Harris County Republican Party: An Update and a “Thank You”

I was going to post about the results of Monday night’s Executive Committee Meeting yesterday, but too much was still unfolding to give an accurate report.  So, with a little time for sleep and reflection, here is what happened and where we are right now.

A majority of the Harris County Republican Precinct Chairs in attendance at Monday’s meeting voted to rescind the Advisory Board’s decision to tax candidates to speak at the upcoming SD Conventions, and to pay for the Conventions through donations.  Specifically, the resolution that passed asks for a $10 donation from all attendees, but encourages any donation that an individual can make.  After a lively debate over this resolution (and several other questions and proposed resolutions), the vote was conducted by a division of the house—which means that precinct chairs had to stand and be individually counted.  The ultimate vote totals were not announced—we were told only that the motion had passed—but it was clear that a strong majority voted for the resolution.  To those of you who stood up for this resolution, thank you for showing the courage to start a process of long-needed change in the way we finance our party.  Special thanks should go to Dee Carroll for presenting the resolution, and to Nancy Scott for her helpful amendment.

Before I go further, I want to briefly address our friends and allies in our party who created the speakers’ tax, and those who opposed the resolution.  I know you believe, based on many years of how the party has done business, that imposing this “tax” to fund the SD conventions this year was appropriate.  But, regardless of the wisdom of imposing the proposed “tax” before our primary with the real possibility of tilting the playing field in many contested races, relying on the candidates and elected officials to provide the primary means of funding the party has become a nightmare for our finances.

I have been repeatedly reminded in emails and Facebook comments that the party has been soliciting donations from the candidates and elected officials to fund the SD conventions for at least 18 years, and that this funding mechanism was part of a “grand bargain” with those candidates and elected officials to hold the conventions in one facility on one day.  That “grand bargain” may have made sense 18 years ago:

• just before Republicans began to sweep countywide elections, when our new slate of candidates needed the added benefit of one joint forum to introduce themselves to the activists after the primary; and
• while we still had an independent donor base.

To some extent, it still could make some sense if the conventions this year were held after the primary, so that no issue as to the favoritism in the primary could be raised.

But none of these reasons justify the current state of affairs.

By continuing to follow this formula, the party has become a ball and chain on our candidates, rather than their support organization.  For the calendar year 2008—the last Presidential election year, and the last year I have fully analyzed (though I am told by others that there has been no significant change since 2008 in what I am about to say), the party incurred a little more than $416,400 in operating expenses (not including joint campaign expenses funded by judicial candidates or the state party).  Of that amount, between $150,100 and $211,600 was covered by contributions from candidates and elected officials (the range is based on how $61,475 contributed from judicial candidates or sitting judges should be attributed, because those contributions do not appear to be linked to the joint judicial campaign that year, but could be).  These contributions came in the form of Republican Leadership Council memberships of at least $1,000 a year, underwriting expenses for special RLC activities and other party functions, the purchase of tables and other sponsorships for the annual Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner, emergency contributions to cover operating expense shortfalls, and sponsorships for the joint SD Conventions.  As you can see, there is no way the party can cover its annual operating expenses under this approach without the candidates and elected officials.  Meanwhile, the joint campaign activities coordinated through the party are also paid by the candidates and elected officials who participate in those campaigns—not the party.

This unbalanced reliance on the campaign accounts of our candidates must end, and Monday night’s vote was the first step in what I am sure will be a long, but necessary re-balancing process.  Our goal should be to reach a point where we all have “skin in the game”:

• the grassroots, who must expand to include, not just the volunteer base, but also the small-donor base of the party;
• a return of the large-donor base, who continue to personally contribute to local and national candidates, but who refuse to contribute to the party now; and
• a proper amount from our candidates to show the rest of us that they are part of the team.

This “skin in the game” should then be used to build the apparatus needed to not only cover the party’s overhead, but to support the ticket in the fall independent of contributions from the candidates.

Now, for where we are in our effort to fund the SD Conventions through donations.

As of this morning, we have received the following pledges toward the conventions:

• our online pledges on Big Jolly Politics equal $2,370 as of this moment;
• I have received another $2,290 in contributions and pledges since Monday night:  $20 dollars each from a local Associate Judge, $20 dollars from a Precinct Chair, $250 from Randy Kubosh, $1,000 from the Independent Electrical Contractors, and $1,000 from the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club;
• I have received commitments from two additional underwriters to contribute to the pool to cover any shortfall between the donations and the actual expenses.

Therefore, just through our effort, before a single donation is taken at the door, we have attained 46{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}  of our pledge goal, and have our underwriters in place.  But there is more to report.

Sheriff Candidates Harold Heuszel and Louis Guthrie have made significant contributions directly to the HCRP to cover the costs of the coffee and the security inside the facility.  Many of the clubs are gathering volunteers to take and process the donations at the conventions.  And there is even a rumor that Terry Lowry, the purveyor of the Link Letter, is challenging activists to separately pledge contributions and has pledged $500 himself—if this is true, what a difference a week makes!

I am confident that we will pay for the SD Conventions without the speakers’ tax.  But we can’t stop.  Please continue to pledge, and remember to donate at the convention.  Additionally, I challenge all of the Republican Women’s Clubs, Pachyderm Clubs, and other Republican clubs in the area (and Tea Parties, too), to follow the lead of the Greater Houston Pachyderm Club and contribute (but only if your by-laws or legal statuses allow such contributions).

Finally, I ask those Republican elected officials, who are not on the ballot this year, and whose offices cover Harris County, to pledge and/or contribute to this fund.  Remember, by getting all of us to put “skin in the game,” those who benefit most from the work of our grassroots should continue to contribute—not as a tax in a year in which you are running, but as a support for your team.  I know that this is a tough request when you also have the HCRP Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner the same week as these conventions, but any contribution you can make will help—both to cover the costs of the conventions, but also to start the re-balancing process.

Again—we will pay for the SD Convention the right way.  “Thank you” to all of you who have shown the courage to take this step.