The District 10 Convention

The Senatorial District 10 Republican Convention was a long one. I rolled in at 0800 for registration, and the meeting was adjourned at 2230. The meeting was long, but very productive. We are submitting an excellent platform to the State Convention, and our district will be supported by well rounded and enthusiastic group of delegates and alternates.

The convention got started a bit late as we waited for late comers to be registered and seated. When we got started, the Reflections Concert Choir sang the National Anthem and performed a moving tribute to those of us who served in the military. Senator John Cornyn was the keynote speaker and was followed by Kim Brimer, State Senator for District 10. The Senators did a good job of highlighting the basic differences between the Dems and the Republicans. All of the speakers (20 candidates and elected officials) during the morning stressed the importance of maintaining the Republican majority in the Texas State Legislature. We have accomplished a lot over the past few legislative sessions, but there is much more work to be done. Local politics have a greater affect on the individual than national politics do. Decisions made on the local and state level have a much greater impact on our lives that those made on Capitol Hill. Being disappointed in the accomplishments of our politicians in DC is not excuse to turn your back on our local representatives. As a matter of fact, it should be incentive to work even harder on the local level to ensure we elect those who share our values to the positions that have the greatest effect on our lives.

It was 1448 before our first order of business was completed. The Credentials Committee had a heavy load in getting all of the delegates and alternates certified as meeting the criteria for being seated in the convention.

The next major order of business was to elect the permanent officers of the convention. Earlier in the day, a contingent led by Jeremy Blosser, slowed things down by contesting the adoption of the Temporary Roll of Delegates. The temporary roll of delegates was based on the sign in sheet. As registration remained open, and late comers signed in, this was not an exact number. It took over an hour to work through this bit of nonsense, and yes it was nonsense. The temporary roll has nothing to do with the main business of the convention, and this move by Jeremy was not well received by the body of delegates. I mention this because the next move by Jeremy was to contest the election of Stuart Lane as Chairman of the SD 10 Convention. Stuart has worked very hard as Temporary Chairman to put on this convention. He has been working for months, staffing committees (one of which Jeremy is a member), finding location , finding funding to pay for the convention, and doing what was necessary to ensure a quality event. One of the rules adopted by this convention was a requirement that the vote for permanent officers be by precinct. SD 10 encompasses quite a few precincts. It took 3.5 hours to get through the debate and the roll call vote by precinct. Stuart won, he received 6236 to Jeremy's 1281. Those numbers are not the total number of folks at the convention, they are a total of the number of votes allowed to the precincts. Though this was a very long process, it was worthwhile. There were a few other issues in the convention that involved passionate debate, and this debate makes us stronger as a party.

So what was the end result of the Senatorial District 10 Republican Convention?

We adopted a truly excellent platform to send to the state convention. I do not yet have a copy of the changes that we approved, but it will be posted on the Senate District 10 website soon. The Resolutions Committee is to be commended for all of their hard work and for the quality of the product they submitted to the convention.

We also elected a very diverse group of folks to send to the state convention as delegates and alternates. More people wanted to be a delegate than there were spots available, and some were disappointed at not being elected a delegate. I hope this disappointment does not turn them away from the party. They have a very important voice, and once you read the platform that we are sending to the state convention, you will realize that voice is being listened to.

Oh. The resolutions I submitted were incorporated into the platform being sent to state, and, I did not get elected a delegate. I am alternate #74 in Congressional District 6.

Cross posted on the Star Telegrams's Pack Your Trunk '08 weblog.

I'll post some of the changes we made to the platform as soon as I can get my hands on a copy.

Now I'm off to the gun show.