Texas State Republican Convention Day Two

Texas State Republican Convention Day Two

Today started extremely early. I went to the Breakfast hosted by Senator Bob Deuell (he is my State Senator). Pretty good spread and a very good speach by Michael Williams the Railroad Commissioner. This was the third speach by Michael Williams that I have heard at the Convention so far and every one of them has been outstanding.

The next thing on today's schedule was the Senate District Caucus. As expected the Ron Paul people nominated Paul Perry to replace Tina Benkiser as Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. Let me tip my hat to the Caucus Chairman David Peak of Rockwall County. He did such a good job of explaining every vote and ensuring that we all followed the rules, abiding by every comma and period. The result of his work was that our Senate District Caucus ran very smoothly and with a minimum of problems.

We broke for lunch. Again I have to thank Larry Donnenwerth. His suggestion that we go downstairs to the floor of the convention and reserve a section of seats for our delegation. Two hours later when it was time to seat all the delegates we were one of the Counties that did NOT have to scramble to find seats together for the entire delegation. This ensured that we were able to quickly tally our votes and keep a tight control on who was votingin our delegation. I can proudly boast that due to this and the constant work of David and Mike Hale we always had every delegate or alternate that the Party rules required to be seated for a vote in place.

There was quite a bit of controversy over a few items of business that were done by the Convention today. The most significant sticking point (in my opion) was the Nueces County Delegation. Let me be honest I dont know all the facts that were involved in the challenge to the delegates from Nueces County but it "appears" that there may have been some legitimate problems with the procedures for "Contesting" a delegate. I would hope that in the future the procedure would be more open to inspection. I am not saying that I think that there arguments were valid, the problem is that I don't know. We as delegates to the State Convention and grass roots workers should be completely confident in the legitmacy of every single delegate to the Convention and in this case we cant be. Of course the behaviour of some of the people that were questioning the legitimacy of the procedure did absoultly nothing to help their cause. I can understand why they were upset but the moment you stop being civil the average delegate stops listening to you.

On the postive side, Several of us delegates agreed to "Give up" our seats to delegates during the opening of the Session. As a result of this we were able to "Set" almost every alternate delegate while the opening speachs were going on. I am a firm believer in trying to ensure that every single person that Hunt County sends to the Convention get the chance to sit on the Floor of the convention at some point during the Convention. This may seem like a trivial piece of fluff to some folks but I remember what it was like when I first got involved with the Political Process. I Can remember the thrill I got the first time I got the chance to sit on the floor during the State Convention.

Newt Gingrich and Govenor Mike Huckabee both gave good but not great speaches to the Convention. There is no doubt in mind the two best performances given at the convention today were by Senatory John Corynn and Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams. I sincerly hope that Commissioner Williams considers running for higher office in the not too distant future. I think he would be an outstanding Lt Govenor or Govenor.

Darlene and I attended the Republican Party Banquet tonight. The "Key" speaker at the banquet was Govenor Mitt Romney of Mass. Govenor Romney remains in my mind a very viable candidate for the Presidency in the future. Although I am not 100% sold on him I still think he would be a very strong choice for VP slot with Senator John McCain. After the banquet we stopped by some of the "Meet and Greet" events being given at the Hilton. We had a photo made with Attorney General Greg Abbott. Mr Abbott is without a doubt one of the truely great Attorney Generals in Texas History.

So far this convention has NOT been a repeat of the Straw Poll. The Ron Paul supporters have been very well behaved and the disruptions to the convention have been minimal.

Do You Trust Barak Obama to pick your Doctor? If not vote John McCain for President!

Disagree or Agree feel free to add your own comments.
Please send any feedback to UnkHiram@gmail.com