by Dale Huls
Let me say that this is a hard article to write. I supported James Dickey for Republican Party of Texas (RPT) Chair when Tom Mechler saw the light and abruptly resigned from the RPT. I encouraged and campaigned for Mr. Dickey to the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) members who elected James to finish out Mechler’s term by an SREC vote of 32 to 31. For the next year, Chairman Dickey was the reformer we in the grassroots had been hoping for. Finally, rid of the old school Republican establishment, conservatives were ready for a fresh start in Texas politics. For that year, as James worked to reform the financial disaster that the RPT was in, he stayed engaged with the conservative grassroots. He understood that with a year to go before the next State Convention that the Republican elites that he had defeated would be gunning to reclaim the RPT Chair in 2018. For a time, he was indeed the conservative champion the grassroots had worked so hard to put in place.
Indeed, when the State Convention finally arrived, James did indeed have a chosen opponent representing the elite wing of the party. Cindy Ashe was tailor-made to take on the likes of this upstart from Travis County. However, the grassroots rallied around James Dickey and held off one of the most vicious campaign challenges for the RPT Chair this State has ever seen. Even though Cindy Ashe had a campaign war chest of $200,000 dollars, the grassroots held firm and James was elected by a margin of 22 to 9 Senate Districts. In a last gasp effort, Ms. Asche demanded a floor vote whereby the delegates sealed the election with a 65% to 35% margin.
Now that James had been popularly elected for his post by the Republican Party, it was assumed that he would continue to stay engaged with the Grassroots and conservative activists who supported him. However, the establishment is an insidious creature! As James worked to right the RPT financial ship, he started to fall under the sway of powerful donors, politicians, and consultants. The Austin Swamp runs deep and very motivated to regain its grip on power within the Republican Party. Faster than we could have imagined, a separation opened between the conservative grassroots movement and the RPT machine that Chairman Dickey was now driving.
This shifting of loyalties was not immediately noticed by activists in the grassroots and James himself probably wasn’t aware that he was moving away from the people who stood by him and elevated him to the top Republican Party position in the State of Texas. Even today, many in the grassroots are unaware of how far James has moved to support the establishment wing of the party. Many of the casual activists and supporters look at his record in rebuilding the financial strength of the party and infrastructure and are pleased with the results. However, we didn’t seek to oust the Republican elites simply to put an accountant in charge to balance the books. We sought to put a leader in place to give voice to our values and principles. To listen to the Texas Republican Party and convey the wisdom of the people to our elected leaders. The conservative grassroots are more concerned with protecting our values and liberty than protecting Republican incumbents. We understand that to the establishment wing of the party, the only thing that matters is whether an elected official has an R or a D after their name. Now, with the 2020 RPT State Convention looming, it is again time for the Republican Party of Texas to make a choice. Will the RPT be a party beholden to incumbent politicians, donors and consultants or will it be a force for constitutional law and order, religious-based morality, and personal liberty in Texas?
Allen West will be challenging James Dickey for the Chairmanship of the RPT this summer. Personally, I am ambivalent regarding Mr. West and his ability to lead the Party. He seems to say the right things but until he is put to the test, only time will tell if he was up to the challenge should he win. Many are happy with the job James Dickey has done with the party infrastructure and finances. Yet, what about those issues that cause activists to be activists? To motivate regular men and women to engage in the fight for the future of Texas, indeed, the very United States of America? Who can inspire the heart and soul of the conservative liberty movement in Texas to donate what they can, give up their nights and weekends, and challenge the forces of evil that are arrayed against our nation? I submit to you; James Dickey is not that man. He has had his chance and has fallen short of the great expectations that conservatives across the state had for him. Consequently, this is not an endorsement for Mr. West. Should he win, he gets the same opportunity Mr. Dickey has had. If he does not measure up, he will be next on the list. No this is not about Mr. West – this is about James Dickey and his actions.
At a recent meeting of conservatives in Bowie County, I was asked why I was opposing Chairman Dickey in favor of Allen West, I started to explain how he had turned his back on the conservative grassroots and how he was more in line with the establishment elites today than with those who put him in office. Unfortunately, as I made my arguments, it became apparent to me that these conservative men and women were not buying a superficial condemnation of somebody they didn’t think they had a problem with. That caused me to go back and re-examine why I was opposed to Dickey in the first place! Afterall, if I had problems explaining why somebody new should be given an opportunity to serve as the RPT Chair, shouldn’t I go back and make sure I was on the right side of the issue.
Therefore, I went back and checked the record. Not the record you will find on a spreadsheet or a financial report; but the human record of what was said and what actions were taken with respect to Texas conservative grassroots issues. The following is an indictment regarding James Dickey and why he is unfit to lead our Texas Republican Party in these dark times of turmoil:
Conservative activists first noticed a change in how Dickey interacted with the grassroots and the conservative SREC members during the legislative session. On March 31, 2019, the Coalition for the Protection of Parental Rights held a press conference to challenge Republican efforts to enact red flag laws and mental health bills (e.g., SB10). This coalition was composed of conservative SREC members, Texas Eagle Forum, Grassroots America – We the People, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, North Texas Citizens Lobby, Women of the Wall, and Gun Owners of America. Subsequently, at a lunch meeting after this press conference, James Dickey in his capacity as the RPT Chair berated and castigated the activists and SREC members for daring to call out Republican legislators. JoAnn Fleming, one of Texas leading conservative voices, who was present when James Dickey harangued the SREC members who stood during the press conference, said he treated them “like they were dogs” and that they had no business challenging Republican elected officials. Consequently, Mr. Dickey began a campaign whereby he or his representative Chris Howe [RPT Parliamentarian] would scold the SREC members during the weekly legislative priority conference calls for daring to oppose Republican supported bills not in line with the 2018 RPT Platform. He repeatedly covered for the Big 3 (Governor Abbott, Lt. Governor Patrick, and Speaker Bonnen). Indeed, after the legislative session ended, James Dickey closed ranks with the elected Republican leadership and parroted the line that the 86th legislative session was the most conservative session ever. After the grassroots showed the true outcome of the session, Dickey and the Republican leaders switched from proclaiming the session to defending that it wasn’t as “purple” session as it seemed.
Speaking of Republican leaders and elected officials, the second point against Mr. Dickey was his refusal to speak out about Speaker Bonnen’s proven and documented lying and corruption. He never once called on the Speaker to step down nor did he call for the Republican caucus to remove the Speaker. To this day, Speaker Bonnen controls the interim charges in the House, makes committee assignments and maintains a grip on power prior to the next legislative session. In fact, Dickey was one of Bonnen’s most fervent defenders before Michael Sullivan released the tape documenting the corruption and bribery forcing the Speaker to not seek re-election. Even in the face of truth, Chairman Dickey could not bring himself to call for Bonnen’s ouster. But it seems that Chairman Dickey was an equal opportunity defender of corruption. When Democrat Poncho Nevarez dropped his cocaine out of a legislative pouch at the Austin airport, James Dickey never said a single word about the incident. Rather than demanding that Speaker Bonnen remove Rep. Nevarez from the House Homeland Security & Public Safety committee, he remained silent. Why would the leader of the Texas Republican Party refuse to carry the fight to an enemy of liberty when given such a golden opportunity? Unfortunately, we will probably never know or understand why Dickey remained silent on this egregious violation of the public trust.
On the other hand, due to an uproar over some social media posts by the Harris County Republican Chair-elect and the Bexar County Republican Chair, Dickey took it upon himself to decide what was or was not acceptable speech by Republican County Chairs. He initiated a “witch hunt” through the public social media Facebook accounts of sitting county chairs and accused 12 chairs of having “questionable” posts in which he determined they were racists or Covid-19 deniers. He subsequently asked these 12 county chairs to resign. When asked why he would go after his own Republican grassroots, he used the excuse that they were not following party principles and that Democrats were using social media to attack Republicans and he needed to purge the party to protect it. Where was this outrage and moral fortitude when Bonnen was discovered to be corrupt and a member of the opposition dropped his drugs in front of police? With all the issues that arise in some county Republican Executive Committees, we find it odd that our Party Chairman is doing the work of the Democrats at the county level.
Unfortunately, Chairman Dickey did not stop at seeking to purge Republican county chairs. When James Dickey became the RPT Chair, he brought in Rachel Malone, one of the Lone Star state’s foremost gun rights advocate, was brought in to be the RPT Director of Operations. For a year, in her RPT capacity, Rachel toured the state speaking to grassroots groups and instructed them how to press the grassroots agenda from the ground up. However, when the Republican Party stated principles began to diverge with the vested interests of Republican elected officials, Ms. Malone’s days were numbered. At the behest of the State’s top Republican leaders some say included Governor Abbott, Dickey fired Rachel Malone for working with the grassroots who wanted the agenda set by citizens which angered those in power who pursued their own personal priorities and self-interest. Yes, after a year in office the honeymoon with the Conservative grassroots liberty movement was over.
So, where will the Republican Party of Texas be headed under the continued leadership of James Dickey?
Many in the Party remember the unparalleled ability of past RPT Chairman Steve Munisteri to shutdown the grassroots as they fought for conservative planks in the RPT Platform. Unfortunately, Mr. Munisteri has returned to Texas politics with a vengeance. He is now a consultant for the RPT reported making a $156K salary (higher than Mr. Dickey’s $150K salary). In collaboration with Karl Rove, consultant and confidant of the Bush never-Trump clan, Munisteri has built a shadow State party, under the guise of the RPT Volunteer Engagement Project. This project is supported and managed by the Republican establishment elite with the goal of electing Republicans supported by Governor Abbott and Rove. Although increased Republican registration is a good thing, why are such high-profile political operatives spending their efforts on a Republican registration project? With other groups like the super PAC Engage Texas whose massive $11.8 million-dollar war chest dwarfs the RPT effort which has raised approximately $1.8 million, one has to wonder what is the pay-off from this effort? What better way to cut the grassroots out and back establishment candidates? Don’t believe me? Why else is Munisteri splitting his time between the RPT, Senator Cornyn’s campaign and the Texas Republican Senate Caucus. All this is happening with Dickey’s full voiced support. In fact, Chairman Dicky stated “With over 47 years in politics, Chairman Munisteri brings a political aptitude that will help us turnout more Republicans and defend Texas in 2020. We look forward to working with him to achieve our monumental goals and deliver Republican victories in Texas.” While the question is whose “goals” and what kind of Republican victories is he talking about? Will all these “new” volunteers be beholden to a future 2024 Abbott Presidential Campaign?
Ultimately, Chairman James Dickey has become a creature of the Republican establishment. He has demonstrated that he will not hold wayward Republican office holders to account, When asked during an event promoting his re-election campaign at the Keller Republican Club, he was asked “how could he hold elected Republicans accountable, his answer was “That depends on what you guys put in the platform and our rules.” He was also asked whether he supported a “special session” to enact the Lone Star Agenda (a set of priorities from the 2018 RPT Platform) he refused to stand with nearly 300 Texas organizations, SREC members and other conservative leaders in refusing to call for a special session.
This is my case concerning the re-election of James Dickey as the Republican Party of Texas Chair. I see the machinery of the Party being wrested back from the grassroots into the waiting hands of the establishment. We fought so hard to make our voices heard, to stand for principle and to hold those who proved to be unworthy accountable. Unfortunately, we are on the verge of giving it all away. Back to the very same people who almost bankrupted our party and squandered their majorities in the State Legislature. We must not let that happen! As State Rep. Matt Schaeffer (R-Tyler) once said: “The behavior we tolerate, becomes the standard we set.” Until we can change our leaders as easily as we change our shirts, we will never be the force for change that we all feel is necessary to beat back those seeking to destroy our country. I urge you to take these thoughts into consideration as you or your Senate District Delegates for the future of the Republican Party of Texas vote for the 2020 RPT Chairman.
Dale Huls is a long time conservative and tea party activist. In 2017 Dale won the Empower Texans’ Conservative Leader award.
James Dickey has proven himself to be the Chair, evident by the night and day progress our Republican Party of Texas stands! Hands down! James Dickey!
I’m a retired US Army Judge Advocate. I consider all persons who have worn their country’s uniform and who served with honor as my brother or sister.
Retired Lt. Col. Allen West is not my brother.
When he was a battalion commander in Iraq in 2003, he was relieved after he oversaw the beating of an Iraqi policeman in US custody and performed a mock execution to get information about suspected plot to ambush his troops. He admitted punching the prisoner in the face and he watched while his men beat the prisoner. Then, he did a mock execution by firing his pistol near the prisoner’s head. For those violations of international law, he got meaningless information.
At an Article 32 investigation, the military equivalent of a grand jury investigation, West admitted the acts, said he knew they were wrong but that he wanted to take care of his soldiers. He was allowed to accept a $5,000 fine as non-judicial punishment rather than be court martialed. He was allowed to retire after getting the career ending non-judicial punishment.
After I retired from the Army, I spent about 15 years representing people charged in international war crimes tribunals. I taught law of armed conflict for the Army. I am more than a little familiar with the law of war.
Setting aside the illegality and immorality of West’s war crime — and it was a war crime — what does it tell current and future adversaries of the United States? If it’s OK for the US Army to torture prisoners to get information, how can it be wrong for them to torture US soldiers who are prisoners of war? People behaving like West have painted targets on the backs of future US prisoners of war. And, the information you get probably is useless. Former Defense Secretary and retired Marine Gen. James Mattis has said that he could get more and better information from a prisoner with a package of cigarettes and a six-pack of beer. I agree with Mattis. People being tortured will say anything to make the pain stop. They usually say what the torturer wants.
It’s been almost half a century since the My Lai massacre on Vietnam and it still is a stain on the honor of the US Army.
I feel very strongly about people who commit war crimes. When I put National Guard, Army Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve troops on active duty during Operation Desert Shield, I made it clear to them if they violated the law of war, I was their worst nightmare.
American soldiers are taught about the law of war and war crimes. It has been incorporated into training since the 1970s. By and large, US troops abide by the law of war as they should. When we breach it, it tarnishes the uniform I once wore.
What West did isn’t too different from what other US troops did after WWII while investigating the Malmedy Massacre, where SS troops murdered about 100 US prisoners of war during the Battle of the Bulge. And because of those improper actions, SS war criminals who should have been hanged got off lightly and were eventually freed. All because of improper interrogation techniques.
I don’t know RPT Chairman James Dickey from Adam. I’ve never met West. What I do know is that I’ve been a Texas Republican since it was a felony. The first campaign I worked in was for Goldwater in 1964. I don’t know if Dickey is a good chairman or a bad chairman. What I do know is that he’s not a war criminal.
If I were a voting delegate, that would be all I would have to know. One of the candidates was willing to violate the law to get what he wanted. The ends justified the means. The other didn’t.
Lol So West committed a war crime to get information to help the United States and his soldiers. James Dickey was indicted on a Ponzi scheme. I’ll go with West he obviously LOVES his country and state.
You forgot to mention that “meaningless” information saved the lives of all of the men in his battalion. I bet those troops didn’t think that information was so “meaningless”.
WOW – you might want to mention that men he saved will point blank tell you they would follow him to the gates of HELL – where would they follow you? I don’t think James could get kids to follow him to recess. You might also want to talk to one of Col. West’s men – Robert Delgado, you can find him on Facebook and ask how Col. West literally saved his lif.
Self-righteous much? Unless you were an 11Bravo, I couldn’t care less about what you have to say. You’re a real macho man threatening reservists.
Go ALLEN West. People do not Believe lies on ALLEN WEST. HE IS AN AMAZING PATRIOT AND WAR HERO!!! Full stop. And a Brilliant Speaker and Historian….Download Uncletom.com. ALLEN West is a true Conservative God Fearing AMERICAN Patriot.
I totally Believe in his Character and he will FOLLOW THROUGH with his Conservative convictions. Read his Books!!!! ❤️❤️
Janet Mariani
All I said about what happened in Iraq is what Allen West admitted to. I just don’t like war criminals.
I thank and commend you for your service. However, savvy as I believe you to be, I find it difficult to believe that you didn’t see the manipulation that was going on behind the scenes. I think that is what Huls is saying. I most certainly believe that you had the most honorable intentions, and perhaps you truly weren’t aware of how so many felt about what was happening under your watch– and increasingly, after you left office. MANY grassroots were quite angry with the multiple persons who used rules and rules changes to gain a certain kind of power that was used against us.
There was a pervasive attitude of come join the Party, and then sit down and shut up and let “those who know” control the action. For many who were actually the “grassroots” and were trying to participate, it was a lesson learned quite quickly that this was not going to be allowed. Because you are an intelligent man, and most certainly experienced in the public arena, it was very difficult not to think “you knew”. And it seemed that when Dickey took the Chair, it became even worse. The gates to participation – “having a say” narrowed even further. I can tell you that hundreds of Republicans were lost because of the way they were treated at conventions, meetings, and news articles.
And let’s not pretend that bringing Karl Rove in to increase Republican voters isn’t something to drive concern. He is very much linked to the Bush “people”who are now working against Trump. Can he be trusted? I think it is a legitimate question. Because you actively worked for Trump, people believe you are “FOR” him — however, many are most certainly up in the air about Rove. And, again, BECAUSE of your reputation of being politically intelligent, it is hard not to think you might be complicit.
And because you have affiliated with Dickey, and with Rove, it isn’t outlandish to question how strong the affiliation might be. The problem is that Dickey has done many things that have raised a great deal of ire and distrust– and he has NOT done a lot of things that he should have been doing to bring back Republican voters. Unfortunately you have now landed in the middle of that mess.
I myself have written several letters and have tried to gain audience to speak with you and others, but access is difficult given the competition of likely thousands of emails and letters. And let’s not forget that when you come to meetings or speaker engagements there is the “code” — don’t ask or speak anything that will upset because they might not come back….
Define Grassroots. There is a great deal of difference between ‘grassroots” and the the people who many times used their positions to drive a narrative and manipulate committee appointments and institute planks that were their own personal agenda.
Tricia,
I have no emails or communications from you that I am aware of.
When I was State Chair I PERSONALLY answered EVERY email that came to me or the Texas GOP general account. Over 70,000 just the last 24 months I was in office and I estimate over 150,000 total.
You can contact me through the Cornyn campaign. I would be happy to address any of your concerns.
Steve.
I am Steve Munisteri the former 3 time elected State Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. I am responding directly to the oped above authored by Mr. Huls.I do not know Mr. Huls. I don’t believe I have ever had a conversation with him, if I have I dont remember. If I knew him and he had fact checked his representations with me I would have been happy to discuss with him his concerns about my role with the RPTVEP and to correct some factually inaccurate statements he has made. In the alternative I will set the record straight with the readers regarding the assertions he has made. My Response:
1.Representing the Grassroots-I must profess to be a little mystified by the comment that I did not represent the Grassroots or in some way subverted their will since I defeated for the first time in history an incumbent Chair as a result of overwhelming Grassroots support by the delegates to the state convention. The delegates to a Republican state convention ARE the Grassroots of the party. I had their support by overwhelming margins. I won the first race for State Chairman against the incumbent Chair by a margin of 59% to 41%. I then was re-elected in 2012 by a margin of 8092 to 1. By the way, the one delegate that voted against me came up to me after the vote and told me he was really for my being re-elected but voted against me because he didn’t think anyone should win the Chairmanship unanimously. In 2014 I was re-elected again this time with only four delegates voting against me.I was re-elected twice because I allowed the Grassroots to determine the course of the party. The article seems to suggest that in some way I dictated platform planks or impeded platform planks from being enacted. This is just factually incorrect. I only spoke to the platform committee briefly before each session of the convention. I did not advocate to the platform committee they adopt any particular platform plank. I did note I thought a platform with some 300 planks was a little long and they might want to shorten it. In fact the platform committee increased the length of the platform ,so much for my influence! I never instructed anyone to vote any particular way on the platform, nor did I advocate any positions on any of the planks from the podium.If the press or an individual delegate asked my opinion on a platform plank I would share it ,but in reality I was only asked for my opinion a handful of times. The platform positions were solely decided by the delegates and where there was a controversial platform plank we had lengthy and vigorous debate. No one needs to take my word for the fact that we had fair and open debate on any issue that was of concern to the
delegates.Fortunately all three conventions at which I was elected ,and the two that I chaired ,were videotaped in their entirety .You can simply bring these up on the internet. I challenge anyone to watch the videos of how I conducted the conventions in their entirety and come to the conclusion afterwards that I didn’t conduct them in a fair, and open manner that allowed for debate. Bottom line it was the thousands of Grassroots delegates to the conventions at which I was elected in 2010, 2012, and 2014 that determined what was in the platforms. It would be an insult to those Grassroots delegates to suggest that the final platforms were not the result of their hard work and dedication.
I would also point out that I instituted numerous reforms and changes of policy which enhanced Grassroots participation. They were as follows:
a. I eliminated executive sessions of the State Republican Executive Committee. Not one second of any of the State Republican Executive Committee meetings were held in secret Executive Session.Prior to my being elected Chairman it was routine for the State Republican Executive Committee to conduct a significant portion of their business behind closed doors and secret sessions.
b. I supported the audio recording of the State Republican Executive Committee meetings so that party leadership from around the state could review the records and meetings if they were not able to attend. Likewise I did not oppose taking photographs at SREC meetings which was previously prohibited.
c. I increased the time allocated for debating the platform at state conventions and added a night session, if needed in 2014 to ensure more time for debate. If you watch the 2014 video of the State Convention you will note that I made a point of saying that I personally was prepared to stay as late as the delegates wanted to stay to debate.
d.I allowed fair, balanced and open debate providing an opportunity for all factions of the party to have their voice heard at the state convention. Again if you watch the videos of the convention you will see that everybody was recognized that wished to speak and provided an opportunity to do so as long as their motion was in accordance with Robert’s Rules
e. I restructured the convention agenda to allow for the election of the Convention Chairman at the beginning of the convention as opposed to after a substantial portion of the convention was over, a key demand from Grassroots activists.
f. I started the practice of setting legislative priorities determined by the Grassroots. Specifically, prior to the three sessions of the legislature when I was Chairman I sent out a poll to all County Chairs and members of the State Republican Executive Committee asking them to rank their highest legislative priorities. During my time as Chairman the legislature passed Voter ID, the Sonogram bill, the 20-week abortion ban, left intact the rainy day fund and passed the Sanctuary City bill(session during which I resigned)
RPTVEP- Mr. Huls questions the need for the RPTVEP and wonders why it is necessary and its purpose it serves since Engage Texas purportedly serves the same purpose. The answer to that is several fold. First Engage Texas was an outside non-party affiliated entity. As a result they were not allowed to plan future activity with any party organization such as the Republican Party of Texas nor coordinate with Republican candidates. Second ,Engage Texas was a paid staff model relying on hundreds of paid workers to register new voters. The RPTVEP’s purpose is to foster and encourage Grassroots involvement by recruiting volunteers to do the bulk of the work thereby not only saving a substantial amount of money but also building a volunteer structure that could be used for get out the vote. it should be noted that Engage Texas ,in large part due to the limitations placed by the COVID-19 ,has shut down its registration operation. While it is true they had millions more dollars to spend than the RPTVEP, nevertheless, the RPTVEP actually has registered more voters. As best we can determine from Secretary of State records it appears as though Engage Texas registered a little over 70,000 voters prior to ceasing operations while the RPTVEP has registered 118,000 Republicans and continues to register new voters each week. In addition the RPTVEP has been able to recruit approximately 5000 volunteers which can now be deployed to support our candidates. Moreover the RPTVEP works hand-in-glove with the Texas Federation for Republican Women, the Young Republicans, and the Texas Republican County Chairs Association.The RPTVEP has been able to provide assistance to each of these groups to help them build their membership and effectiveness. Outside groups are either legally prohibited from doing this or have chosen not too.
Control of the party- The allegations in the article that I or Karl Rove am somehow trying to run a shadow party caused me to experience a pretty good knee slapping chuckle.Reason being as my friends and those that served with me on the State Republican Executive Committee me know, I didn’t want to serve as State Chairman as long as I did. When I originally ran for Chairman I was completely retired and planned to stay retired. I ran as a protest and reform candidate with no expectation of winning. I simply wanted to raise some of the issues alluded to above. Much to my surprise I won at which time I committed to staying just until the party debt was paid off. I paid off the 18+-year debt in the first 5 months and initially did not plan to run for re-election in 2012. When I informed party leadership that I did not plan to run again I was pressured into running one more time. I did so after extracting promises from those that encouraged me to run again that they wouldn’t pressure me to run for a third term as there was no way that I would do it. However after I announced I wasn’t running for a third term many of those on the ticket for 2014 urged me to stay on. True to my commitment to be transparent with the Grassroots I then informed all the County Chairs and SREC that I would be willing to serve through the 2014 election but that I would not serve out the full term and I wanted everyone to know that prior to my running again. I did in fact resign in 2015 less than halfway through the third term. If I wished to control the party I simply would have stayed on as State Chairman. I do not run the Party, Chairman Dickey and his staff do. I help oversee the RPTVEP. I stick to this. Likewise Karl Rove’s only involvement with the RPT as an organization is to Chair the Committee, raise funds for it and provide his micro-targeting expertise. He donates his time. Once the RPTVEP work is completed this November both Karl’s and my role will be concluded. It is hard to understand why someone would object to Karl raising money for ,and providing expertise to, a voter registration and volunteer recruitment project. The role is non-ideological. Thus the criticism is not rational.
My role/compensation-I was informed by the President of the United States of America, Donald J Trump, that it was his wish for me to return to Texas to help insure that Senator John Cornyn was re-elected to the Senate. I had no intention at that time of doing any direct work for the Republican Party of Texas as I had served my time(57 months,over 15,000 hours total, without pay).After I had agreed to provide consulting services to the Cornyn campaign I was offered a job with FP1.I work for FP1 clients. FP1 pays me an annual salary that was set before I was even asked to help the RPT.It is a minor point, but Mr. Huls Is incorrect that I work for the Republican Party of Texas and likewise the salary listed is incorrect. FP1 charges the RPT a set fee on a monthly basis for my time. They charge the same they charge other clients. The contract was approved by the RPT officials committee and made public at an SREC meeting. It should be noted that the amount charged is not the net amount FP1 makes on the contract. FP1 like all companies has to pay its overhead including support staff, rent salaries, including my own, payroll taxes, insurance etc. It should be also noted that this is a month-to-month contract and as such it can be canceled at any time by either party with one month’s notice. Further it’s important to understand that from my point of view I’m not costing the party any money since the donors that have contributed over $2,000,000 to the RPTVEP ,project which is fully funded through the election,knew I would oversee the project under the direction of Chairman Dickey when they contributed. These are donors that were familiar with my record as Chairman and indicated that my agreeing to be involved was a significant consideration in their decision to contribute. The amount FP1 gets paid is paid out of the funds from these contributors .These funds were given specifically for voter registration and therefore what FP1 gets paid does not take away from any of the funds that would be utilized for the parties general operation.
Finally let me add that I have taken pains not to get involved publicly in the Chairman’s race between Chairman Dickey and Colonel West. Although people can correctly surmise that I wouldn’t have taken the role with RPTVEP unless I liked Chairman Dickey and have a good working relationship with him, nevertheless, I have not endorsed either candidate, I have not made any calls for any candidate, and I haven’t told anybody who to vote for.I have even gone so far as to turn down a delegate spot to the State Convention so as not to cast a vote for either candidate.In fact since I started consulting for the RPTVEP I try to stay out of all other party business as much as possible. I have tried to stay out of the Chairman’s race and I wish Mr.. Huls would have kept it that way.
I’m cringing that Chairman Munisteri had to write this response to defend himself from obviously inaccurate and outlandish accusations. One of us who knows Steve and the factual history should have written this correction. Nevertheless he is absolutely correct in his memory of his service and his welcome activities in Texas now. Mr Huls you owe him a retraction and an apology.
I can’t speak to the rest of it as I haven’t been around lately earning a living but the revisionist history of Chairman Munisteri’s service definitely makes me question the accuracy of the rest of the article.
Ridiculous. We, as members of the Party and voters, have every right to question a politician.
These are humans — not gods.
And no, he is not absolutely correct; opinion are neath correct or incorrect.
The idea of not challenging and asking questions of politicians and treating them as if they do not have to answer to us is a dangerous idea.
As a staunch and active volunteer to help register voters and assist in training and supporting those who volunteer using our software tools including Reddialer, I thank you for your open response to this posted op ed. I guarantee if we do not work together to increase the Republican voter in each and EVERY Texas county we will be helping the other party over our own. I pray we resolve differences and all focus on the common issue—- voting / supporting conservative candidates from local all the way up into positions throughout this state and stand together to Keep Texas Red.
Sorry Mr. Chairman for taking so long to respond. I was busy last week and weekend trying to participate in the 2020 RPT State Convention. You will be glad to know that I finally received my credentials at 5pm Sunday and was able to stay up until 4am in order to vote for the RPT leadership. Unfortunately, I was not able to vote for any Republican electors or RNC delegates as I was disenfranchised from the convention at the time these votes were taken. Anyway, that is another story.
Now back to your response to my oped, we have indeed met sir, at least a couple of times. The last time we met face-to-face was over a controversy regarding the Galveston County Republican Party Chair. What is it about that county whereby such controversies erupt between its executive committee and its chair? Anyway, on that issue you said that it was a local issue that the state could not help with. I am not surprised that you do not remember me – I never thought that you would nor criticize you for not remembering. I am just one of the rank and file conservative grassroots. I have neither money or influence and surely not all that noteworthy to those in high positions.
With that said, it is entirely irrelevant as to whether we met or not. Most of are interaction was in the convention hall for 2010, 2012 and 2014 conventions. While you were up on the dais, I was down on the floor with the approximately 9,000 delegates seeking to bring forth a conservative agenda spawned by the 2009 Tea Party movement. Many of us were new delegates to the state convention and were very wet behind the ears. You did beat an incumbent, Cathy Adams, who I have worked with on the grassroots level since she was defeated and found her to be a decent, hard-working conservative champion. Yet, when you were elected Mrs. Adams after only serving one term was blamed for ALL the financial ills the RPT had been experiencing for years. By the way, I did vote for you in that election.
It took time to change our party. We tea party-type conservatives were at first laughed at and mostly ignored in those early years. While you were presiding over the convention using the rules and parliamentary procedure to stymie the rookie grassroots time and time again at the behest of the elected political elite, we watched and we learned, and we worked our way up from the ground up to fill County chairs and SREC positions. I do not know whether it was because you stepped down or that the conservative grassroots became savvy enough in the ways of politics to start winning on the issues that were important to us. As we increased our sway over the party, your successor resigned in his first full term. It was the grassroots that pushed for James Dickey to succeed Mechler. It was the grassroots that fought off Cindy Ashe, the candidate of the establishment and elites, and gave Dickey a full term as Chairman in his own right. While I accept the reasons for your resignation in 2015, I do believe that it was probably fortuitous for the grassroots and you that you did.
Now as to your record. I have absolutely no doubt that you felt that you were fair, balanced, conservative and righteous in everything you did. We all think that! Furthermore, our elected Republican politicians are pretty good at the Texas Two-Step whereby one part offers up conservative victories and the other part shoots them down. And then they switch positions and the good guys now take on the role of the bad guys and shoot down the covering legislation from the other Republicans. But in all this political dancing, the politicians are shrewd enough to throw the grassroots a crumb or two along the way. Yes, I admit that you did some good things during your tenure. Thanks for the crumbs!
Now finally, let’s discuss current events. As for working on the RPT payroll. Okay, I concede the point. The RPT pays for your time to FP1 who then in turn pays you a salary. Got it – you are not on the RPT payroll. I am also not saying that there is anything wrong with the arrangement you and all these consulting services have with the RPT. Dickey and the SREC can have financial dealings with anyone they want, I just wanted folks to know who Dickey was associating himself with. If your reputation is solid with some folks they will continue to support you (and James) or if not they will support somebody else.
However, I do not think you or Karl Rove are content to play small ball in local Texas politics. I believe that there are other agendas in play. One of the more popular theories is that Rove is here to get Abbott ready for a 2024 Presidential run (after COVID, good luck with that). It is this belief, plus the unmitigated disaster of a State convention that ultimately proved to be Dickey’s undoing. This gives me no pleasure at all. Furthermore, I do not trust Mr. West – he has a lot to prove to those who put their faith in him. I do expect him to keep working with you and Rove because the contracts are already in place and this coming election is too important to risk a major disruption in infrastructure. But Mr. West will also be graded on how he performs until the 2022 state convention. If he measures up to the grassroots expectations, he will be rewarded. If he jumps in bed with the elected political leadership instead of the wishes of the rank and file grassroots, then he too must go.
And Mr. Munisteri, I thank you for your service – it is a very hard job. You did the best you know how, Know that my opinions and disagreements with you are not personal but principled.
Well written opinion.
Thank you Paula!-Steve M
I wish Tom would contact me. I also believe Allen West violated the Law of Armed Conflict not to mention the Geneva Convention. He is NOT a HERO. When you go after civilians you have crossed the line. Lt Col (Ret) Roy Morales
It was not a civilian. It was a combatant.
I’m sad that Chairman Munisteri had to write a defense of himself. He deserves better and the inaccurate reporting of his term causes me to question the validity of the rest of the column. Mr. Huls owes Steve an apology and a retraction.
Thank you Chairman Tepper-Steve
I co-hosted a radio show a while back and spoke with people from all over the country. Our focus was on the illegitimate candidate Barack Obama, AKA Barry Soetoro. In conversation with people who supported the constitution and the natural born citizen clause of the US Constitution and thus the Texas Constitution we sought elected representatives past and future that would tackle the major problem with Obama in that he is not and never was a natural born citizen according to the Obama narrative. To be fair neither is Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal, Marco Rubio, Kamala Harris or Tulsi Gabbard. Others have constitutional issues too. This brings me to the fact that the RNC has trash canned the constitution further codified by support of Red Flag, The Patriot Act and other constitution violating agencies and actions like the TSA and abandoned the budget process of The United States of America.
It is a lack of respect to Texas voters placing unqualified candidates on the Texas ballot. The RNC is committing “vote fraud” just like Obama. An unqualified candidate steals voters, votes, delegates, money and air time fraudulently and there is NO vetting of political candidates for the Republican Party of Texas other than the personal affidavy of the offending fraudulent candidate. Obama’s certificate of live birth and draft registration card were both forensically proven false by law enforcement. The Texas AG refuses to cooperate with law enforcement when presented with the criminal evidence. Further lack of respect for the Texas voter and election law they wrote.
A call from a Florida native in the district lamented promises made and quickly forgotten by Mr. West. To summarize she was livid but I can’t say she was one of many or a few. Not sure but I think there might have been some redistricting that led to My. West being a one term congressmen as well.
In my view, the RNC has fully abandoned the constitution and until they go back and recognize the error of their ways I see no one who has ignited much interest in the candidates for Chair. After the Senatorial Convention recently I was impressed with some of the accomplishments of Mr. Dickey and his mom is his best advocate. Now I am not sure.
Go Col. West!
James Dickey was an outstanding RPT. He should have been re-elected. Instead, his opponents succeeded in electing someone who is either incompetent or deceitful, or perhaps both.
As delegates will recall, a resolution was passed to stop convention business until a 10-member committee could be elected for the purpose of reconvening the convention at a later date in hopes of resolving the various credentialing issues. Delegates were asked to submit nominations for the committee. Thousands of names were submitted, and Chairman Dickey directed us to move on to our SD caucuses due to the enormity of the task of sorting through the nominees and entering their names in the Meeting Pulse system.
As everyone who attended the convention knows, the only business conducted when we reconvened after the SD causes was to announce the results of the SREC and party chairman votes. There were never any votes taken on the 10-member committee. Nevertheless, on July 23, delegates received an email from Chairman West stating that he had received more votes than any of the other thousands of nominees and, as a result, he would assume chairmanship of the 10-member committees. He assured us that the vote-counting was continuing, and that as soon as the tallies were in, he would let us know who the committee members are.
Convention delegates have the right to see the results of the alleged voting. We have the right to know how votes can be counted when there was never a vote taken at the convention. Was Meeting Pulse made available for voting at some time after the convention? If so, why wasn’t notice given to all delegates?
This is the first challenge to be faced by our newly elected SREC members. It’s up to them to do something about it. I hope they are up to the task. Some delegates are advocating for the results of all voting at the convention to be declared null and void and for a new convention to be convened. Perhaps they are right.
Aileene
Aileene, methinks Allen West is quite competent and also very honest, which I can say with full confidence despite myself having voting for Dickey to be re-elected. On the substantive points you raise, I have been following the matter closely, and here is what we know:
1. the upvoting/upclicking of ten names was completed on Sunday evening the 19th of July, within the normal general-session login portion of meetingPulse, but in a special “questions and answers” tab that was not normally visible. Then-convention-chair Dickey explained from the stage what was happening, and he was clear albeit brief. However, many delegates were prevented from actually using the meetingPulse software at the time, because there was an unknown external group engaging in a denial-of-service attack against meetingPulse (to my knowledge this group has never been identified). Of the three delegates at my physical location, only one was able to successfully upclick, although one of the others managed to submit a name via zoom-chat (unclear if this was entered by RPT staffers into meetingPulse).
2. Before leaving for my SD caucus meetingPulse area, I looked at the list of names in general-session meetingPulse which had received the most upclicks, by delegates able to do so. Later on, after de-duplication was complete, and invites to participate in the ad-hoc advisory subcommittee of the ten (ACOT) had been emailed out by the RPT, one of those top-named persons published the full list of winners and upclick-vote-counts on her facebook page, for transparency reasons. Her official list, jived well with my own earlier and non-de-duped version of the same.
3. The people invited to serve on the ACOT were as follows: Allen West, James Dickey, Deon Starnes, Rhonda Lacy, Karen Newton, Amy Hedtke, Terry Holcomb, Dale Huls, Mark Ramsey, Jill Glover. The top two people declined the invite — Allen West to allow the committee independence, and James Dickey due to time constraints. This allowed #11 upclick-recipient Vergel Cruz, and Mark Reid, to take spots on the ACOT.
4. The first (and as it turned out the only) meeting of ACOT was scheduled for 1pm on Saturday. This event, like the list of names, was not published formally by the RPT, though it did once again get posted to social media by one of the ACOT members. The meeting was livestreamed, via the official RPT youtube channel, just like most of the other convention-committee work. Last time I checked over 900 people had viewed the stream (out of roughly 4500 dels that voted in general-session). The group accepted first-come-first-serve testimony for 45 minutes via zoom, and 23 delegates were able to speak. After about three hours of debate, the ACOT passed the following recommendation-resolution early on Saturday evening the 25th == https://www.texasgop.org/convention-committee-resolution/
5. The short version of the recommended pathway going forward, by ACOT to the chair-elect and the SREC-elect folks, is that a surveyMonkey-style email blast should be utilized to determine whether to accept the majority or minority report of the perm rules cmte, whether to accept the majority or minority report of the perm platform cmte, and whether to retain or scrap each of the 300+ platform planks (usually done via scantron-bubblevoting). There will not be any zoom, and not be any motions from the floor, and not be any meetingPulse… everything in well-tested surveyMonkey. I have recommended that a test-blast with a test-surveyMonkey-form, be sent out at least a week in advance, to make certain that credentialling and access are working properly.
6. However, the SREC and chair need *NOT* actually follow the advisory recommendation, they can do something else — with slight tweaks or completely different — as they see fit. The main reason that the 52/48 motion from the general session floor on Sunday 19th was not out of order, is because the subcommittee of ten WAS specifically an advisory-only group, not a body with rulemaking powers itself. Meaning, the ACOT has advised that the SREC should enact some emergency-rule-33 measures that will permit us to finish remaining convention business entirely in surveyMonkey, but, the SREC might opt to use emergency-rule-33 powers in some other fashion.
7. To answer your specific points: there was no voting for theTen on the ACOT in the SD caucuses, because it was already being voted upon in the q&a tab of general-session meetingPulse. Notice was given from the stage, at the time, by convention-chair Dickey, with instructions (though these were hampered by unforeseen DDoS problems). The email from West on ~23rd was correct …except that, in the end, West opted to decline to be ACOT chair, as did James Dickey, thus leaving that honor to Deon Starnes. I don’t believe the RPT ever officially announced the names of the ACOT members, but I knew who 9 of the 10 were from simply eyeballing the meetingPulse upclick-counts on Sunday the 19th, and public posts to facebook by an ACOT member confirmed those same names as correct, a few days later.
8. As for declaring *everything* we did at the convention thus far, to be null and void, that would be cutting off our nose to spite our face. The software was flawed, and the process was flawed, but we did properly and legally determine our Constitutionally-mandated electors from all 36 CDs, as well as our RNC-mandated 155 national delegates and 155 national alternates, 3+3 from every CD and 44+44 statewide via the natl noms cmte. There was a hard RNC deadline of July 20th to submit those names, and we met the deadline. If we overturn our hard work retroactively, we will likely lose our 155 delegates in 2020, very probably lose half our delegation-strength in 2024 due to violating the deadline this time around, and potentially even screw up our electoral college folks — the ones who must choose between Trump/Pence and Biden/Identitarian tickets for Texas. Not good!
Now, did everything go as smoothly as it should have, with proper communication to all delegates, in a timely manner, and without technological glitches? Clearly the answer is no. But please, don’t imagine deceit, where there is not any. This is not a case of somebody, neither Dickey nor West nor anybody else, trying to hoodwink delegates… this is just a case of, the democratic mayor of Houston, attacking Republicans in the hopes of interfering with our freedom of assembly, our freedom of speech and the printing press, as well as our freedom to petition the government for redress of our grievances. Just like on Festivus, we have a lot of grievances this summer! But try not to take it out on each other, your fellow R folks are not the badguy here 🙂