As you know by now, Harris County Republican Party Chair Paul Simpson has received a challenger for the position in the 2018 primary, Chris Carmona. Chris and I had a cup of coffee yesterday and talked about his reasons for entering the race and his vision for the party.
Return to the Grassroots
Chris thinks that under Simpson’s leadership, the party has strayed from the bottom up, grassroots style that made the party successful and he wants to return to that model. One of the complaints that he has is that Precinct Chairs, as volunteers, should not be treated as employees but instead be seen as peers of party leadership and candidates. It is his impression that the party is now being run in a top down model, which limits the input and effectiveness of the volunteers.
One of the examples that he used to illustrate this was a meeting of judicial candidates prior to the 2016 General Election. He said that several of the candidates tried to raise an objection to the messaging that was going to be used (Harris County Works) but they were dismissed without being taken seriously and told that consultants were handling that. Chris thinks that a more collaborative approach would have led to a different message for the election.
Fundraising
In line with his thinking on the grassroots style of the party, Chris wants to increase the donor base of the party. He estimated that the party currently has 1,250 or so donors and wants to get that number up to 5,000. He thinks that he can accomplish this by putting more emphasis on project specific fundraising and reviving the small donor programs of the past.
Project specific fundraising simply means that donors would know exactly what their funds were going to be used for rather than everything going into one large pile and being doled out by the party leadership. For example, back in 2013, Chris wrote a post on BJP about getting judicial candidates to engage with the voters. The party could ask for donations to pay for the event space to carry out his ideas for judicial engagement. Or other specific programs.
Engagement
During the hour and a half that we chatted, Chris seemed to return over and over to engagement. Many of his ideas revolve around engaging the community – a better media presence, better messaging, better branding, featuring our candidates as “Stars of the Party”, etc. The party, and Republicans in general, has to stop being reactionary. Going to parades every two years is not engagement.
One of the tools that he wants to use to implement his ideas on engagement is to have four Regional Vice-Chairs, one in each county commissioner precinct. The RVC’s would drive the engagement in their respective areas, working with the Senate District Chairs and Precinct Chairs to tailor their efforts to the different communities. Each community is different and the party needs to let them know how Republican values can help them.
Perception as a Big 3 Slate Candidate
One thing that I needed to be clear about was the perception that Chris is a product of the old guard wanting a return to power. After asking him about this from every angle I could, I’m confident that this is not the case. Chris told me that he had been thinking about running for the Chair since last December and specifically mentioned the Strategic Review as one of the reasons he decided to jump in. He thought that the way that review was conducted limited the conclusions reached and that the recommendations were recycled from years past. He said it was a hard decision especially because it prevents him from being Chair of the Young Republican National Federation.
He said that he did approach the slates for their endorsement because they are so influential that it would be self-defeating not to. And I agree with him on that. As I mentioned here, in theory the slates can be an effective tool for voters when used transparently. Obviously, the slates were never going to endorse Simpson, so there’s that, but at least Chris was not recruited by them the way they recruited Rick Ramos and Tex Christopher in 2016.
Not Open Borders/Amnesty Guy
I had to laugh when he wanted to make it clear that he was not Artemio Muñiz. Temo is a friend and has a knack for getting on television and radio to talk about his vision for the Republican Party. Chris said people keep confusing the two and wants to make certain that people know there is a difference and that Chris is not for open borders or amnesty for people that entered the country illegally. BTW, I don’t think that Temo is for those things either but you know how perception works.
All in all, it was a good chat. Hopefully we’ll get other opportunities to discuss the race and dive deeper into the failures in 2016 and his ideas for overcoming them. One thing that Chris said is undoubtedly true: we cannot keep blaming Trump for the loss, we have to figure out how to move forward.
Related:
2018 HCRP Primary Party Chair Comparison page
The Harris County Republican Party condemns “pay-to-play” slates
If I look at your experience, what is there?
Foolme, you are so right. Simpson’s experience as Chairman was to lead us into the biggest blowout of HCRP in history – 0-for-73 county races. If this had been Jared Woodfill, Emmett, Harless, and all the other liberal Republicans would have been screaming for him to resign. But oh no! They all want more of Simpson’s Titanic-sinking-type leadership. I would bet that 2016 primary election winner Ramos would have done better, and that Carmona would have too. So what has Simpson’s experience produced in Harris County Republican elections? Simpson’s inner-city-emphasis focus is moronic. His dependence on donors in Sarah Davis’s mostly pro-abortion district, one of whom is Emmett himself, hurts the HCRP. Carmona can’t do any worse than Simpson’s 0-for-73 experience and his dependence on pro-abortion donors. When Simpson ran in 2010, 2012, and 2014, saying he’s the change HCRP needed and then we lost the county elections 73-0 to the biggest blowout in county history, why should any of us settle for such a failure? 99.9% of normal people would say “Fire that leader”. Carmona can take the HCRP up from this pit, because we’ve clearly hit bottom under Paul Simpson’s loser leadership. If Carmona can win the March primary election like Ramos did in 2016, Simpson finally sinks with his Titanic-sinking-like approaches to politics, and we at least have a chance in 2018 and 2020. Carmona’s first victory will be beating Simpson, which will be a huge victory for HCRP.
TexasRepublicanPatriot: Going from bad to worse is not a FIX. Carmona is just the flip side of a bigger problem, with no experience, no attendance at republican meetings, no involvement. Looks like he’s a puppet for the Big 3 Slates and a return of the Woodfill corruption…….. Where’s Carmona’s money coming from…? Exactly, just the flip side of problems that we can’t solve. 2016 was led by the DA’s race, and it drew out the masses to vote nothing or for the democrat……..
As the largest. most dynamic Republican county in America, it is encouraging to see our younger members take an active interest in the political arena and governance. Leadership takes time and effort, and the sooner we get our Young Republicans involved in the process, the better.
That being said, the filing by local attorney and former candidate for Houston City Council, Chris Carmona for the office of Harris County GOP County Chair is not particularly compelling, but is rather premature.
Make no mistake: Chris has a history of grassroots involvement – that much is true. He served as the Co-chair of the Young Republican National Federation, he has held a variety of roles for the Texas Young Republicans, and years ago under former HCRP Chairman, Jared Woodfill, Chris was briefly chairman of the outreach committee.
But merely holding positions of prominence and leadership isn’t an indication of actual achievement. If we try to identify what he accomplished in each of those posts, sadly we just don’t find very much. Did he travel a lot? Sure; Chris has traveled across America and even around the world. Did he make lots of friends in different cities? Sure; Chris has what could be described as a global network of friends and colleagues. What substantive changes and improvements can be found as a result of the extensive travel, list of friends and positions of prominence? Not very much. Nothing of lasting permanence. The net result of all his effort is a few short-term gains that are soon erased or negated – then he moves on to the next project.
Chris’ involvement in all the various roles he’s held and in all the groups he’s been a part of can mostly be described as opportunities for him to turn up, make some positive remarks, complain about others, and then duck out to the next social event. Chris hangs around only if there’s an opportunity to speak, or be on camera, or be onstage. Sadly, more often than not, the cause that compels Chris is personal prestige. Those are not the qualities that contribute to the long-term growth, long-term success, or long-term viability of any group or organization.
Long experience proves that it’s not enough to simply turn up and count it as a victory. The effort to effect real, lasting political change requires commitment and hard work; it requires the ability to see the big picture and make effective decisions. It’s more than just posting comments on social media or taking selfies with politicians.
Long experience proves that funding and support from those who are desperate for power and position sadly leads to corruption of the worst kind, as cherished principles and values are abandoned and compromised in the pursuit of prominence. It wasn’t so long ago that our party spent many a season lost in the leaderless wilderness; those who claimed to be leaders talked the talk, but failed to walk the walk, and lacked the qualities of leadership that inspire others to join and take up the labor and grow the party. To return to that quagmire would be to squander all the progress we have made, and all the gains we have fought so hard for.
The elected officials, precinct chairs and activists of the Harris County Republican Party have made history time and again by turning the tide of liberalism back against seemingly insurmountable odds, and have worked to keep conservative leaders in office. After almost two decades of feckless, leaderless posturing, Harris County Republicans rebuilt the party into a strong grassroots organization from the ground up, with more precinct chairs than ever before, bigger fundraising than ever before, greater voter turnout than ever before, and more Republican office-holders than ever before. We will not surrender these hard-won victories lightly back to the greedy hands of those who created the mess in the first place.
Someday, a person like Chris – perhaps Chris himself – may become the leader of the Harris County Republican Party. Certainly, that someday is not today. We should not cast aside all we have worked for, all we have gained, and all we stand for to put all our hopes in someone who is not yet prepared, not yet suited and not yet able to care for them. Those things are to be treasured like the talents we have all been granted – nurtured and multiplied for a cause greater than ourselves. Chris has not yet earned the privilege of being their steward.
Mr. Publius, my..my!!! How did you get to write the “truth” so eloquent on Chris Carmona’s qualifications. What you have written is no “fake news” coming from Harris County GOP observation after all; and it includes mine to mirror your points of concerns.
We at the Republican Hispanic Citizens in action had sat and listen to him give a good talk then he disappeared for another 8 months. He and Temo Muniz are very close friends except Temo went on which some other mutual friends to bash our President Trump on all National channel that would listen to him/them. You would have thought he was working for CNN desk. Thank goodness most in Texas came to realize they were being used and it became disappointed in what went down with that attitude after they held up their standards to the RPT who bought into it. Disappointed to see we (RHCIA) were ever part of that organization(RPT) which let our group down and couple of Minority clubs too.
I made it a policy, if you came to RPCIA and wanted to be part of the Board and talk what you will do for us and the greatness you will bring to increase our RHCIA awareness and concerns within our Latino communities, instead of just standing at the podium to speak and introduce candidates then you have no place and the shingles went up “YOU ARE FIRED!”. Our group experienced several of those type of personalities traits within our Presidents you described in Chris and candidates. There are some Latinos which cameras and selfies turn them on whether to promote themselves for a job position, buy their wares, increase their business profession within the judicial system should you be an attorney or what can you do for their spouse. Its usually going to be a bargaining chip we have to pay to play with them. They will leave if there is no hash-tag #me first/you guys 2nd.
We need to drain the swamp here too, not only in DC or Hollywood but right here because it will have an effect if we continue to post up unelectable candidates with no proper credentials but merely by looks is going to reflect bad on us local Republicans. We need to really count on each other in this forum as well as in other social Harris County medias to vet our candidates from within their own communities too.
The GOP and Precinct Chairs need to know who is coming out of their community district to run for office. What have they done for their communities in the way of families becoming strong, for seniors and single parenting what have the candidate done within the last 5 years before they sought to write their name down on our GOP board? Can they produce at least 60 residents that would be volunteesr and canvas for that candidate? Have those candidates to bring to the table of 10 businesses in the community that will support the candidate for office and the reasons why (it should be mailed directly to the office of the Chairman of Harris County). What has the candidate done for 3 businesses in his district that made a difference in their employees lifestyles. This is what I call TRUE VETTINGS and if it can’t be done then the Party is going to be dying off before our eyes.
Democrats do things in their districts and work hard too, but they are too greedy and shady…Republicans like Commissioner Steve has said in more than one time that Republicans are lazy, all talk and no action and they need to get off their xxx and get somethings done. Its the truth and we all laughed.
I weeded them out so quickly within our RHCIA group. We came to be known as a hire and fire! just like President Trump in his inner circles. All those Amorosas we got rid off quickly as they ascended on our President’s seats for being dishonest in their motives. Many laughed, I shook my head realizing where is “honesty” and “loyalty” to the voters gone.
I have been there and done that…and you won’t be able to fool me with any slick moves. I know my Latino people and although I would support a good Latino(a) for office I want a person of “truth” and their walk in life to be portrayed as for the people and all the people and not illegals over legal Citizens and our invited Green Card holders.
We have several groups and each of us are being part of our communities and making a difference. We still engage with Pastores in the Alianza but we do it out of love and seek no rewards, or anything else than gaining the confidence of our Latinos to vote for what is Democracy and we show them what it means in a Republican page coloring book. These are my most strong opinions and many know me within the political circles I won’t lie to gain your vote, I won’t dress you up to look what you are not, and I will ruff up your feathers to make you realize their is more than gaining my VOTE for your office. Show me the beef in your stew!! make sure its not dog, horse or cat meats.
Sincerely, Wishing all in our Republican circles a great safe Christ-mas celebration with your family and friends too. Keep each other in prayers.
Bernadette