Hello SD 5,
It was an honor representing you at the SREC meeting today. It also was a privilege to be seated beside your Committeewoman, Nita Davidson. I’m sure she would agree that we hope you feel you have 2 engaged individuals that are trying to do our best to serve the interests of our Counties.
There was so much that happened today. To give you a brief recap of the major points:
Steve Munisteri gave us personal goals as he is contemplating his remaining time as State Chair. They are primarily to: 1) Lose no Statewide elections and to increase the number of Republicans at all levels statewide in November; and 2) to hand off the Party to the next Chair in good shape.
As an aside, we heard from or about 3 individuals who expressed interest in running for the Chair position once it is vacant: RPT Treasurer Tom Mechler, Dallas County Party Chair Wade Emmert, and Former Harris County Chair Jared Woodfield. There certainly could be others.
Our Vice-Chair, Amy Clark, gave us a very persuasive call to “Do Something”. There will be a focus on training Precinct Chairs and Training the Trainers, and recognizing people that “Do Something” at all levels of the Party.
Our National Committeeman, Robin Armstrong, had a lot to share with us about the RNC Meeting in Chicago last month. First off, they approved some important resolutions: Opposition to the Advanced Placement U.S. History curriculum that rewrites history; commending Republican leaders that work on reversing Common Core; support of Sgt. Tammoreesi in Mexico; support of Israel in it’s protection of their Country; opposition to double taxation by Americans doing business in foreign countries; and the Taiwan Peace Initiative in the South China Sea. There is also an initiative for the Southern Baptist Convention to promote voter registration to their congregants.
He also explained an area that some folks are concerned about regarding a Primary race in another State. The RNC had a closed Executive Meeting where they heard both sides of the issue and determined that it was up to that State to determine what is right for them, so they took no action. No RNC money was spent in that race. Chairman Steve also addressed this issue in the Resolutions Committee, and even though it was understandable why there is concern about the activity there, that Texas has a lot for us to deal with for this election, and that we would not want another State involved in our affairs.
Our National Committeewoman, Toni Anne Dashiell, shared with us that there are 350 RNC Staff members, with 91{24e2faabf6c4e4c68c7d1e5171a75367baed607248a00a7b284da03699b04829} of them out in 165 field offices across the nation. There will be an active effort to assist in recruiting Precinct Chairs across the Country. Also, there will be strike teams travelling to Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, and New Mexico that members will be leading, and that there will also be an opportunity to help more locally with Candidate Will Hurd seeking a Congressional seat in the San Antonio area for those that are willing to assist.
Treasurer Tom Mechler emphasized the importance of Counties filing financial reports.
Our Legal Council, Patrick O’Daniel, informed us that the Redistricting challenges are in a holding pattern that will begin further action early next year. He also said that testimony has ended in the Voter ID trial, and we are waiting on a ruling from the Court in Corpus Christi. It is possible that the decision could come just before the election and affect how voters are processed.
All of the SREC Committees were approved today and can begin doing their work. One of the requests received was for a Precinct Chair Manual, and as there has not been one in quite some time, it is in the works, and will be available soon. They said part of the challenge is to write one manual that will serve an entire County with a population of 88, while we have another with 3 million people.
We received a report that at our Senate District 5 ‘GOP University’ event we raised $306 for the Candidate Resource Committee. Candidates in our Senate District received $4,500.00 paid to their campaigns, and the goal over the next 9 months is to get to raise at least $2,000 by Nita and myself. We hope when we come visit your County that you will support our efforts to raise funds for this worthy cause.
Also, since March 26, 2014, we have increased the number of Grassroots Club members in the Senate District from 37 to 62. We hope that you will assist us in encouraging folks to join and we push that well above 100 within the next 3 months.
After the passing of SD11 Committeeman Daniel McCool, it was our duty to select a new Committeeman to serve that Senate District. J.T. Edwards of Galveston was chosen for that position.
There has been interest in how folks unable to attend SREC meetings could view the proceedings. I brought a motion for the Rules Committee, where I am honored to serve, can find the right balance between having a way for Republicans to see what takes place in a meeting, and preventing the other party from getting all of the information on what our Party is doing at our meetings. We are going to work with the Party’s technology specialists to see if there might be a password protected way to achieve that. I will keep you updated on what solutions we can find to this request.
An important function at the first regular meeting of the new SREC term is to elect 5 members to the Officials Committee. 7 candidates sought a spot, and after the vote was completed the following 5 were chosen:
SD3 Committeeman Jim Wiggins
SD8 Committeewoman Candy Noble
SD13 Committeewoman Bonnie Lugo
SD14 Committeewoman Davida Stike
SD15 Committeewoman Montie Watkins
These are in addition to the Chairman’s appointments of:
SD12 Committeewoman Jean McIver
SD18 Committeewoman Becky Berger
These individuals under Party Rules have the authority to govern certain Party business between meetings.
An important Resolution on the meeting call that passed unanimously was to move the Public Integrity Unit from Travis County to be a State function. There also were resolutions passed in favor of Israel’s right to defend itself and for Lionel Sosa for his service to the Republican Party of Texas and United States Government.
There are so many exciting things that are happening at the State Party level, and we hope you will encourage everyone you know to be engaged and to “Do Something” to make a difference in this election. If we all work hard in the next 51 days, we will achieve the success we so desire.
It is our intent to keep you informed on the activities that take place at SREC meetings, and encourage anyone interest to attend the next one in December.
Thank you for your support,
Sincerely,
Mike McCloskey
Senate District 5 Committeeman
State Republican Executive Committee