Just When You Thought it Couldn't Get Any Worse

The postmortem for the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) State Convention continues to be written and analyzed. One thing that appears to be different this year is that people are not just going home and writing off the experience but seem to be saying that we are not going to take it anymore.

Twenty years ago the disagreements in our conventions centered around our platform and what the party would stand for. The arguments between the moderate and conservative elements of our party were over the social issues - primarily abortion - and whether or not the party should even take a position on such issues. That struggle is over. I noted with interest that reporter Will Lutz referred to the RPT platform adopted on a voice vote as "...probably the most socially conservative in a long time, which is saying a lot for the GOP."

Lutz also, however, comments on the supplemental rules adopted by the rules committee prohibiting the recording of the meetings. Interestingly, there were no comments in his article regarding the platform and 15 comments regarding the gag rule, which was also used in the credentials committee.

In the ongoing saga from Nueces County, Vanessa Cayhill (vanessafratila@gmail.com), who headed the rump delegation that was not allowed to make their case at the state convention, has just completed a review of the voting records of the the County Chairman's delegation (the one that was seated at the RPT State Convention). Her research shows that one delegate and one alternate in that delegation voted in the Democratic Primary and one alternate was not even registered to vote. In addition to that, of the delegates seated by the County Chairman at the Nueces County Convention (those not elected at precinct conventions but added to the delegate list at the county convention), seven had voted in the Democratic Primary and six were not registered to vote. I guess it is worse than we thought!

In an e-mail, a former state convention delegate who now resides in Tarrant County shared her story of local abuse of power which has some familiar strains:

"I have recently moved to Tarrant County from Dallas County and now I am part of SD10. One of the biggest Senatorial Districts. I showed up on Convention day, and found out that my credentials were challenged. I was shocked! I have attended 5 State Conventions in a row as either a delegate or alternate, and here I was not able to attend my Senatorial Convention. I was told however, that they did not need to go before the credentials committee and that once the credentials committee has their report, I could be seated. I however, wanted to go before the state delegation committee. I was denied. Denied because my credentials were not confirmed, and therefore they saw me as not part of the convention. I asked if I could come after I was seated, and was told no since their meeting would be over. I found this to be very odd and I was very disappointed. I hated knowing I was going to miss out on being a delegate, when I have been such a faithful supporter for the last 10 years. (since I was 21 years old)."
"I was seated at my convention and found out that my whole precinct was challenged. My precinct chairman told me that she had called a few weeks before to make sure our packet was received and that everything was correct. She was told that our packet was "lost". She then contacted a Jeremy (i do not remember his last name) , who called the temp chairman of the senatorial convention, and asked under the open records law, to see all precinct packets. Low and behold, ours was found among them with notes next to each of our names as 'Ron Paul'. I was told this was probably because we were all new first time voters in our precinct. I was shocked and hurt when I read this.

"For them to assume that was wrong. They don't know who I am or who I voted for. (I voted for Huckabee). And who cares. That is not what the convention should have been about. This was going to be my first state convention that I was not a delegate. I got shafted and there was nothing I could about it. It was too late and they were not going to give the delegates who were challenged a chance to be seated at the State Convention.
I was angry, hurt and disappointed in my district and its leaders. I still am."

This would appear to be evidence of a coordinated effort across the state of Texas to systematically exclude new participants in the RPT convention process.

Another great tragedy of this convention was the total lack of recognition of one of our most honorable and conservative party officers - National Committeewoman Denise McNamara. Denise has been a role model of grace and a staunch conservative representation of the grassroots of our party. Last year in the heat of the debate over the illegal immigration issue, Denise co-sponsored an RNC resolution with the National Committeeman from Arizona that reflected the viewpoint of the grassroots of our party. The National Committeeman for Texas, Bill Crocker, took a phone call from Karl Rove at the Whitehouse and offered a competing resolution that reflected the President's view, instead of that of the grassroots. I guess it should come as no surprise that under the current RPT leadership Ms. McNamara would not be recognized and lauded for her 8 years of service to our party as the National Committeewoman for Texas. Nevertheless, she is a lady of grace, courage and character who deserved far, far better. She, too, has posted her comments on the RPT State Convention, and I hope you will read them and give her the words of praise and appreciation that she richly deserves.