Blog Article
Our bus trip to Austin has begun! At 6am we are rolling out of the parking lot and are on our way! Over 81% of Republicans chose in our March 1 Primary that their #5 Legislative Priority would be to ban the common practice of appointing members of the minority party as Committee Chairs. It was affirmed by the delegates attending the Republican Party of Texas State Convention in Houston this past June. Politics unfortunately has encouraged a very volatile mood in Texas. We have seen our supermajority in our 2011 Texas (101-R/49-D) whittled down little by little to a small majority (86-R/D-74). over the past 10-11 years. It is becoming more and more clear why.
To support the Legislative Priority, SREC Members working in tandem with Republican County Parties (including the Dallas County Republican Party) from all over Texas chartered buses and formed car caravans to convey hundreds of grassroots Republicans to Austin to meet with our Representatives and fill the Gallery in the House. Over 600 wore red t-shirts to make ourselves visible. You can see us in the Gallery in the attached photo. Over 1,000 attended and made their voices heard.
In order to call attention to the fact that if you do not understand Parliamentary Procedure and how the Rules have to be followed to the letter, this is a shining example. Wednesday, in anticipation of our arrival in Austin yesterday (Thursday) on our chartered bus, Speaker Dade Phelan (as is his right as Speaker) moved the House request to Wednesday prior to our Thursday arrival and succeeded in providing cover to have Republicans not having to expose their support or lack thereof publicly. According to Republican Party of Texas Chairman Matt Rinaldi, Speaker Phelan used our SREC Member's advocacy to ban Democrat Chairs as a basis for the ruling to sustain a Point of Order turning it into a political party effort to use State funds that was sustained. Chairman Rinaldi called it an unprecedented abuse of power. Rep. Bryan Slaton offered the Amendment to HR4 and Speaker Phelan chose to turn it into a political maneuver twice and it was not allowed a vote either time. By the time we boarded the bus this morning, there was little to do but witness the canvassing of the Nov 8 election. All those RED T-shirts in the House Gallery were a beautiful sight indeed.
Why are our elected Republican State Representatives working so hard to empower the wrong side? Our Republican candidates count on us to work with them and for them to help get them elected and then abandon us when we request them to work for OUR Republican goals which we set forth at our State Conventions. How disappointing it is that they continue to let us down by to allowing Democrats to not only elect our Speaker, but also reward them with their appointments to the most critical committees which can guide our Legislative Priorities bills to success in obtaining an up or down vote on the House Floor. Our bus trip was not in vain as many of our red-shirted bus riders were able to witness the canvassing of the November 8 votes which saw our Republican Governor and Lt. Governor sworn into office to ensure success in every statewide race in Texas. We visited our elected House Members and State Senators all across the State, left our names in their registry books and registered our concerns with the choices they made on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
Thank you to Rep. Tony Tinderholt, who ran for Speaker, offered a choice and campaigned with the promise to fulfill the will of the people and appoint Republicans to ALL Committee Chair positions to protect REPUBLICAN interests in our Texas House. Thank you also for our strong leadership from Rep. Bryan Slaton, HD2 who presented the Rule Change in the 87th Session as well as the current one. Thank you Rep. Richard Hayes, who voted to approve the Amendment to the Resolution. Thank you Rep. Schatzline who voted for Rep Tinderholt. Thank you to Rep. Brian Harrison who supported the effort to ban Democrat chairs. They deserve to hear from those of us who support our Legislative Priorities. For those of you who refused to stand up and vote for a Speaker who will listen to the grassroots who elected them, shame on you.
The members of our State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) shall continue to call attention to every act of our Republican-elected State Reps so that every one of their constituents will know the extent with which they are now actively seeking to defeat our Republican goals. They will find we may not be there to support them when they next need us most. How we wish that Republicans could be as united as te Democrats!
After a long day we rolled back io Dallas and knew we had made a difference, albeit a smaller one. They knew our grassroots were there and are reporting back to everyone in Texas. We need to create a lot of noise to that our Elected Officials can hear. Please join us on our January 24th Election Integrity bus trip to Austin to support the #1 Legislative Priority "Protect Our Elections"!
Please know that the procurement of these two buses was due to the generosity of one our own Dallas County Republican Party Precinct Chairs, who wishes to remain anonymous. If you would like to convey your thanks to them, kindly use the comment capability below and we are happy to publish every single one of them.
