The next Harris County Republican Party Executive Committee meeting will be held Monday, May 3rd, at the Houston Community College campus on the West Loop South. It is critical for all new precinct chairs (and old for that matter) to attend as there is much important business on the agenda. Most important, all of the Senate District and committee chairs will be up for election. Click on the calendar link above for directions.

Ed Hubbard posted the following this morning:

This past week has been quite busy as I have worked to keep my commitment to join forces with our local party, and to work to unite and grow it in order to elect our candidates.

I met with Jared Woodfill and have agreed to join an expanded Victory Team committee for the HCRP (currently made up of Gary Polland, Paul Bettencourt, and Robert Eckels) as part of our commitment to unite the party. I believe that Paul Simpson, and possibly one or two others, also have agreed, or are being asked, to join the team. I will let you know my precise role in this effort soon.

I also spent the last two days in meetings with Manny Rosales from the RNC and leaders of our Latino and business communities about innovative ways to grow our party and get our message to all communities, which I will share and work to implement with the HCRP. I also enjoyed the HCCC meeting at the Houston Club Wednesday night, where Manny Rosales was the featured speaker and so many of our fine candidates for Congress and local races spoke.

Additionally, I am working on a pilot program to immerse our party’s growth effort into 10 key urban precincts here, and into 10 key precincts each in Bexar and Tarrant Counties, leading to the fall election. I have the support of Jared Woodfill for this project here and have the interest of the RNC in helping with the project.

Finally, I had a long meeting with my good friend Claver Kamau-Imani, who just returned to town after successful trips to Ohio, Maryland and Missouri. I will be expanding my role with his Raging Elephants organization and including it in our work.

As you can see we have a lot of work ahead, and I challenge all of my supporters to join these efforts. Stay tuned as we unite to win in 2010.

Chairman Woodfill deserves a lot of credit for accepting Ed’s offer to help – I promise you it is not going to be received well be a few in the party. But an expanded Victory 2010 committee is going to be needed because, despite all of the predictions of a landslide off-year win, Harris County Republicans are going to face some unique problems that must be overcome if we are to win.

Gov. Perry and his team are very good but Bill White doesn’t have to win the governor’s race to impact Harris County. Like it or not, he is still popular in Houston. Hopefully we can convince people to look at the mess he left and knock his vote count down in the county as a whole. If we can do that, it will help both Gov. Perry and our county-wide candidates.

Obviously, we need to pick up the pace in teaching minority voters that our conservative philosophy is the best way for them to achieve the American dream. I’m confident that Ed can help in that area if he has the full support of party leadership and it looks like he will.

Let’s put aside our differences for now and work together. Click here to volunteer to help win in November.

An email had been sent out and forwarded around, claiming that ACORN was using the tax office to deny conservatives their vote:

To all my friends,

I have heard of recent complaints that the Harris County Voters Registration Office is cancelling Voters Registraion due to receipt of a signed written request supposidly sent by the Voter.

My Son J received a letter last week and when he called the Registrar’s office they said they could not produce the “written request” for cancellation.   You must request (in writing) a hearing to appeal the cancellation to get your Voter’s Registration re-issued.  Then you must show up for that hearing.

Now I have received a similar letter from Leo Vasquez – Harris Co. Voter Registrar.

I did not send a written request to cancel my Voter Registration. This has never happened in the past, so why now?

I suspect this is another fraudulent action of ACORN or its affiliates to remove conservatives from being able to vote, while they register convicted felons, non-US citizens, and others not truly eligible to vote.

Have you received such a Notice of Cancellation??

If so, we need to assemble a list and contact the Harris Co. DA’s Office to start an investigation immediately.

Please let me know if you or anyone you know has had their Voter Registration Cancelled.

Thanks,

D

I told the person that sent it that it sounded like an email hoax and not to worry about it. But to his credit, Leo did worry about it. He had his staff investigate it and it turned out that there was some truth in it. And it also turned out that a mistake had been made in regards to the guy’s son’s voters registration. Here is the resolution:

Mr. H: Thank you again for communicating to the Tax Office your concern regarding possible fraud in voter registration. After our investigation, I have concluded that no fraud was involved in the situation you reported.

Believe it or not, there were THREE registered voters named JB on the Harris County roll. The wrong JB (but the one whose signature most closely matched the cancellation request’s signature) was cancelled from the voter roll per a written request (because he has moved out of county).

DM, JB’s step-father, received a cancellation notice because he recently registered to vote in Florida and, therefore, is ineligible to vote in Texas as well. His cancellation letter was the same form as JB’s and referenced his “request,” which was confusing to DM, as he had not sent a request to the Tax Office (we receive this data from the Texas Secretary of State).

The Director and Assistant Director of the Voters’ Department have spoken to JB and DM to explain the situation and apologize for the confusion.

This was quite a coincidence, given the relationship between JB and DM. I can understand their confusion. We are looking into ways to use this experience to improve the Tax Office’s processes.

Thank you again for your assistance.

Judge Martha Hill Jamison
Office of Leo Vasquez
Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar

Well, how about that? An actual solution to the problem, an opportunity to improve the office, and three taxpayers happy with their interaction with a governmental entity. A win/win, no?

Which is pretty much what Leo brought to the office. Win/win solutions.

Gonna miss that.

First, about the event. It will be held next Thursday, April 29th, at Houston’s First Baptist Church. Click here to see the event on the HAPC website or click on the image below to see the flyer:

It’s only $35 or $450 if you want a table for 8 – but free for you and your spouse if you are a pastor. Free is good. So what’s the problem? Well, I didn’t say there was one, but now that you mention it…

You cannot serve two masters

If you will recall, those words came from Jesus. Rather than striving to be a pillar of influence in your community, He called his followers to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to follow the commandments He taught them. Note that He didn’t tell His followers to go and make nations that would enforce His commandments. For those of you really paying attention, you will observe that the founders of this country respected His commands, ensuring that we would have a free, open society, one in which people could choose to believe. Or not.

By corrupting the pastors of churches, by getting them to lust for political power and influence instead of teaching the pastors to show people how to quench their thirst with Living Water, this group, and others like them, have weakened both institutions. Churches in the U.S. today are, in large measure, worthless in meeting the commands of either Isaiah 1:10-17 or Matthew 28:18-20. And in turn, politicians are, in large measure, ineffective and useless, turning what once was a great economic and social power into a debt-ridden, hedonistic society.

HAPC a Republican front group

Fine, but what does this have to do with taking over the HCRP? Well, as I first noted last September (hard to believe 7 months have gone by), the funds flowing in and out of the same PO Box 2606 make it clear that this group, along with Vision America, see the Republican party as a way to put their agenda forward. Nothing illegal or immoral about it, other than perhaps not being upfront and honest.

So what is the problem?

The real problem is that this group, purporting to represent pastors of Christian persuasion, has a mission statement that differs from the command of Jesus:

The mission of the Houston Area Pastor Council is to empower pastors and their congregations across racial and denominational lines to impact the culture and government through concerted prayer, to equip our congregations for effective citizenship and to provide a unified voice on spiritual, cultural, social and moral issues.

Let’s review again the mission of followers of Jesus:

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”

I promise you that, if pastors would follow that mission, there would be no need for groups like HAPC to teach them how to wield influence and power in their communities. Pastors are already equipped with everything that they need:

God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.

Want to change your community, the state, the nation, the world? Teach the Word. That is the recipe. Want to have lunch with “powerful and influential community leaders”? Head on over to the HAPC luncheon, learn how to create groups and teach politics in your church – because you probably aren’t doing anything else anyway. And even if you are a pastor, kick in a few bucks: Republicans could use the help.

Four area tea party groups joined together to present a rally in the spirit of the movement that started last year: Houston Tea Party Society, Fort Bend Tea Party, Katy Tea Party Patriots, and San Jacinto Tea Party. Their program featured not a single incumbent politician. Just ordinary citizens: white collar, blue collar, young, old, white, black, Latino, Asian – basically, a picture of America!

Just plain fun

One of the best moments was one that very few people saw or were even aware of. I was on the west side of the hill, looking out across a field where a dozen or so teens were playing soccer. I noticed another group behind them with peace signs, all dressed alike. As I watched, they joined hands and walked over to the fence that separated the Tea Party from the “soccer field”. They walked over hand in hand, chanting something like “Peace for everyone”. Just as they got to the fence, the band cranked up with an Elvis tune and just as quick as their protest got started, it ended with them dancing and saying, hey, this is pretty cool!

And it was. No bloviating politicians promoting ick-rotting ideas, no paid for by Republican party slogans, no planes flying over other tea parties trying to entice people to move to theirs, just plain old coolness of people with like minds coming together.

Random Act of Kindness

Another memory is captured in this photo:

It is a moment I won’t forget soon. I saw an elderly couple (on the left in the picture above) walk up and sit on the lawn. It was obvious that they were uncomfortable but they wanted to be there. To my surprise, a young woman with her young daughter walked up to them and offered them her chair. Just behind her was her husband with his. The elderly couple was very grateful and accepted the offer. As the young family walked back and settled in place, with the husband standing and the son sitting on the lawn, I asked them if they knew the people they had just given their chairs to. No, the woman said, it just seemed like the right thing to do. Yes, indeed. The next time you hear something bad about “teabaggers”, just smile and think of that story.

Faulk campaign demonstrates effectiveness

For those of you that still have not tuned in to John Faulk’s campaign to unseat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, you really need to take a look, pitch in and help. His team put on a clinic in how to effectively use a large gathering to help your campaign. I came in from the East and the very first thing I saw was a large Faulk sign – you couldn’t miss it. And this was an hour and a half before the official start time.

And as I made my way back and forth through the crowd for the next four hours, it was difficult to take any picture without seeing a Faulk T-shirt, a Faulk sign, or a Faulk button. I was asked at least a dozen times by different volunteers if I knew about Faulk and if I would be willing to help in his campaign. The volunteers would ask for help even from those outside the district, stating that removing her would also help their district. It was effective and they gathered almost a thousand new names and emails. Very well done. Click here to donate to the Faulk campaign – any amount will be appreciated and will not be used frivolously or wasted.

Precinct level initiative

The theme of this rally was “Less Talk, More Action”. To accomplish this goal, the groups have started to focus on precinct level activities. They had packets to distribute for each precinct in Harris, Galveston, Fort Bend, and Waller Counties. There may have been others, perhaps Chambers and Montgomery, I’m not certain.

Unlike other Tea Party groups, these guys have maintained their non-partisan push. All you have to be is conservative – they are not focusing on Republicans. The idea is (roughly) to organize your own precinct and get conservatives to vote. Sure, today that means that most of the votes will be for Republicans, at least in this region. In South Texas, it would be conservatives voting for conservative Democrats. Eventually it will probably be the same here.

This is in stark contrast to the groups receiving funding from Republicans and Republican supporters. I had to laugh when one of the parties yesterday was sponsored by Mattress Mac. Great guy and he does a lot for the community but I bet that most people would be startled to find out that he is also funding a group to keep red light cameras up and pumping revenue into government coffers. Calling them “Intersection Safey Cameras” doesn’t change their purpose, which is to bring in revenue. And dang sure doesn’t contribute to freedom. Good grief.

A few pictures from the rally: