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Today a Harris County Court At Law judge ruled that she did not have jurisdiction to decide the issue brought by long time Republican Party activists led by Wharton County Republican Chair Debra Medina. (Go to this link to see a press release that answers the email sent by the RPT today.) I was in the court room as the judge did not allow testimony from the witnesses who were prepared to show that the RPT has followed a practice over the last ten years of doing convention business prior to electing permanent officers of the convention. While the RPT is trumpeting this as vindication of its position, the Court of Appeals will now receive the case for review.
Texas Election Code (174.094) requires the convention to organize (seat delegates and elect a chairman and secretary and other officers) before the business of the convention is done. The judge today opined that she was not sure if the election of SREC (State Republican Executive Committee) members and the nomination of State Chair and Vice Chair was "convention business." This is ludicrous on its face.
The same procedure that is followed in precinct and county/senatorial conventions is required at the state convention by the rules: first seat delegates (which involves making sure individuals are qualified to participate, hearing the credentials committee report, and accepting or amending it). After the delegates are seated, permanent Chair and Secretary are elected, and we move on to our business of adopting platform and electing delegates to the next convention.
Why does it matter? RPT rules (27d) require that delegations that have been challenged are not seated until their challenge is resolved. When the Credentials Committee report is not presented until after the vote for SREC members and nominations of Chair and Vice Chair of the party, those delegates' right to vote will be violated, because by the time they are seated, their opportunity to vote for SREC, State Chair and Vice Chair will have already passed. The Nueces County delegation is being challenged based on the addition of over 100 delegates by the county chair after the precinct conventions and a subsequent rump convention. If the RPT follows its pattern of the last ten years, these delegates will be denied the right to vote in the election of SREC and Chair and Vice Chair nominations.
Monday, June 9, 2008
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8 comments:
Tim is absolutely right on this! Thank God he has the courage to say it.
Don Zimmerman
Austin, TX
Thank you Tim. I think this blog may become one of the most powerful around by giving the understanding to us of what's going on. Please tell us what we can do about it too.
Thank you
Thanks so much for keeping us updated on this issue, thought it's sad to see this happening.
Thank you, Tim, for keeping us updated. You're right; that judge should have ruled that they were wrong and thrown it out. I remember many years ago in the Travis County Republican Convention we had a rump convention because of some illegal stuff, and it was all taken care of in the county BEFORE the state convention. This is really crummy of them to pull. It stinketh. :)
Adding you to my "regularly read" blog list, Tim. Praying for a just and fair convention, even if fireworks need to happen. (Almost makes me wish I were going . . . )
Thank you, Tim, for stepping into this and being willing to be an outspoken voice in this matter. Yes, the RPT, as well as the other state and national GOP organizations, need a thorough house cleaning. These shenanigans are not just going on in Texas, it is all across our nation. My husband and I were delegates to our Parker County convention and witnessed firsthand the lying, deceit, and underhandedness carried out there, both at the convetion and in the days and weeks leading up to it. It was all orchestrated by our county chair and her band of cronies. It was a purposeful effort to keep new voices and ideas out of their popularity club. I am so thankful for Debra Medina, being a county chair herself, for taking on this fight for right and for the rule of law.
It appears to me that any matter that requires the vote of convention delegates, such as a vote for SREC members, is necessarily convention business. If that were the case, it would be out of order to take such action until the convention was organized.
Consideration should be given to the Tina’s legal representation and the judge. The email from the party parroting their victory was simply that the venue was incorrect, not that the merits were incorrect.
Tina is scared to death of the disgruntlement with her tenure and dissatisfaction with her lack of leadership. In reality, I suspect that behind the scene, it is Perry, Dewhurst, and Craddick that are protecting their actions from becoming known through the soft under-belly of the party as a means of access to the public.
After all, the (party) has become the lap dog of Texas’ own First Triumvirate. Like the unofficial Roman political alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus who had no official status whatsoever – its overwhelming power in the Roman state was strictly unofficial influence, and was in fact kept secret for some time as part of the political machinations of the Triumviri themselves. Our Triumviri have abandoned any semblance of the Republican Party of Taft, Goldwater, or Reagan for lust of power, influence, and money hidden by a façade of lower taxes, smaller government, liberty, and individual freedom.
A taxpayer voting for a Republican is becoming somewhat like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.
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