The Sad State of the HCRP

It was.

$212.35 worth.

That’s right folks, the HCRP is reporting that it had cash on hand as of June 30, 2009 of $212.35 in its federal account.

The combined state and federal reports for Harris County give us a much clearer picture of the state of the parties.

The Harris County Democratic Party finished the first half of 2009 with eight times the amount of cash at its disposal than did the HCRP.

Pathetic.

When I asked Mr. Woodfill for a comment on the state of the party’s finances, he offered this:

Traditionally, income during a non-election year (federal) is always lower; particularly in the first half of the year. This has of course been exacerbated by a down economy when belt-tightening is occurring across the non-profit spectrum, both political and otherwise. Even folks like the Salvation Army and others, have seen funding fall by 20{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}-30{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}. We have always operated a lean organization.

There is no question that non-election year giving is traditionally lower and that the state of the economy has probably contributed to the overall funding problems of the HCRP. But somehow the HCDP managed to both raise more money and spend less than the HCRP.

Another point that Mr. Woodfill made was that the HCRP rewarded precinct chairs for their hard work and that affected the funding from the annual Lincoln Reagan Day Dinner:

This year we honored the pct. chairs by providing each chair a free ticket. This is the first time the HCRP has provided complimentary tickets to the pct. chairs. This resulted in approximately 100 pct chairs being able to attend the event. We thought it was important to thank them for their service to our Republican Party.

And that certainly was a nice gesture towards what should be the soul of the party, although you have to wonder about the wisdom of that move given the sad state of the party’s finances. And you also have to wonder if the precinct chairs that do absolutely nothing to help the party other than run election day events were rewarded for their non-contributions to the party.

And you have to wonder who is following and who is leading the HCRP. A few minutes ago, I received, as did everyone else on the party’s email list, a call to action in support of Rep. John Culberson’s SOS last Thursday. It is not yet on the HCRP website but it will be eventually. Here is a snippet:

Last week, our friend Congressman John Culberson, from the 7th Congressional District of Texas, sent out an “SOS” message through the Social Networking sites “Twitter” and “Facebook” to issue a call to action to contact Nancy Pelosi’s office due to censorship of constituent communication. Apparently the Democrats are censoring Republicans who wish to use their “franking” privilege, the practice of sending out correspondence to constituents using the U.S. Postal Service, forcing them to remove any words or ideas that do not support the Democrat agenda.

Mr. Woodfill takes Rep. Culberson’s already weak claim even futher with that last sentence, declaring that any correspondence must “support the Democrat agenda”.

But again, who is leading? This eblast comes out more than 72 hours after Mr. Woodfill’s challenger, Ed Hubbard, issued his own call to action:

At the very least, for now we must do what Congressman Culberson asked us to do in his last message: “Bombard Pelosi & House leadership; let the sun shine in; post all bills online for 72 hrs bf vote, open debate/amendments & end censorship!” To broadcast this message, I ask the current leadership team of the HCRP at Richmond Avenue to use the fruits from the new social-networking training programs, the new Rapid Response program, and the party email system, not to toot your own horn, but to alert Republicans to Culberson’s plight and how to respond. To Republican bloggers and talk-show hosts, flood the airwaves with Culberson’s distress call, and demand the Speaker to stop. To the Tea Partiers, 9/12 organizers and other grassroots conservatives, make your voices heard on this issue.

Now lets talk about the real issue. Priorities. Obviously, I disagree with all three men about this issue. But seriously, even if you are 100{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} behind Rep. Culberson in this, don’t you think there are higher priorities that these men should be dealing with? I mean, c’mon, we’re talking big girl politics here! Taking over car companies, insurance companies, banks, expanding the war in Afghanistan, North Korea testing missiles, Iran building nuclear reactors, the state government is covering gaping holes in the budget with federal debt and funds intended for other programs, the Harris County Republican Party is out of money and the Republicans are doing what?

Sending around SOS’s because the Speaker of the House is using the rules of the House in her favor regarding newsletters? While she’s on vacation? Damn. Hitch up your big girl panties, boys, and get to work on the business of winning elections.