Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Letter to Reince Priebus from a Republican Nat'l Delegate

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Dear Chairman Priebus, don’t freak out. We are working to save you from yourself.

I am a wife and mother of three, a business owner, and a grassroots volunteer. I have been Vice Chairman of my county Republican Party and of my local Republican Women’s Club, and I am a first-time delegate to the Republican National Convention.

In the 2012 primary, like so many other Republicans, I was determined to help our Party nominate a candidate who could take the fight to Barack Obama, and articulate the cherished principles of our Party that have made America exceptional. Our liberty — born in the heart of God – is the animating principle of our Republic, and the engine of our prosperity. Nothing this side of heaven is perfect. And I agreed with Sen. Phil Gramm when he used to say liberty is no exception. “Trouble is,” he would say, “it’s better than anything anybody’s ever figured out.” Indeed, all of human history is witness that free markets, smaller government, and individual liberty have done more good for more people than anything ever.

As many like-minded members of our Party, I believed that Newt Gingrich, not Mitt Romney, was the best standard-bearer of this message in the general election. So I did what many grassroots volunteers in our Party do in presidential primaries. I packed up the kids and my Mom, and went first to Iowa, and then to South Carolina to help run phone banks for a campaign that had little organization or money, and looking back, probably began as a promotional effort to sell books and speaking fees. I don’t think Newt ever dreamed he would have to run a real campaign with real staff. But alas, he found himself surging in the polls just ahead of Iowa.

When we arrived a few days after Thanksgiving 2011, the paid staff had just unlocked the door of the Des Moines headquarters. The primary in Iowa was going to be held January 3rd. Not a lot of time to organize. We were literally the only volunteers there except for a lady named Judy from Indiana who had arrived as a volunteer like us, and had been tapped to answer the phone and run the office. We went home for a few days at Christmas, and returned just a couple of days after to help work the final push.

As other volunteers started to pour in, we did the best we could, working 12 hours a day. I helped train new callers, create scripts, and compile “best hits” talking points based on the state of the race that day and what seemed to be resonating with voters. We signed people up to speak for Newt at their caucus meeting on yellow sticky notes. I spoke at a caucus meeting.

After Iowa, I was asked by our grassroots Newt team to run a phone bank in South Carolina. I packed up the kids, asked my Mom in Kentucky to meet us, and drove 22 hours to Greenville to work the two weeks prior to the South Carolina primary. Newt ended up winning it (thanks to a stellar performance at the presidential debate there where he took on the media for how it covers Republicans. It was a winning narrative.).

I went home to Lubbock and continued to work full-time as Newt’s National Volunteer Coordinator, an entirely volunteer position for our grassroots team in which I contacted and coordinated volunteers to travel to the primary contests leading up to and including Super Tuesday. I was a stranger calling to ask them to go and stay entirely at their own expense with nothing to offer them but the glamorous work of phone banking and block walking to convince people to vote for Newt in those battleground contests.

When Newt lost the primary, I mourned.

And then, with the general election in the balance, I led a group of Republican Women from Lubbock to Cleveland, Ohio. We spent a week knocking on doors in rain gear for the Romney/Ryan ticket, as hurricane Sandy was blowing in on the east coast.

My point in all this is that anybody who wants to accuse me of being motivated by sour grapes can stuff it.

Mitt Romney was not my choice. But he is a talented businessman whose respect for others is evident. He believes in the power of free markets to “lift all boats.” He is a decent and honorable man – one my children can look up to.

This election, and this “presumptive nominee” are different. The question in this election is not if Republicans can get over the fact that their first choice didn’t win the primary. The question is if there are any boundaries to our Party at all. Does the Republican Party stand for anything? Or are we bound to allow 12 million people who aren’t even Republicans dictate what the Party now stands for and who its standard-bearer has to be? And are we also now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trump Inc.?

That the majority of Republicans don’t want Donald Trump is a fact of the primary election, and also of recent polling. The vast majority of my constituents as a Republican National Delegate from Texas’ 19th Congressional District who have contacted me say they long for someone else to vote for.

Fortunately, the founders of our Party knew that we needed an escape hatch. That’s why we have delegates, not just a popular vote. An examination of the history of our Party and of legal precedent shows that the delegates to the Republican National Convention may cast a vote for a different candidate than the one dictated by their state’s Presidential Preference Primary or Caucus, when conscience, the good of the Party and our nation dictates they must.  This is such a time.

My message to you Chairman Priebus is this: I understand the position you hold, and your belief that you are duty-bound to (nearly daily) embarrass yourself by attempting to embrace Donald Trump as the likely nominee of our Party.

But those of us who are delegates have a different role. Our Party rules say the delegates are the “highest authority” of the Convention. It is the delegates who choose our nominee. So along with other delegates, I am working to save you from yourself.

We are educating the delegates of the historical and legal precedents to vote their conscience, to give them a green light to do so. Our goal is to put forth as the Republican Nominee for President of the United States, someone who is an honorable and vigorous advocate of the blessings of individual liberty, smaller government and free markets – someone who understands that it is only these principles that actually can make America great again. You can thank us later.

 

Yours Truly,

Sondra Ziegler, Lubbock, Texas
National Delegate – Place 1, Texas Congressional District 19
#freethedelegates

Robin Armstrong Talks Convention

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Dr. Robin Armstrong, a self-identified Cruz supporter, appeared before the Downtown Houston Pachyderm on April 7. Dr. Armstrong was campaigning for a position on the Republican National Convention Rules Committee. The 56 delegations to the Republican National Convention will pick their members for the four committees: rules, platform, credentials, and permanent organization. The Rules Committee has 112 delegates – two members, a man and woman, from every state, U.S. territory, and Washington D.C.

The Republican National Committee Rules Committee will be critical this year. “He who writes the rules, rules — as the old saying goes,” said Gary Emineth, former chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party and expert on the party’s rules. The slightest of rule changes will all be designed to hurt one candidate or help another.

Ted Cruz is hoping to rely on the delegates from Texas, his home state. The Texas selection of a National Committeeman and Committeewoman is governed by Rule 40.

Rule No. 40 – National Committeeman and Committeewoman At the Biennial State Convention held in presidential election years, each Congressional District shall caucus and recommend a man for Republican National Committeeman from Texas and a woman for Republican National Committeewoman from Texas. These recommendations shall be forwarded to the National Nominations Committee by the district’s member to the committee, who shall support them on at least the first (1st) round of voting. The National Nominations Committee shall select one (1) man and one (1) woman from these recommendations to be submitted to the Convention as nominees for these positions. Nominations from the floor shall be allowed only for candidates recommended by at least three (3) districts, or by petition signed by delegates equal in number to at least twenty percent (20{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}) of the convention voting strength. In the event of a vacancy in the office of National Committeeman or Committeewoman the vacancy shall be filled by a majority vote of the State Republican Executive Committee to serve until the next biennial state convention.

Texas Rule 40 should not be confused with RNC Rule 40b, which was enacted in 2012 to keep Ron Paul off the ballot. Morten Blackwell, member of the standing RNC rules committee, explains in a RedState piece how lawyers from the party misled and blocked his attempts to oppose the 40b rule. In 2012, this was a big fight between party establishment types and the Ron Paul loyalists. Now, four years later, it is amazing how a perceived defeat can be a larger moral victory.

Rule 40b “stops votes from being counted for candidates who could not prove majority support from at least eight state delegations. It also mandates that candidates meet the eight-state threshold “not less than one (1) hour prior to the placing of the names of candidates for nomination pursuant to this rule and the established order of business.” This rule was put into place to help Mitt Romney in 2012. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. D.C. emergency rooms are full of establishment Republicans in “not Cruz, never Trump” stupors. Dr. Armstrong thinks he has a cure.

Dr. Armstrong’s campaign is interesting because it seeks to unite both Trump and Cruz supporters against any attempt to remove rule 40b from the plank. All politics is local, right? What is more local than Harris County resident Ted Cruz teaming with Trumpsters to defeat the establishment who created Rule 40b just four years ago.

Dr. Armstrong stated he would work with Trump delegates to prevent any attempt to remove 40b. At the time of Dr. Armstrong’s presentation, only Trump had acquired the required amount of delegates to qualify under 40b. Not so for Cruz and Kasich.

Armstrong told the crowd that he believed Cruz would obtain the requisite amount of eight state delegates, which he did the next day. Dr. Armstrong’s tactic is also a very good way to appeal to Trump delegates at the state convention, all the while, being a Cruz supporter.

As a medical doctor, Dr. Armstrong is no dummy. The bigger question is whether he is the right guy to make the argument or do we need someone with a more persuasive non-medical skill set to represent Harris County and Texas on the Rules Committee.

Notice that I said Harris County because the top of the ticket will greatly impact local candidates. One judge on the November ballot recently said that he thought a Trump nomination could doom the entire Harris County republican ticket. I am not sure that I agree; but, the fear is real with elected officials. The “Never Trump” and “Never Cruz” campaigns are divisive and hurt current republican office holders, no doubt. My advice would be to start the “NEVER HILLARY” or “NEVER BERNIE” campaigns right where you are standing. The problem is exacerbated because Cruz is from Harris County. Republicans have other problems with the local ticket. Dr. Armstrong’s tactic is clever but I am not sure that it will work.

Obama or Romney? Prediction time!

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Okay, we’re down to the wire. Tomorrow will either be the end of a four year nightmare in the White House or a fresh start, a chance to return to some of our founding principles. So….who do you think is going to win? There is a very cool interactive site called 270towin.com that let’s us play with different scenarios and come up with our own prediction. In addition to myself and Ed Hubbard, we have two political insiders that help in the background at BJP. Here are our predictions, plus that of Michael Barone. I put them in order of most electoral votes for Mitt Romney (click on a map to enlarge it):

 

 

 

 

 

Whoo hoo! We all predict Romney winning! Take this post to Starbuck, give ’em five bucks, and they’ll give you a cup of coffee of your choice!

So what do you think? Hey, at least we put it out there. Try your luck and put your link in the comments. Betcha can’t beat me.

If you are in the Houston television market, be sure and tune in to Click2Houston (Channel 2, NBC affiliate) tomorrow night between 7 and 11. I’ll be on with Chris Bell to discuss the results – if you beat me, I’ll figure out a way to give you a shoutout on air! Also be sure and check the Houston Chronicle’s live Twitter feed – I’ll make sure and mention you there as well.

Mitt Romney's finances – leading by example

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Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking – that isn’t what the mass media is saying about Mitt Romney! They’re mocking him for “only” paying 14{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} in Federal Income taxes, as if that makes him somehow “elitist” or “not a man of the people”. But let’s look at the bigger picture of his actual 2011 finances:

[table id=9 /]

A little different, isn’t it? Isn’t this exactly what the tax code has been designed to do? Let see what the tax code encourages:

  • Encourages wealthy people to put their money to work, which enables people to borrow money to start and expand their businesses. Mitt Romney? Check – his income stream and tax rate follow this formula.
  • Encourages people of all incomes to donate to charity, a traditional view that promotes good citizenship and maintains separation of church/state. Mitt Romeny? Check – 29{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}, although he only deducted 16{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}.

Yet the criticism is withering. If you watched any of the Sunday morning political shows this morning, the bias against this man was incredible. Here’s a guy that took home only 45{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of his income being blasted for not paying more – one pundit even said that Romney wasn’t producing anything, just living off his investments.

Say what? Isn’t that the dream that we all shoot for? After all, the man is 65 years old – I think he deserves to kick back a little and enjoy the fruits of his labor. I guess these pundits missed Ann Romney’s speech at the Republican National Convention talking about the sacrifices they made as a family when Mitt worked long hours and missed a lot of family time.

The bias in this election from the media is so overwhelming that many Republicans and Independents are disheartened – heck, even many of the people in the media that claim to be Republicans are attacking Mr. Romney brutally if they find anything at all they don’t like about his campaign. But take heart, my friends – we are going to win this election. The American people are smarter than the press gives them credit. They no longer hang on every word that spews forth from the likes of Brian Williams, David Gregory, Peggy Noonan, David Brooks, or Joe Scarborough. They look around their communities and KNOW that things should be better. Hope and change are long gone, replaced by class and racial divisiveness from the Obama administration.

So the best thing that Republicans and Independents can do from now until election day is to keep their cool, register 10 neighbors to vote, and speak the truth whenever you see or hear the lies from the leftist media. And consider donating a few bucks to the campaign, this election will be a turning point in history – do we continue the path of debt and decay or restore our founding principles? Let’s git-r-done!

Compromise is not a four letter word

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I was recently sent this article, “Time for Ron Paul Fans to Support the Constitution”.  The article is well written and lays out the main arguments why Ron Paul supporters and Libertarians should rally behind Mitt Romney.  Unfortunately, this same argument comes out every in every election.  And every election we hear the same thing from this group of voters that I refer to as Conservative Puritans, “The Republican candidate is not Conservative enough.  Why should I compromise my standards?”

In this response from the Puritans they have keyed in on the single most important term in our political environment – Compromise.

Do I expect the Conservative Puritans to compromise their standards and principles? No, I absolutely do not expect that. But I do expect them to strike a compromise in their vote. The problem is that they do not hold the majority in national politics. Yeah, I know there are a lot of them but they don’t have a majority. We’ve seen that year in and year out in every single election. The Puritans only comprise around 1 – 2{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the Conservative voters nationwide. Unfortunately, that is not enough to further their agenda — yet. I do think the Puritans are making some headway but they’re not there yet.

There are around 312,000,000 people in the United States today. For the sake of argument let’s say Conservatives (as a whole) make up 52{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the population (I don’t know the actual numbers; however, I theorize that Conservatives make up the majority of the population), so that’s 162,240,000. Let’s assume that Puritans make up 2{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of that population, that’s 3,244,800. Now the bulk of that number is concentrated in the south and Midwest of the United States.

A major obstacle that the Puritans have is that their flavor of Conservatism isn’t the same as all Conservatives. This is actually a problem for Conservatives across the board. For example I have some great Conservative friends in the New England regions. Their Conservatism is nowhere near the same as Conservatives here in Texas who are far more Libertarian leaning than they would like to admit. Nevertheless, their Conservatism and my Conservatism have some pretty important similarities. There are enough similarities that I would never presume to strip them of their Conservative label. In fact, these similarities are so important that if anything I would be willing to prioritize my principles and reach out to my New England Conservative friends for a compromise. We find common ground. We have a common goal. Together we can find a path to victory.

More importantly, however, is that by compromising with my New England Conservative friends I have gained some influence on them. I can now continue to talk to them and begin to persuade them towards some of my Conservative principles and vice-versa. Now we are working together and we are gaining. Is it perfect? I doubt either one of us would feel that way. But we are gaining and we are both advancing our agendas.

The single greatest the Puritan Conservatives have is their “My way or the highway” approach. The Puritans refuse to compromise even on the smallest detail. They refuse to lose a battle to win the war; by doing so their numbers either remain static or shrink. They are unable to gain influence with any other Conservative group to advance their agenda and as such they remain isolated in their little pocket of 3 Million voters. The cold hard reality is that 3 Million voters aren’t going to affect policy anywhere.

But there is a more sinister dynamic at play here. My philosophy of seeking a compromise as demonstrated that I don’t want to leave any Conservative or American behind. I know Conservatism will save and preserve our nation. I’m willing to compromise so that all Americans can gain from Conservative principles. The Puritans, however, would just as soon leave me bleeding on the road than to seek a compromise to help as all.

We can argue all day long about the accuracy of the polls; however, let’s assume that the polls are just as close as they appear. I think it’s around 49{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} Obama to 48{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} Romney. Let’s assume that Romney can pick up 1{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the undecided voters so that we are now at a dead heat. Now if the Puritans either don’t vote or cast their vote for another candidate with no chance of winning Romney loses and we are now subjected to four more years of radical Socialist policies. I honestly think this spells the end of our nation. However, if the Puritans will decide to find a compromise with other Conservatives we win 49{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} to 51{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}. Is it perfect? No, but we have stopped the rapid decline of our nation and we now have a chance to begin recovering and restoring our position as a world leader.

And with that scenario you now see why the Puritans don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of affecting policy but nevertheless, are the single most powerful Conservative political arm. And the Puritans are choosing to use their strength sitting on the sidelines pouting and sticking their tongues out at the rest of us. That’s sad.

Finally, let’s thank God our Founding Fathers had the wisdom to seek compromise instead of sticking to their beliefs. Without compromise we wouldn’t be having this discussion because we wouldn’t have ever formed the United States of America in the first place.

James Yaklin
Former HCRP Precinct Chair
Katy, Texas

Obama's anti-Jewish bias

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Mitt Romney asks: Whose Democratic Party is it?

And O makes certain you know that the party belongs to him and his radical Muslim friends:

UNREAL… Obama Invites Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood President to Meet Next Week – Refuses to Meet Netanyahu

The polls be damned. This is going to be a blowout of Carteresque proportion.