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:

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!

Urgent: Texas GOP “Winner Take All” Emergency SREC Meeting

Now it is time to take it to the next step. Now it is time to do something that we should have done a long time ago. Now is the time for Texas Republicans to have a voice and be relevant. It is time to go back to winner take all!

We need 15 members of the 62 Texas Republican Party State Republican Executive Committee members to sign a petition in order to call for an emergency meeting of the SREC to change the Texas GOP rules back to us being a Winner Take All state instead of being proportional.

We already have 15 or more members ready to sign the petition to call this emergency meeting.

Before we turn in the petition and call the meeting, we want to make sure we have enough support from all the other SREC members. Things are looking good so far! Call your SREC member and ask them to support an emergency meeting to go back to winner take all.

Once we see that we have enough support from the rest of the SREC, we will then turn in the petition and call the emergency meeting.

Texas Needs to be Winner Take All to have a Voice and be Relevant

As a member of the SREC and I have advocated for several months and written many articles advocating for Texas to go back to winner take all in order to have any kind of relevancy in the Republican Presidential race. I never wanted to go to proportional in the first place and I made it know at the SREC meeting last year when we voted to go proportional. We were forced to go to proportional though because of the RNC rules that said any state primary election before April would have to be proportion. The liberals and the federal courts have pushed our election back to well after April so now we need to go back to winner take all to be able to have a voice in this presidential race before it is over! Why should other states with April and later elections get to be winner take all and Texas can’t? It is a shame that Texas is the largest Republican state in the nation and we are ignored and never have a say in the Presidential race. We have 155 delegates and if we put all of our delegates behind the candidate who wins Texas then we can really have an impact. Candidates will come to Texas to campaign because they will not want to risk losing 155 delegates in a race where 1144 delegates are needed to win the nomination. 

The Republican Presidential Race is NOT Over Even Though Romney and the Media Says it is

No one is even close to winning the 1144 delegates needed to win the nomination. No matter what Romney and the media says, you cannot win the Republican Nomination until you have 50% or more of all the Republican Delegates in America supporting you. If you cannot win at least 50% of the delegates then that means that 50% of more of America wants someone else and there will be a brokered convention where the delegates can come together and decide who the nominee will me. Texas can have a huge impact if we go back to winner take all. The media says the race is over but it is not. With the vote being split 4 ways in nearly every state election, it is very possible that no candidate will get the 1144 needed to win and that would force a brokered convention. Certainly no candidate will have 1144 delegates before Texas votes May 29^th, 2012. With 155 delegates, Texas could force that brokered convention if, for instance, the voters of Texas give all of our delegates to Santorum over Romney, which is what the polls are showing now.

Mitt Romney has Ticked off Texas Republicans

 This is not about Romney though. It never has been about Mitt Romney. From the beginning, going back to winner take all has always been about giving Texas a voice in the presidential race. The only way we can do that is to be winner take all. I have been for winner take all well before we had any idea of who would still be in the race today. I have advocated going back to winner take all well before Santorum was even doing well in the polls. Going to winner take all has never been about Romney. The only reason Romney has entered this controversy now is because he decided to ignore the largest Republican state in the nation. He has so far told us he does not want to come to our nationally televised Texas debate and has told us the race is over and that he does not need us. Now Texas Republicans are mad and we have a message to Romney. Don’t Mess With Texas! The race is not over! We have 155 delegates so you better not ignore us, especially if we go back to winner take all! The SREC has passed a resolution warning Romney that it will not be good for him is he does not care about Texas and if he snubs our debate. 

Sincerely,

David Bellow

SREC – SD3

David Barton of Wallbuilders, along with Kelly Shackelford and Michael Quinn Sullivan, have released the following message in Support of Winner Take All:

Texas' Role in Choosing the President We in Texas know that we are a significant force in national conservative politics. After all, we have the largest Republican congressional delegation of any state, and ours is a conservative delegation! We also have 155 delegates at stake in the presidential primary – that’s more than the famous first five primary states combined (Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, and Nevada). Those five states are considered to have set the tone for the entire presidential race, but Texas has not spoken yet – and we can speak with a louder voice and with more impact than all of those states! Under our winner-take-all system, our 155 delegates have a significant impact on any presidential race. But this year, the Republican National Committee was poised to penalize Texas for holding our primary in March (as we always do) by imposing on us a proportional delegate count, so the Republican Party of Texas moved away from our normal presidential procedure. But then the federal courts got involved and delayed the Texas primary until May. So Texas now has an opportunity to regain its unified voice by going back to a winner-take-all primary. Contrary to what you may have heard from the national media, the race for the Republican presidential nominee is far from over. After all, only 37% of delegates have been assigned so far; and the media has been completely wrong on the number of delegates that separate Romney from the others (particularly the oft-repeated Associated Press count) – the actual count shows the gap to be much narrower than claimed. Texas can therefore have a clear and powerful voice in selecting a conservative Republican nominee for president by moving back to a winner-take-all system. All it takes is for the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) to call a meeting and make the rule change before the Texas primary vote. Please contact your SREC member and ask them to convene and make that change; and also contact the Republican Party of Texas and let them know that you want to see Texas regain its national voice. Please act on this as quickly as possible - Texas, as the biggest conservative state in the country, should be allowed to speak with the loudest voice!! Thanks for all you do to keep Texas a conservative state! God bless! David Barton (former Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, 1997-2006; National Delegate 2008, 2004, 2000, 1996) Kelly Shackelford (National Attorney; National Platform Committee member 2008, 2004, 2000) Michael Quinn Sullivan (President, Empower Texans*) *For identification purposes only

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

Should TX GOP go Winner Take All? Is RNC Changing Stupid Presidential Primary Rules?

Should the Republican Party of Texas go back to winner take all?

The State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) will vote on Feb 29th, 2012 to change the rules and approve a Temporary Convention/Delegate Selection Plan. Should the SREC vote to also change the RPT Presidential Delegate Selection Rule 38 from proportional back to winner take all? Also, should the RPT change the rules to allow the presidential delegates to be uncommitted after the first committed vote at the National Convention? In other words, if no presidential Candidate has a majority of the votes to win the nomination, the Texas Delegation would be able to be a player in a brokered convention by having the ability to team up with other delegates from other states and select the next Republican Presidential Nominee? Proportional might sound good vs winner take all because under proportional the candidates get a proportion of Texas delegates based on the percentage of the votes they get in the state Primary Election. The problem is that proportional weakens states rights. With proportional we might as well just have a big nation-wide popular vote. With winner take all, the State of Texas (as well as all states with winner take all) has a much bigger impact on the Presidential race because the candidate who wins Texas really does win Texas and gets all of the delegate votes from the State.  Same thing with the Electoral College. The President does not win by a national popular vote. The President wins by the electoral college and he wins by winning the most states, not the most people. It is all about states rights and not about a national popular vote. With Texas having such a late election, we need all the power we can to have an impact on the Presidential race!
Let me know what you think!

RNC Considering Changing their Stupid Presidential Primary National Rules

What was the Republican National Committee thinking when they decided to let 4 states go ahead of everyone else without a penalty? What were they thinking when they FORCED the Republican Party of Texas to have a diluted voice in the Presidential Primary by making Texas change from winner take all to proportional?