Category: Reports From Your SREC – Blog

Republicans, Rally at the Capitol!
Reports From Your SREC - Blog

Republicans, Rally at the Capitol!

txsd25

The delegates of the 2020 Texas Republican Convention passed Legislative Priorities that we as a party will advocate during the 87th Texas Legislative Session which is starting now.

Come out to show your legislators that their constituents are paying attention and want them to pass legislation accomplishing these priorities!

Rally Video

Our Legislative Priorities:

  • Election Integrity
  • Religious Freedom
  • Abolish Child Gender Modification
  • Abolition of Abortion
  • Constitutional Carry
  • Monument Protection
  • School Choice for All
  • Ban Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying

Reports From Your SREC - Blog

How We Got our 2020 Platform

txsd25

Here’s what happened to reach the Republican Party of Texas Platform we have today, now that the vote on the planks has concluded:

1. People submitted resolutions at their precinct conventions on March 3rd. 

2. The State Party Chairman appointed Mark Dorazio as the Chairman of the Temporary Platform Committee.

3. County and Senatorial District Conventions formed Resolutions Committees to process the resolutions from precinct conventions and any new resolutions submitted directly to their conventions.

4. Pandemic delayed the May 23rd County/SD Conventions until up to as late as June 27th.

5. The State Convention in Houston was postponed until July 16-18.

6. Almost all resolutions were submitted to the RPT by June 27th.

7. Volunteers and staff diligently entered the thousands of resolutions from the 248 County and SD Conventions which took place into one document for the Platform Committee, either by copying and pasting or retyping them, sorting them into the 9 categories of the Platform while doing so, by the week before convention.

8. State Republican Executive Committee members from the 31 districts each nominated one volunteer to serve on the Temporary Platform Committee. Chairman Mark Dorazio then appointed 9 subcommittee chairmen from among these 31 committee members.

9. Volunteer platform committee secretaries/editors were recruited. These people served every hour of every day that the committee and subcommittees met, and worked long after the meetings concluded.

10. Thursday, July 9th, the mayor of Houston announced he was reneging on the city’s contract to host the RPT Convention at the Houston Convention Center.

11. As scheduled, for the full day of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, July 13, 14 and 15, the Temporary Platform Committee met in Houston, but not at the Convention Center. At the hotel across the street from the Convention Center they met in 9 subcommittees, and then as a committee of the whole. They considered every plank from the previous platform, considered the new submitted resolutions, and heard testimony from delegates who showed up to speak to the committee on particular resolutions or planks. The committee concluded business at 11:54 PM on Wednesday.

12. During the virtual convention general assembly on Sunday, July 19th the delegates approved a motion which included postponing voting on the party Rules and Platform Reports until some other time in the future, by a method to be recommended by a Committee of 10 which was then elected.

13. The Committee of 10 recommended voting on the Platform and Rules via a “Survey Monkey-style” survey to delegates and alternates by electronic mail, with a minimum of three (3) days allowed for them complete the survey. Each Platform plank from the Permanent Platform and Resolutions Committee shall be voted on individually by each delegate, and the Minority Reports from both that Committee and the Rules Committee shall be included for separate votes.
The electronic mail notification on the voting platform shall include a paragraph from the person designated to present the Minority Report, as well as the proposed language from the Committee, pursuant to RPT Rule 24. Sufficient identifying information shall be included to allow for seating of alternates and SD identification for weighted voting purposes. The results of the Survey Monkey-style voting shall be ratified at the next regular SREC meeting but announced as soon as available by RPT staff.“

14. Mark Ramsey, chairman of the Legislative Priorities Committee, and Karen Marshall, an editor of the Platform Committees, set about creating a method for delegates to vote which met these criteria and included backup methods to handle the kind of problems encountered during the July virtual convention. An enormous amount of effort went into crafting the ballot so that it met all party rules and parliamentary requirements, as well as be as user-friendly as possible.

15. SREC Members served as their districts’ delegates’ support through the four day voting process, and provided access to the ballot and a unique passcode to any delegate who notified them during that time they had not received their ballot.

16. After Platform and Rules voting concluded after four days, the volunteer team went through and eliminated any duplicate votes, corrected the counties of the voters who answered “Texas” on that question, and sorted the votes by district. Then the votes were weighted according to each district’s delegate strength. After a few sets of eyes double-checked the data and the math, the results were published. Both Minority Reports, Rules and Platform, passed, as well as all proposed planks, by well over 60% each.

Thank you, everyone who participated as delegates in the virtual state convention in July, and who then voted on the recent Platform and Rules ballot.

Now that you know the process by which our Platform develops, even in unprecedented circumstances, I hope you will know how to craft your future resolutions and advocate for them effectively.

Tips:

  • Submit your resolutions by email, so they don’t need to be retyped. (Don’t scan or Xerox copy a document. The text should be selectable, able to be copied and pasted.)
  • Be sure to give each resolution a short title/subject, and identify under which of the 9 Platform categories each belongs.
  • Email a copy of your new resolution(s) to your Senate District’s member of the Temporary Platform Committee before the committee meets. Members are posted on the RPT website before state convention.
  • Show up in person on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of convention week to testify to the Platform Committee on your resolution(s).
Reports From Your SREC - Blog

RPT Platform & Rules 2020

txsd25

The final business of the state convention is for delegates and seated alternates to vote on the Platform and Rules. Voting will begin on Friday, October 2nd. Each platform plank must receive at least 60% of the votes to be included in the party platform. There is one Minority Report to the Platform Report and one Minority Report to the Rules Report also on which to vote.

A team of dedicated volunteers has worked very long and hard to develop the best possible Platform and Rules for our party, and then to provide the best possible process for delegates to vote, adapting along the way to this year’s unprecedented obstacles.

Click here to see the Platform Committee Report of the 2020 RPT Convention

Click here to see the Rules Committee Report of the 2020 RPT Convention

Reports From Your SREC - Blog · Uncategorized

2020 RPT Platform Minority Report

txsd25 
2020 Platform Committee Minority Report

SCOPE:  We the members of the Platform and Resolutions Committee who have signed the Minority Report below propose that the the version of Plank #54, as passed in the Republican Party of Texas Convention in 2018, be restored to its original form.  This request is based on the announcement of the intent to file a minority report prior to adjournment of the Permanent Platform Committee meeting, though the announcement was not accepted. 

MINORITY MEMBERS:

  • SD 6     Marga Matthews
  • SD 7     Tom Nobis
  • SD 8     Paul Chabot
  • SD 18   Caleb Pillado
  • SD 19   Stuart Knowlton
  • SD 24   Matt Long
  • SD 26   David Westbrook

The 2018 RPT Platform plank reads:

54.  Article V Convention of States: We reaffirm our support for our Texas State Legislators’ call for a limited Article V Convention of States for the specific purpose of reducing the power of the federal government, including fiscal responsibility, balanced budget, and term limits. Any proposed amendments must be ratified by three-fourths of the states.

2018 Platform plank #54, supporting an Article V Convention of States (above), garnered the second-highest number of votes to be designated as a top RPT Legislative Priority during our 2016 Convention (90% of delegates), and, subsequently, the 85th legislative session in 2017 passed it with resounding Republican legislative support.  Since it is a resolution still pending in Congress until acted on by additional states, it cannot be said to have been “passed” in any meaningful way.

In conclusion, we believe that the original language of Plank #54, as passed in convention in 2018, overwhelmingly represents and advances the core values of the Republican Party.

As a remedy, the Minority hereby tenders a motion to restore Plank #54, which the Majority Report has removed, with the original language passed in the Republican Party of Texas Convention in 2018, which reads as follows:

54.  Article V Convention of States: We reaffirm our support for our Texas State Legislators’ call for a limited Article V Convention of States for the specific purpose of reducing the power of the federal government, including fiscal responsibility, balanced budget, and term limits. Any proposed amendments must be ratified by three-fourths of the states.

Reports From Your SREC - Blog

Houston Convention Update

txsd25

July 10, 2020

Dear SD 25 Delegates and Alternates,

Four years ago, it was decided and voted on that we would hold the 2020 State Convention in Houston. My attention was focused on an in-person convention ever since. I had no reason to suspect any changes otherwise. COVID struck and we had to use some creative ways to hold our SD conventions across the state and we were successful. Now we are being faced with rapidly changing threats to our Republican State Convention.  Three weeks ago, the mayor of Houston stated he was going to allow the convention to proceed.  He then changed his tune and requested us to withdraw our convention.  The SREC, through a zoom meeting, decided to proceed with the convention as planned. If the RPT would have canceled, it would have cost our party $500,000+. Yesterday, July 8th, as you have probably already heard, the Mayor of Houston after several threats, has decided to cancel the 2020 RPT convention.   A lawsuit was filed today in return by the Republican Party of Texas in the District Court in Houston for breach of contract. Here is the link to the current press release.
A Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) has been filed, and a hearing is taking place right now at 4:30 pm. in an attempt to restrain the mayor from canceling the event. If we do not prevail, we expect an appeal to be filed to the next higher court. We are intending to continue to hold this convention as planned as we feel it is in the best interest of our party, and the process that we go through at our convention.  A few different options are being considered, and a virtual convention could be a possibility.  If you could be patient for a while longer, we will soon learn how we will need to proceed and notify you once those decisions are made.

[Update: The Supreme Court of Texas will hold a hearing on the RPT’s suit against Houston on Saturday, July 11th at 5:00 PM. The SREC will hold an Emergency Meeting after the hearing has concluded. You may watch the SREC Zoom meeting on the livestream on the RPT facebook page or via the RPT’s Youtube channel.]

I appreciate your prayers for all these things.

Most Sincerely,
Mark Dorazio
SREC SD25

Events · Reports From Your SREC - Blog

2020 Primary Runoff Election Dates Are Extended

txsd25
Early voting will begin June 29th instead of July 6th.
This extension, which doubles the period for early voting, was set by Governor Abbott.
Monday, June 29, 2020 – first day to vote early
Friday, July 3rd and Saturday, July 4th – no polls will be open for voting (holiday)
Friday, July 10, 2020 – last day to vote early
July 14th, Runoff Primary Election Day:  Polls will be open 7:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST

NOTE: An early voting mail ballot that is not received by 7:00 pm on election day may not be counted unless the ballot may be counted late under 86.007(d), which applies to ballots mailed from outside the United State (Sec. 86.007(d)), late domestic ballots (Sec. 86.007(a)(2)), and ballots from members of the armed forces and merchant marine of the United States, their spouses and dependents (Sec. 101.057). See entry for Wednesday, July 15, 2020, and entry for Monday, July 20, 2020.

Source:  Texas Secretary of State’s office, https://www.sos.texas.gov/elections/laws/advisory-2020-13.shtml#Jul14

Source: Texas Tribune, https://www.texastribune.org/2020/05/11/texas-2020-july-primary-runoffs-coronavirus-early-voting/

Reports From Your SREC - Blog

Prop 4 Publicity

txsd25Video

I put this ad on the radio to help spread the word about Prop 4 on the ballot. If you would like to help inform voters about this proposition which would make state income tax an option in the future, please feel free to post either of these audio files below on your social media.

Here is the text of the first recording:

“Fellow Texans,

Each of us has a financial responsibility for the protection of our children and future generations of Texas.

This is Mark Dorazio, your State Republican Executive Committeeman, Senate District 25. On November 5th, you have the opportunity to go to the polls and cast your vote to determine if a personal income tax can be imposed upon us and our communities.  I wanted to clarify for everyone, A YES vote on Proposition 4 will prevent a state income tax from being passed by future legislators.  If this is your desire, you need to vote “Yes” on Proposition 4 to prohibit a state income tax from coming to the Great State of Texas.

Don’t miss this opportunity. Get to the polls, and make your voice heard.

Early voting begins October the 21st, and Election Day is November the 5th.

God bless you, and God bless Texas.”

Here is the radio spot running now that early voting has begun: