Steve

A large portion of my time in November was spent planning the future of the national Republican Party as I attended meetings pertaining to the planning of the national convention, the presidential primary process, and what rules will govern the party in the future. These issues are critically important to the future of both the national and state party. My reasoning is that Republican principles cannot be effectively implemented unless our nominee can win back the White House. In turn, our ability to take back the White House is dependent on who we select as nominee and, in part, on the order of presidential primaries, the length of primary season, the debate process, and how delegates are selected.

I have long contended that our current system has numerous deficiencies. First, I have been opposed to the institutionalization of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada selecting their delegates prior to any other states. I also think it is a problem that other states have been allowed to jump their start date thereby pushing the Texas primary further back in the process. Of course I am biased being the State Chairman from Texas; nevertheless, even if I wasn’t State Chairman I do believe the largest Republican state in the country should have significant say in our next nominee.

I also feel that our national convention is held too late in the election cycle and the current schedule does not allow our nominee to have access to funds available only to the nominee in a timely manner. In addition, having the convention only two months before the general election does not allow the nominee enough time to campaign as our party standard-bearer. These issues and more were dealt with during meetings I attended in Washington throughout the month.

During the second week of the month I traveled to Washington, DC to participate as member of the Commission on Convention Planning. The commission is charged with making recommendations to both the RNC and the Site Selection Committee as to how, where, and when we should hold the Republican National Convention.

Capitol

I am not at liberty to disclose all of the issues that were addressed or any recommendations I anticipate to be made. However, I can tell you that I think you can expect some bold recommendations coming out of the commission that will address many of the concerns that I outlined earlier. I also advocated for the convention to be more transparent and to allow easier participation by the delegates so the voices of the grassroots can be heard.

In the third week of the month I went back to Washington, DC to attend a meeting of the Rules Committee. The Rules Committee is considering what penalty should be applied to states that attempt to jump in line in the presidential primary process. Again, I cannot disclose which direction the committee is going in but I am a strong advocate that penalties should be severe enough so that states don’t jump before Texas, scheduled for March 1st, which is the first date allowed under RNC rules (of the non-carve out states). I also strenuously objected to the national party telling state parties how to pick our delegates. I remain optimistic overall that once the final rules are adopted, Texas will have a greater say in the 2016 Presidential primary process.

Speaking of 2016, during the month of November the RPT continued to expand our Victory operations which are designed to not only help us in 2014 but also throughout 2016 and beyond. We hired Brian Flores as our new Hispanic Engagement staffer in Dallas and Carlos Guerra as our new Hispanic Engagement staffer in Houston, and Brandon Barrera as Field Director in Nueces County.

Our Victory operations got a dry run as we were able to assist in the special election for House District 50 to elect Dr. Mike VanDeWalle. He is running in a Democrat stronghold hoping to fill the position of former Democrat legislator Mark Strama. With great teamwork betweenRosemary Edwards, Chairwoman of the Travis County Republican Party, and the Republican Party of Texas, the VanDeWalle campaign led the field with 39.16% of the vote in a 4 person field. The runoff is scheduled to take place on January 28.

Campaign

November was also hectic because we opened candidate filing on November 9th, and continues until December 9th. Our office has been flooded with candidates and our staff is busy checking petitions, applications, etc.

Investiture

In November I had a chance to make it around the state again. During the first week I attended a briefing put on by Congressman Michael McCaul in Austin. I was able to hold a teleconference with the northeast Tarrant County Tea Party a few days later. The following week back I had the opportunity to attend the swearing in of Supreme Court Justice Jeff Brown as the newest member of the Texas Supreme Court and Nathan Hecht as Chief Justice. Governor Perry and other distinguished officials were also in attendance.

Fund

On November 13th the RPT had a small fundraiser in Fort Worth hosted by Dee Kelly Jr. andNeil Adams featuring State Senator Kelly Hancock. Following the fundraiser I met the staff at the Fort Worth convention center, along with SREC members Tom Washington and Neal Katz, as they were spending the day inspecting facilities and meeting with the production company about the convention. From Fort Worth I flew back to Washington DC to meet with our Republican Congressional delegation which included Congressmen Pete Sessions, Jeb Hensarling, Bill Flores, Randy Neuagebauer, Roger Williams, Mac Thornberry, Ted Poe, John Carter, Mike McCaul, Blake Farenthold, Joe Barton, Kevin Brady, Michael Burgess, Mike Conaway, Louie Gohmert, Kenny Marchant, and Senator John Cornyn.

Montague

Upon returning to Texas I had the chance to serve as the keynote speaker at the Montague County GOP dinner. The following week I had a chance to hang around my hometown of Houston and speak to the Fort Bend Republican Women’s club one day, the Pearland Republican Club the next day, and the Village Republican Club the next. Then it was back to Austin to take care of candidate filing before one last trip to Fort Worth where I spoke to the Metroplex Republican Women. Robin Hancock, wife of State Senator Kelly Hancock, was the program chair that set up the event.

Metroplex

The last week of November marked 3rd anniversary of the RPT paying down all debts to $0. We still have over $1 million in all accounts and I expect our year-end balance to be on the high end, if not exceeding, my original projection of ending the year with $500,000-$700,000 in the bank.

Fort Bend

I would like to take a personal privilege this month to mention the passing of a friend of mine,Leon Davis, who is also the father of one of my best friends and RPT Chairman’s Circle member, Ross Davis. Leon is also the father of another RPT Chairman’s Circle member, Lynn Lasher. Mr. Davis has been supportive of Republican causes for decades. More importantly there is a lesson in his life we can all learn from that applies to politics as well as anything else. Mr. Davis believed in public service. The list of his charitable activities and public services would be far too long for this update but I will mention a few that I think are important. He served his country as a Colonel in the Air Force where he received two bronze stars, was a member of the Civil Rights Commission and fought racism in Oklahoma to the point where he was a target of the Ku Klux Klan. His obituary describes him as quiet philanthropist which I think describes him well. The way he lived his life can be an example to all of us. He loved his country and family. He believed it was important to be involved in one’s community and be active in local civic organizations. He believed it was important to support causes and people who make the country better. He gave his own time and money to numerous organizations and causes, yet he never sought any personal attention or time in the limelight. He was a soft-spoken, humble man who did what he did because he thought it was the right thing to do. Remarkably, he went to work every day until he was almost 95 years of age.

As we move towards the future, I ask everyone to give thought to following his example. Be humble warriors for causes and candidates who you think will be good for our country. Contribute mightily, and do so for the reason that it is the right thing to do rather than for what can be personally gained. As a Party, if we all unite in this spirit I am confident that we will be successful. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I will visit with you again after the holidays. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

Signature

Stephen Munisteri, Chairman