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 GOP State Chairman Munisteri is FOR Winner Take All – It's Fair & Grassroots Want It - RNC Waiver Likely

The State Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas has come out and expressed support for Texas going back to Winner Take All. He also explained why the Texas GOP has a good reason to qualify for a waiver if needed due to our circumstances, and also explained that the National Convention Delegates (Not the RNC) would vote to make the ultimate decision of whether or not Texas should be penalized.

See Bottom of this Article for the Video and Transcript of What Texas GOP Chairman Munisteri had to Say about Texas Winner Take All

Including this recent support from Chairman Munisteri, the support for Winner Take All has been impressive.

The Current Chairman supports it, the Former Chairman Cathie Adams supports it (Munisteri beat Adams for TX GOP Chairman in a heated race two years ago) Kelly Shackelford, the former Attorney for the RNC, also supports it. Even David Barton, one of the most highly influential and respected Republican in Texas, has come out supporting it. 

Winner Take All is More Fair

Going back to our previous Winner Take All system is also more fair than proportional because our previous winner take all system was not a true winner take all system. It is a modified winner take all that allows each Congressional District in Texas to have a voice. In our previous winner take all system, if a candidate wins 50% or more in a congressional district then they win all the delegates in that congressional district. If they do not win 50% or more in a district then the top vote getter in that district gets 2 delegates and the runner up gets 1. That is local control at its best because the congressional district is the lowest level in a presidential election. Our past “winner take all” system that the SREC wants to go back to is not a true winner take all and it is actually very fair and geared so that each congressional district has a voice.

Grassroots Republicans Support and Voted for Winner Take All and NOT Proportional

Winner take all is what the GRASSROOTS Republicans want. Winner take all has been voted on as our delegation allocation by all the delegates at the State convention. Winner Take all is what Texas WAS and is what has been approved by the delegates from all over Texas at the last State Convention. The only reason we changed to proportional is because we were forced. We just want to go back to what the PEOPLE of Texas have voted to have (winner take all) instead of being irrelevant by staying with proportional (which was not voted on or supported by TX Republicans and was only done to not be penalized by the RNC rules)

I have received some emails from Ron Paul guys saying that we should listen to the grassroots because the grassroots want proportional and that for the SREC to go to winner take all would be and act of elitism and part of a backroom deal.

They are wrong and I have PROOF that the Grassroots Republicans in Texas want Winner Take All and NOT Proportional

My proof is the State Convention.

Every 2 years the 10,000+ Republican Representatives from all over Texas meet for the State Convention. They are the grassroots and they vote on the delegate selection rules. If the "grassroots" want proportional then they could vote to be proportional at the State Convention. If the grassroots did not want to be "modified winner take all" then they would have and could have changed it at the state convention. They HAVE NOT done so. Over the past Conventions, the Grassroots Republican Delegates at the Texas State GOP Convention have CONSISTENTLY voted to keep our winner take all system and not change to proportional.

That is PROOF that the grassroots do not want us to have proportional. Elitism in a backroom deal is what occurred to force TX to become proportional in the first place against our own wishes. The grassroots and the delegates at the State Convention did not vote on that. It was forced upon us. So when someone says it is against the grassroots for the SREC to vote to go back to winner take all, remind them that the SREC members are elected to follow the wishes of the last state convention, and all those grassroots Republicans at the last convention voted to stay winner take all and not proportional!

Sincerely,

David Bellow

SREC SD3

Here is what TX GOP Chairman Munisteri had to say about Winner Take All

This is not a full or exact transcript. Also below this transcript you can click and watch the entire video of the interview with Munisteri so you can see for yourself exactly what he said.

4.8.12-- Inside Texas Politics – Brad Watson interviewed Steve Munisteri, Texas Republican Party Chair (RPT). 

Munisteri explained that he has always been a supporter of Winner Take All. He said that it is not just Rick Santorum supporters that are and have always been for winner take all. Munisteri says he is still undecided.

Munisteri said that Texas has the second most Republican delegates (second to California), more than 3 X the number from Florida, and 6 X more than the number from South Carolina. He believes if Texas moves to WTA that our state will stop being ignored as inconsequential and that Texas can play a big part in the final selection of our Presidential nominee. 

Munisteri said it takes 15 of 62 SREC members to request an emergency meeting. He stated that the SREC/WTA supporters already have the 15, but they are making sure they have a two-thirds majority before submitting their formal request to him to schedule the meeting. Munisteri believes there is already a majority of the SREC members who want WTA. 

Munisteri said the delegate count of 650 for Mitt Romney that is often stated by the media is at least 100 delegates too high because they are using projections from caucuses instead of actual selected delegates. Munisteri says that Romney really only has about 550 delegates and therefore there is still a considerable distance to go before a candidate wins by getting 1144 delegates needed to win the nomination.

Because Romney has refused to participate in the Texas Presidential candidate debate, Munisteri believes this is what has upset Texas voters and has prompted the push for WTA so that Texas would not be ignored. 

Munisteri reminded the listening audience that in 2008, Obama and Hillary battled it out until June before settling on Obama. In 1976 the choice of Ronald Reagan as the Republican nominee went right down to the final vote on the convention floor and no one knew who would be the nominee until the National Convention. Munisteri said that there is no reason to rally around a candidate before the nomination process is over and before there is a winner. He said that the best thing to do is to let the process play out fully so that the best nominee will be selected. He said that in 2008 and in 1976, Obama and Reagan had time to get ready for their general election opponent even though they had long party nomination process.

Chairman Munisteri said that even though states had to submit their rules to the Republican National Committee back in October 1, 2011, a waiver from those rules could be sought by vote of the RNC Executive Committee. 

Munisteri went on to explain that it was the RNC that forced Texas to move to proportional from its previous delegate winner take all hybrid plan because the RNC wanted to punish Texas for scheduling its primaries in March. However, now that our primaries have been moved back to May 29, he believes it is fair to move our state back to its original rules. Munisteri explained that Texas could make an argument that we are not changing our rules by going back to winner take all and therefore should not be punished. We are not changing the rules, we are just going back to our ORIGINAL rules that were in place since the last convention before the RNC forced us to change. He explained that the Delegates at the National Convention have the ultimate power to punish or not punish Texas because there can always be a floor fight at the National Convention to challenge the RNC’s credentials or rules committee; a successful challenge would mean the entire Texas delegation could be seated.

Brad Watson’s interview with Steve Munisteri is the first seven minutes of the video. 

Click The Video Below to Watch the Full Chairman Munisteri Interview:

Proposed “Winner Take All/Proportional” Amendments to the Proposed 2012 Emergency RPT Rules

UPDATE: I have added a couple more amendments below that are more proportional and give delegates to candidates based on each congressional district that they win.

Below are three different amendments to THE PROPOSED TEMPORARY AND EMERGENCY CHANGES TO RPT RULES. These three amendments pertain to RPT Rule 38/Delegate Selection and are submitted by SREC SD3 member David Bellow.

I will present these three amendments to the SREC and it is my hope that ONE of these amendments will be approved by the SREC at the February 29^th, 2012 Emergency SREC meeting.

Each one of these proposals is different, but they all will give more delegates (in some form or fashion) to the candidate who wins the Texas Presidential Primary Election. These proposals will allow the state of Texas to have a stronger voice in the National Presidential Race vs. the straight Proportional plan that Texas currently has.