Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Dear Harris County Republican Party members and leadership

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letter-to-the-editorThe truth is a hard thing sometimes.  It’s hard to stare the truth in the face, especially when it makes you uncomfortable.  It’s sobering, it’s scary and it’s humbling.  The truth is a hard, bitter pill to swallow, but it’s just the prescription for the Harris County Republican Party and its Outreach efforts.  Now, before you let out a groan about Outreach, let me say this first; I realize there have been problems with this committee.  I was one of the ones pointing out those problems a while back. (I’m part of the solution and here’s the problem)  Those problems still exist to an extent, but I’m hopeful for the future.  The Outreach Committee over the years has often been unable to make quorums, unfunded and had no vision for the future.  It has been hapless and misled and then NOT led at all.  We all know that.  The Outreach committee failed miserably during last year’s presidential election, we know that, too.

Now, for some good news.  There is hope for the party and its Outreach efforts.  Shocking, right?  The reason is that we have a new Outreach Committee chair in Chris Carmona.  He has a vision on how to lead this committee and the party towards victory!  He feels that the Outreach Committee was formed  so that we as a party might reach out in charitable ways to the surrounding communities in order to help build relationships and thereby, spread the message of conservatism. Chris would like to see the Outreach Committee members and the party work together to share the message that we should be fiscally responsible as citizens and as a government, that free markets do work best for the populous and that the government works best when it’s limited to its constitutional powers.  He also feels that implementing the use of Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and Spreecast to name a few of the social media outlets can help promote our message of conservatism, something that’s never been done before.  He also plans on locating areas and communities and targeting our outreach efforts in those communities to help build a coalition between us and the voters in Harris County.  Another reason why I’m hopeful for our Outreach efforts is because I recently read an article written by Anthony Magdeleno that he contributed to Big Jolly Politics about Hispanic outreach.  I loved that article because he put outreach into such simple terms that we should all be ashamed of ourselves for not doing it sooner.

Let me remind you, outreach takes time.  It isn’t an activity that is going to produce fruit overnight.  We as a party recognize that we are behind the eight ball right now, but we have to start somewhere.  Like it says, God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.  There has to be some relationships built between the HCRP and the surrounding communities, whether Hispanic, Asian or African American.  We can’t do just one activity and expect votes in return.  I think this has been part of the problem with outreach for far too long.  As in Anthony’s article, we need to go back to the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  I think that will speak volumes.

Again, I know there are some out there saying, “What are we going to get in return?”  Maybe nothing at first and we need to acknowledge that right up front.  There is going to be some work involved, boots on the ground, if you will, and we can’t let that deter us.  We simply cannot just throw up our hands and say “forget it.”  Outreach and relationship building are way too important to give up on them now.

I’ll give you an example.  When a business opens its doors, it might do a little marketing first.  It might hand out some coupons or free samples as a gesture of good will.  Then as time goes by, that business sticks in your mind because they were kind to you.  One day you go back and you patronize the place and you like them; they are friendly and make you feel welcome.  Then you decide to go back again, and the service and experience you had was pleasant and consistent with the one you had before.  Then, before you know it, you’re a regular customer!

The Republican Party and its ideals are a ‘brand’.  To quote the late, great Andrew Breitbart, “If you can’t sell freedom or liberty, you suck…!”   We are the brand, we do have to sell it and we can sell it once those relationships are built!  #WAR

Kelly Horsley
Harris County Republican Party Precinct Chair #877
Member, HCRP Outreach Committee
Katy, Texas

Harris County Republican Party: I'm part of the solution and here's the problem

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In the words of the Indianapolis Colts former head coach, Jim Mora, “…playoffs?  You wanna talk about playoffs?”   Just for fun, let’s trade the word playoffs for the word ‘transparency’.  I know, I know, stop using the word ‘transparency’ you say.  It fits in this instance though, especially when you’re talking about politics.  Local, Harris County Republican Party politics, that is.

Let me introduce myself.  I am a Republican precinct chairman, an outreach committee member, a tea party member; basically, I am a full time volunteer for conservative politics locally.  I am involved for a number of reasons, but mainly it’s because of my children.  I care about the future of our country, the freedoms that we have, and protecting those freedoms.  However, when I got involved just a few short years ago, never did I imagine that I would be fighting battles within our own local party.  Call me naive, but I just didn’t.  I joined the party excitedly and still feel hopeful for the success of our party, but there needs to be some changes made from within.

As a newcomer, you may dismiss my observations, but sometimes it takes a newcomer to look at things in a new way.  I happily joined the Outreach Committee and went to work putting together ideas and projects to present to the committee.  The chair and co-chair were very receptive to all of my ideas.  I even got to implement one of them and it was very successful.

However, that was nearly two years ago.

Yep, you read that right.  Two years!

Here’s a little history of the Outreach Committee’s meetings and activities to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.  There was one meeting in 2011—July 25, 2011.  At that meeting, those present agreed to sponsor a table at the Indian Day Celebration at the George R. Brown Convention Center on August 20, 2011.  However, the party did not have enough money to pay for the table, so members of the committee had to donate to cover the cost.

Prior to that meeting, the last meeting of the Outreach committee was on November 8, 2010, soon after the election, and the last report I have is from that December.  In that report, activities were discussed that I didn’t even know about as a committee member.

How’s that for transparency?

After November, 2010, meetings were scheduled, re-scheduled and then cancelled through February, and I have some memory of hearing from the chair that he may have been sick during early 2011, but the bottom line is—we’ve only had one meeting of this committee since the week after the 2010 general election.

How’s that for outreach and growth?

From comparing experiences with other activists and precinct chairs, I’ve come to learn that the Outreach Committee isn’t the only committee within the party to experience little to no scheduled meetings and or activities during the last year.  The Finance Committee is having the same trouble as well.

Michael and Randy Kubosh, who spearheaded the successful opposition to Houston’s Red Light Cameras, took over the Finance Committee from Mike Riddle, and started doing a wonderful job trying to organize the committee, solicit fundraising ideas, and raise money. But, here’s a sampling of the problems the committee experienced according to committee member, Ed Hubbard:

  • Attempts to provide more information and greater transparency were resisted by leadership, after an initial burst of cooperation when the Kuboshes joined the committee;
  • Every idea the committee came up with for new ways to raise money, especially from smaller donors than the $1,000-and-up RLC memberships, or expensive luncheon tickets, seemed to hit a dead-end when approval was sought from the party leadership;
  • A fundraising letter for small donations was approved by the committee but was never sent, for lack of money to underwrite the postage;
  • Like with the Outreach Committee, the last Finance Committee meeting was held in July, 2011; and
  • The Kuboshes resigned from the Committee in January, 2012, and no one has been appointed to replace them.

The Kuboshes tried to organize some fundraising to support the Judicial Signing Party last fall, but I don’t know if they were successful.  From what I’ve heard from Ed and others, the Kuboshes really tried pretty hard to raise money, but between resistance to transparency and new ideas from within the party, and resistance from donors who no longer trusted the party, even their formidable skills couldn’t improve the party’s fundraising.

How’s that for encouraging fresh thinking and new leadership?

The Bylaws of the HCRP contain specific paragraphs that describe the mission and membership of both committees:

Article VIII, Section 2, Part H. The Outreach Committee: The Outreach Committee will work to develop and implement programs designed to increase Republican voter turnout and encourage Republican growth in minority communities and engage in development of a long-term plan in this area for the future of the Republican Party. The committee membership will consist of: a) Ten (10) members appointed by the County Chairman, b) Three (3) Party Officers or Committee Chairmen as appointed by the County Chairman, and c) Each OSD Chairman (or his appointed representative), who shall be ex-officio voting members. The Outreach Committee shall be responsible for developing and implementing programs designed to increase Republican voter turnout.

…..

Article VIII, Section 2, Part F. The Finance Committee: The Finance Committee shall focus on raising the money needed to fully fund the Party and its activities and its candidates via memberships, sustaining programs, corporate programs and fund raising events. The County Chairman shall appoint members of the Committee, the OSD Chairman shall designate one member each, and the County Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Treasurer shall be voting members of the committee. The Finance Committee shall be responsible for fund raising for the Harris County Republican Party.

I think Ed Hubbard sums it up nicely when he says, “I think it is fair to say that neither committee has been active for quite some time.  Neither committee appears to have been supported by the Chair since the 2010 fall election, and the missions of these committees have not been actively pursued since last summer.”

I realize I’m being critical of the party.  However, I am willing to be part of the solution, not just part of the problem.  The happenings of Outreach Committee and the Finance Committee are just a small part of the bigger picture.  If we want to be successful as a party, our activities and our fundraising have to be consistent.  It’s similar to a diet and exercise regime.  If you eat healthy and exercise a few times a year, you aren’t going to see any changes.  If the party chairman appears interested and engaged just a few times a year (election time to be exact) we aren’t going to see any changes either.

Kelly Horsley
Precinct Chair – Precinct 877

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