State's witness today indicated that if the panel would issue maps within the next few days - that an April 24th primary could still be accomplished. However, now that it is apparent that April is out, the RPT will continue to fight to oppose any further slippage in the primary schedule. We will work hard with our Party leadership to come up with a plan to preserve our State convention."

At this juncture, it appears that there will not be an agreement between all parties regarding all districts. Therefore, at this time, it appears that the three-judge panel will have to decide where the final lines are for the Texas House and Congressional districts.

Special Advisory to all Republican county chairmen, precinct chairmen, and party activists from Chairman Munisteri - I am hopeful that the SREC will come up with a plan for the three-judge panel that will still allow district conventions on the date scheduled. Therefore it is our advice that you not cancel your plans to go forward with district conventions until otherwise instructed. I am hopeful that within the next week or so, that we will have a telephone conference with all county chairs to provide them more information on any proposed plans. The RPT is committed to working with each of you to come up with a workable solution to this unprecedented challenge. Thank you again for your patience and hard work.