republican – Page 2 – Carol A. Spencer

Conservative? Maybe not.

Online Research Often Exposes The Truth.

MAGA matters and those running for office know it. That’s why candidates, mostly Republican but frankly of both parties, claim to be “conservative”.

Football player tossing a football labeled conservative But, voter beware. Just because they say they’re conservative, they aren’t. They easily toss around the word “conservative” knowing that low-information voters are swayed by it. So, become a high-information voter using online resources!

They hope you don’t do your homework. I hope you do. There are many places to get information about a candidate. Campaign literature and websites are not places to go except to learn what the candidate wants you to know. To get to the truth, you must do some research.

Watch what they do, not what they say. I’ve said this for a long time about candidates, something I’ve learned through my 35+ years involved in political campaigns. People can say anything, but they can’t change the record.

Candidates can modify their social media posts, but few are likely to do that unless their comments become big news. Think of candidates and/or office holders that have been caught by salacious or offensive posts. You can learn a lot by a quick scan of someone’s posts. If they’re on X (formerly known as Twitter), that’s the best place to take a quick scan.

Candidates and office holders likely have to file financial reports with either the local election office or the Texas Ethics Commission or the Federal Elections Commission. Visit BastropVotes for local candidates. Visit the Texas Ethics Commission for district, judicial, or statewide candidates. Texas Ethics also has contributor information about Texas Political Action Committees (PACs). Visit the Federal Elections Commission for all federal candidates. A non-governmental source to “follow the money” is opensecrets.org where you can search by candidate, committee, or by donor. Open Secrets also has information about “dark money” groups, Super PACs and more.

If a candidate is an incumbent, their votes will tell you whether they’re actually a conservative or not. For Texas legislators, Texas Legislature Online is chock full of information. For a Texas legislative ranking, visit Mark Jones’ analysis in the Texas Tribune or The Freedom Index where individual legislators can be searched. For US Congressmen & Senators, visit FreedomWorks for an analysis of their voting records.

For example, my Texas legislator received one 50% ranking. How good is that? Prior to casting my vote, I’ll compare it to other rankings and any opponents. My US Representative has a session ranking of 100%, and a lifetime ranking of 94.4%. I doubt any opponent can beat that!

For those running the first time, keep an eye on their financial reports. “Follow the money” is always true in politics. Search online, especially LinkedIn for bios which will include volunteer and employment histories.

Always look at a candidate’s past voter history. See if it’s published on one of your local GOP club websites. If you can’t find it online, then ask your local GOP chair for the information.

If you can find the name of a candidate’s treasurer or campaign chair, search them as well. People typically take these roles for candidates who are like-minded and who the treasurer and chair want in office. You won’t find too many Republicans serving as campaign chairs or treasurers for liberal democrats, and vice versa.

Your vote is critical to the survival of our nation. If you, like me, consider yourself a conservative and vote accordingly, then do your job. Do your homework. Know before you go!

The Man Who Would be King

There are those who choose to work together cooperatively. Typically, those are people who have a goal and understand that others share that same goal. They understand that it takes many ideas and many hands to achieve the goal. They are inclusive, good listeners, and incorporate others’ ideas into a strategic plan. And, they understand that those working for the goal all have talents that are needed to achieve the goal, like individual puzzle pieces creating an entire picture.

Then there are those who want to control everything. To these types of people, having control is as important as (or more important than) accomplishing the goal. They want to pick the players and control the strategy. They will determine, on their own, the road to take to achieving the goal. They will exclude free thinkers, new ideas, and different ways of looking at the steps needed to accomplish the goal. To them, power is everything.

In the end, king-makers fail, just as in the Rudyard Kipling novella and 1975 movie of the same name “The Man Who Would be King”.

Political leaders often fall into these categories as well. There are those who are quite willing to work together with other political organizations to achieve the common goal: winning elections. They understand “strength in numbers” and that everyone has something to offer, some talent in which they excel.

Then there are those who refuse to work cooperatively, sometimes to the point of attempting to sabotage and snuff out related groups working for the same goal.

We call individuals who do this bullies. We identify them as insecure people who are threatened by others’ successes. We say they don’t “play well in the sandbox”. The same can be true of organizations. As Patrick Henry so well stated in 1799, “Let us trust God, and our better judgment to set us right hereafter. United we stand, divided we fall.”

The unfortunate result of this refusal to work together, especially in the political world, is disharmony, distrust, dissension. Participants become disillusioned and stop participating. When that happens, the goal becomes unachievable. In the political world, that translates to losses at the polls.

As in the Bible, Matthew 12:25, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.”

As per the novella and movie, “The Man Who Would be King” won’t recognize that until it’s too late and the opposing political party has seized control.

The SREC Speaks

I’ve been watching this weekend’s SREC meeting (9/23/23). They just voted on a resolution calling for Speaker Dade Phelan to step down as Speaker and to resign. There were only 2 “nay” votes.

Sad to say, one was our SD-5 member, Bill Fairbrother. I submit that had he talked to the various county parties before casting that vote, he would have found nearly all in agreement that Phelan should step down.

WHEREAS, Speaker Dade Phelan voted for the impeachment of Attorney General Warren Kenneth Paxton and through his leadership team pressured other House members to vote for the impeachment as well, and continues to defend this action despite the weaknesses of the case as demonstrated in the Senate trial that resulted in General Paxton’s acquittal;

WHEREAS, Speaker Dade Phelan appointed nine (9) Democrats to chair important legislative committees, in direct defiance of the wishes of Republican voters and the Legislative Priorities of the Republican Party of Texas; and

WHEREAS, Speaker Dade Phelan ignored or actively undermined several GOP priorities during the regular session, failing to prioritize legislation to secure our borders and elections; and

WHEREAS, new leadership is needed in the House of Representatives for the upcoming special session, and potential subsequent special sessions, to ensure that conservative priorities are achieved and members are no longer pressured to act and vote contrary to the platform, principles, and priorities of the Party they represent and its voters; now

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Texas calls on Speaker Dade Phelan to step down from his leadership role as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, and to allow a new Speaker to be elected after a caucus vote in accordance with the Republican Party of Texas Platform; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that should Speaker Dade Phelan fail to step down from the Speaker chair for this upcoming special session, the Republican representatives should vote to vacate the chair and allow for a new Speaker who has pledged to honor and support the priorities and principles of the Republican Party to be elected.

Conservative? In Name Only

This is shocking! While conservative groups and talk show hosts, including FreedomWorks and Tucker Carlson, are busy informing the public about the dangers of ESG investing and encouraging people to “put their money where their mouth is”, the Bastrop County Conservatives are doing just the opposite.

They’ve denounced a similarly named Instagram account because posts on that account dared to suggest that people should do just that: not spend their money at businesses that don’t share their values. (Article in the Austin Stateman: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/local/bastrop/2022/08/17/bastrop-conservatives-denounce-calls-for-boycotts-of-pride-events/65404135007/)

The Back Story

On Wednesday, August 10, a release was issued under the name of the Bastrop County Conservatives regarding a name confusion on Instagram.

The August 10 release stated “Mel Cooper, one of the founding members of Bastrop County Conservatives, stated ‘The statements posted on this other Instagram account were not from our group and do not conform with our views or values.'” [emphasis added]

What were those postings that were so offensive that they required a press release?

See for yourself: instagram.com/bastroptxconservatives (no instagram account required to see them).

They are pro-life, anti-mask mandates, pro-constitutional carry, pro-GOP, against the Drag Story Hour held in Bastrop and supported by Bastrop Dems, pro-Trump, anti-liberals.

While Cooper says these don’t conform with the views and values of his group, they do conform to planks of the recently adopted GOP platform.

Apparently people agree with them because that Instagram account has more than 1,100 people following it. Cooper’s group? 50.

Why the divisiveness? What’s to gain by publicly fighting over a name in the social space? And, which posts are so offensive they “do not conform with [Cooper’s] views or values”?

Do Cooper and crew support mandatory union dues allowing unions to donate massive amounts to woke Dem candidates? Cooper’s anti-boycott stance in support of spending money at businesses that diametrically oppose one’s views and values is no different.

The only logical conclusion is the conservative group that issued the press release isn’t so conservative after all.

Be happy!

While the results of the presidential election are still not determined, and the news media has called the race for Democrat Joe Biden, the news across the country for the GOP is excellent. Be happy!

While the results of the presidential election are still not determined, and the news media has called the race for Democrat Joe Biden, the news across the country for the GOP is excellent. Be happy!

Bastrop County GOP swept every contested race in the County. Every GOP candidate won here. Congrats to Mike Gepner on providing the leadership, and hands on work, that a county chairman should. Congrats to Mike and his team on building the network needed to take us forward as a growing county with a growing Republican Party.

Republicans are expected to gain 13 more seats in the US House of Representatives. Current totals are Dems: 215, GOP: 201, Not yet decided: 19. 218 are needed for a majority.

Republicans held all statehouse chambers. And, the GOP gained control of both the NH House and Senate. Redistricting happens after a census year, so in many states, including TX, FL and NC, GOP legislatures will be drawing the maps. Those three states represent more than 80 house seats.

Texans continue to be represented by two Republican US Senators: Senator Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, who handily won re-election. In our own Bastrop County, both Congressman Michael McCaul (CD-10) and Congressman Michael Cloud (CD-27) won re-election.

Let’s talk Texas:

All statewide positions stayed with the GOP.
Nearly all judicial positions remained in GOP hands.
The Texas House continues with a GOP majority: the same split as it had in the 2019 session (83 GOP to 67 Dems).
The Texas Senate continues with a GOP majority. We lost the super majority by one seat, but kept the split nearly what it was in the 2019 session. (19 GOP to 12 Dems in 2019; now 18 GOP to 13 Dems)
Overall, Texas did not lose one GOP Congressional seat and is poised to pick up two, or possibly three, additional seats due to the census. With both the Texas House and Senate firmly in GOP hands, and a Republican governor, the redistricting map, including those two new Congressional districts, will be drawn by the GOP.

There is much to celebrate for the GOP both in Texas and nationwide. Be happy!

Put the blame where it belongs… on Democrats

Since 1945 when Hubert Humphrey became mayor of Minneapolis, for only 2 years and one day have Republicans led the city. Independents led the city for another 6 years.

Since 1945, seventy-five years, Democrats have controlled Minneapolis with the exception of a total of 8 years and one day.

Yet, today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blamed the death of George Floyd on Republicans.

“On Tuesday, as Senate Democrats rejected Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) police reform bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) accused Republicans of ‘trying to get away with murder, the murder of George Floyd.'” (pjmedia.com)

Just let that sit for a minute. Almost 70 years of Democrat mayors and Pelosi blames Republicans.

Who appointed police chiefs throughout those 65+ years? Democrats
Who approved the size and organizational structure of the police department throughout those 65+ years? Democrats
Who approved police “standard operating procedures” (SOPs) throughout those 65+ years? Democrats
Who hired police officers throughout those 65+ years? Democrats
Who interviewed police officers for advancement and promotion throughout those 65+ years? Democrats
Who supervised police training throughout those 65+ years? Democrats
Who disciplined police officers throughout those 65+ years? Democrats
Who reviewed their personnel jackets when determining who was eligible for promotion? Democrats
Who negotiated police contracts? Democrats

The Federal government does not appoint mayors or council members. Local voters elect them. The Federal government does not hire police chiefs, dictate SOPs, hire or fire police officers, determine the use of community policing, number of officers on the road at any point in time, or any other aspect of the organization and policies of police departments. Local elected officials and their administrative hires do.

In Minneapolis, Democrats did. Now, Democrat Pelosi tries to shift the blame. Democrat Pelosi says the proposed Federal legislation doesn’t go far enough, even though the Federal government has no role here.

Democrats have created these problems through feckless leadership over 65+ years. Democrats are the problem today, watching their city burn and doing nothing. Democrats in Washington continue to be the problem today, now blocking Federal legislation.

Hold Democrats accountable because they are.

Stat source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mayors_of_Minneapolis.

What’s the Score?

The score is 14 – 7. We’re losing.

I’m not talking about football. I’m talking about social media and digital communication. The Bastrop County Democrat Party in December (so far) has posted twice as much as the Bastrop County Republican Party. And, they’re on both Instagram and Twitter.

Social media is the preferred communication method for all age groups. Entities must be in these spaces to connect with the public.

The Republican Party website is out of date. The Election Information page showed Nov 4 ballot info as recently as Saturday, December 7. The cutoff date for filing to run for office was December 9. Until mid-day December 8, not one word was on the website about how to do so.

Silence about the new precinct created in Bastrop County last month even though it affects more than 2,000 voters. Nothing about how to register to vote, yet that’s the top priority for TexasGOP. And, the news page’s last article is from June 2, 2018! Its subject? A joint event with the Democrats.

Twitter? The last tweet from the Bastrop County Republican Party was April 25. The Democrats? December 3.

Instagram? (70% of 18 – 29 year olds use Instagram)
The Republican Party doesn’t even have an account. The Democrats last post? November 25.

YouTube? (90% of 18 – 49 year olds use YouTube)
The Republican Party doesn’t even have an account.

“You’re a digital communications expert and a precinct chair. Why don’t you volunteer to fix this,” you might ask. I have. The chair refused my offer. It’s one thing to lose a football game because of poor communication. It’s quite another to lose elections for that reason.