2012 Texas GOP Convention Report, Part 1

There are so many things I could talk about relating to this year's Texas Republican Convention.  These thoughts will be somewhat random and will appear over the next several posts.

I was nominated by by State Republican Executive Committeeman (SREC), John Cook, to serve on the Temporary Rules Committee.  This meant that I was involved in the meetings that went on before the Convention actually opened on Thursday.  I was supposed to be there Monday at noon, but because of some mis-communication, I wasn't aware I had actually been appointed to the Committee.  I finally got there Tuesday afternoon, which was early enough to be involved in the discussion about most of the substantive rules.  I found myself on the minority side of a 22-9 vote on an issue that I felt pretty strongly about.  It was, and still is, my opinion that the then existing rule caused our Party to violate a provision of the Texas Election Code.  There are 31 Senate Districts in Texas.  Each one has a Caucus at the State Convention.  At the first meeting of that Caucus, each SD elects representatives for each of the Permanent Committees (Rules, Platform, Credentials, State Nominations).  I was elected without opposition, so I got to return to carry on with our work.  Four of our colleagues from the Temporary Committee had been defeated at their Caucuses.  After a few tweaks to allay some of the concerns from folks who had been on the Temporary Committee, the proposed rule change was presented again.  This time, my side was in the majority 17-14.  I was thrilled that we made the change to allow us to comply with the law.  I was flabbergasted that 14 people were more worried about practicalities and potential power plays than with complying with the law.

The major changes to the rules took out the term limits for Texas' members of the Republican National Committee; changed the procedure for the State Convention (the one I mentioned above); and eliminated one round for which our Delegates to the National Convention will remain bound to their pledged candidate.  The Ron Paul supporters had wanted us to change that rule to make our Delegates completely unbound at the National Convention.  First, even if we had, it would not have applied this year.  Second, there was no way we were willing to do that.  I'm not sure who in the room was actually fond of Mitt Romney, but none of us were willing to undermine the will of the majority of those who voted in the Texas Republican Primary.