What:  Rally for Rick Santorum

When:  February 8th, 7-8:30pm

Where:  Fairview Farms – 3314 N Central, Plano  (MAP)

UPDATE:  A Feb. 8th Morning event: “Bella Donna Chapel, 401 Adriatic Pkwy, McKinney – 9:30am meeting with pastors.

“Park in the parking garage. Rick will share from his heart about his faith. Inside seating is invitation only for pastors who must show ID and be on the invite list. Outside there will be a TV showing his presentation. It will also be streaming live from the Bella Donna Chapel facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/belladonnachapel An unlimited number of people can attend outside. This will be a big media event. After Rick finishes addressing the pastors, he will come outside for Q&A with media and voters, as well as shaking hands and taking pictures. End time is targeted for 11am.”

Our team has been vetting a large number of candidates in various North Texas races for some time and we will continue. Generally we invite each candidate from a race, only certain races, to visit with four team members. Over the period of about an hour & a half we ask various questions related to their race and try to get to know the candidate. Our principles can be found at our home page and what NTTP “TeaApproved” means can be found at:

http://northtexasteaparty.org/teaapproved/

In addition, we research the candidate by studying their record, seeing their performance at various forums & debates, and closely review their donation history on the Texas Ethics Commission web site. On rare occasion we do not meet with a candidate because of our prior knowledge of the individual and our research. Any vetting member who has already committed to a candidate excludes themselves from any votes on that candidate.

The NTTP “TeaApproved” is not an “endorsement” of any candidate. That is left to individual team members. It is possible that more than one candidate in a race might be NTTP TeaApproved.

At this point we whole hearty give NTTP “TeaApproved” to   

• Bob Hall – Texas Senate District 2
• Ken Paxton – Texas Senate District 8
• Van Taylor – Texas House District 66
• Jeff Leach – Texas House District 67 
• Matt Beebe – Texas House District 121 

More announcements will be made as we progress.

Our best wishes to all we have TeaApproved.

UPDATE: well, it looks like the State GOP is getting some blowback on the deal-cutting that is ongoing (they were hung-up today; we imagine the Dems smell blood and want every drop.)  Their response: “It’s not us!  It’s the Attorney General’s office!“  More info here on the players on the other side, some of which are willing to deal, others want the whole ball.  Primarily the Hispanics want solid district for them, which likely WOULDN’T maximize Democrat gains, likely sacrificing Anglo Democrats.  The Dems want to carve it up to steal every seat they can for their Party, not for a given community.  Reading between the lines in this article tends to suggests that is precisely what happened- and the Democrat Party squashed it.

Well,, it looks like the State GOP is going to fold like a House of Cards on the redistricting suit, probably costing the GOP 2-3 Congressional seats, 1-2 State Senate seats and probably a half-dozen State Rep seats.  Here is a good article about the state of this whole ludicrous process.  They are going to concede all of this- apparently to prevent the election being delayed into the summer months.  And they are doing it with a Friday-night ‘document dump’ revelation, to avoid getting any blowback from the rank-and file that might scuttle the deal, emulating the Obama administration in doing so.

Certainly we would ALL like the earlier primary date of April 3rd, to have more influence in the Presidential Primary cycle.  But that alone is not enough to justify giving up so many seats for a decade to maybe get a primary 2 months earlier (and before mandated conventions).

One other factor comes into play: the nature of the current races between ‘establishment’ and conservative ‘rebels’. In the top race of the the ticket; polling has had Dewhurst on top- but Ted Cruz gaining rapidly as his name recognition and positions become better known.  Other challenges across the state against long established officeholder are also gaining ground (like Matt Beebe against Straus).  Also, the non-Austin-beholding candidates in the open races are doing well (many open because ‘old hands’ fled from a combination of the upcoming challenges and the nightmare that the next session budgeting will be because of the HUGE mess left behind by the last session’s leadership).

An election held in the summer, even runoffs, are a distinct disadvantage for the ‘powers that be’, who require a lot of ‘casual’ voters that base their decisions on standard campaign material, rather than a more serious study of politics.   The ‘rebels’ would have more time for the grassroots approach to work its magic and turn out their more committed (but quantitatively lesser) supporters.

So, to save their bacon for now (ESPECIALLY the Senate seat), they will to cut a deal to the long-term detriment of conservatives nation-wide.  And for that, leadership- Party and elected- should pay a steep price.  If anyone locates a bunch of spines somewhere in the Austin area or principle lying on the streets of Austin, please return them to the GOP Headquarters for the owners to reclaim them.

The main hypocrisy here is that the redrawing of the lines has NOTHING to do with minority representation and EVERYTHING to do with Party representation.  If that were not true, why were the Democrat-drawn maps of the courts making it difficult for ethnic minorities like James White and Aaron Pena- who happen to be in the GOP- to be re-elected and at the same time designed to salvage Anglos like Sen. Davis and Rep. Doggett, who happen to be Democrat?  The dirty little secret is it is Republicans who sometimes elect minorities in Anglo-centric districts while it is the Democrat who sometimes elect Anglos in minority-centric districts.  THAT is something never brought before the courts- and should be as a sign that Section 5 should be done away with as a discriminatory practice based on ancient history no longer relevant.

If Texas districts were drawn for TRUE maximization of ethnic representation, there would be essentially NO Anglo democrats outside of Austin itself- and a significant number of minority GOP members.  But it’s REALLY all about DEMOCRAT power.  And the establishment Republicans are going to bow to that for their own purposes.

It appears that just maybe some people don’t think a couple hundred thousand people in Iowa and New Hampshire should control the electoral destiny of this nation.  And, while none of the candidate’s are perfect, each should be looked at clear-eyed, without the blinders the media and the political establishment in the Northeast would have us wear.  The presidential primary is only over if we want those two elite groups running things for us.

He has one individual who had the courage to run against this long-time incumbent; Bob Hall.  And there is no question of Bob Hall’s commitment to fiscal responsibility, as any conservative from the Dallas area out through East Texas.  Bob has been extremely active in the Tea Party movement, his calm and knowledgeable voice often heard at meetings, rallies and candidate forums.  A retired Air zForce veteren and aerospace engineer, the ‘Right’ Bob has the experience wisdom, and principles desperately needed in the Texas Senate.  So the North Texas Tea Party is proud to TeaApprove Bob Hall for Texas State Senate, District 2.

The North Texas Tea Party enthusiastically TeaApproves Ken Paxton for the State Senate, District 8

It will be a tough year to vet candidates for ‘TeaApproval‘; now that the Tea Parties have proven to have influence, EVERYONE will be persuasive in proclaiming they are the best champion of our 5 Principles.  But the bar will be higher this year; more emphasis will be placed on nonverbal information, on associations and actions- as well as will and determination to take on how ‘things are done’, which we realize is a major part of the inability to create REAL change. Emphasis will also be placed on an understanding of the office sought and how things function in the realm the office resides in.  Lastly , considerable consideration of candidate viability and whether a candidate has a winnable game plan in terms of strategy, organization, potential resources, and timely appplication of each.

The process is ongoing, but will be limited: there are a LOT of open seats (as the old hands run for the hills to avoid dealing with the mess they left behind) and therefore a LOT MORE candidates.  Only contested races will be considered this time around and the ones either most relevant or with the most impact.  Indeed, this year, the results of the process will not be set in stone, in many cases of non-officeholders, until all the associations (and their influence through campaign financing) are reviewed.

Naturally, additional candidates may appear or candidates may shift races or even drop out dependent on the finalized districts.  However, being more than one TeaApproval is possible in any given race (but efforts will be made to limit it this cycle), it changes nothing of the determination we will make before the districts are finalized.

A few determinations will be ‘slam-dunks’ and we’ll be announcing those quickly, with a little of the reasoning behind them.

Check back at this site for the announcements! (Or like our Facebook page to track it there)

A small group of us gathered to protest his message prior to his arrival.  And what we lacked in numbers, we made up with message:  CL Bryant was the finale but had the strongest message:

Anita Moncrief, who left Acorn in disgust, had a few words to say:

And a young lady named Adryana Boyne presented a Hispanic view:

And she also had a message for Spanish speakers:

And in a pinnacle of irony; They required IDs for anybody entering the building to hear Holder’s speech.

Mr. Fast-and-Furious, whose department is fighting Voter ID and our redistricting maps, cannot go uncontested in this unprecedented and historic misuse of power.  There will be a protest to contest this; the information is below.  We realize it is a weekday, but if you possibly can be there, please attend.  THIS IS IMPORTANT!  We need to have a strong turnout, primarily to show our state officials state that we strongly support their fight for Voter ID; if we don’t, they just might figure throwing in the towel is easier- and less politically costly.

If interested in a carpool, send an email here and we’ll try to put one together.

]]> http://northtexasteaparty.org/2011/12/10/eric-holder-coming-to-texas-to-politicize-the-office-of-ag/feed/ 1 Mike O holderrally http://northtexasteaparty.org/2011/12/10/redistricting-news-north-texas/ http://northtexasteaparty.org/2011/12/10/redistricting-news-north-texas/#comments Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:45:03 +0000 Mike O http://northtexasteaparty.org/?p=4262 ]]> UPDATE:  The GOP and the Democrats have agreed to push ALL the Primaries back to April 3rd and, this afternoon, the courts signed off on it.  Deadline for filing is December 19th at 6pm.  That filing deadline will be re-opened IF the courts draw different districts.

This will be a placeholder for now about additional news on the legislative districts relevant to North Texas.  For now, Here’s the news.

The Supreme Court has voided the Maps drawn by two San Antonio judges (they couldn’t even get agreement from the third judge on the panel).  They have NOT restored the maps the legislature came up with because that’s under consideration in another court. So right now, no one knows what the districts for Congress, State Senate or Stare Representative look like.  But the filing deadline has not yet been advanced.  It’s a royal mess, but will likely result in a decision for less judicial interference in the future.  Most likely, it will result in a split primary: Congressional, State Senate and State Representative races put off until May 22, the presidential and other primaries would stay on their March 6th date.

More information here from Scotusblog

Here is the Texas Tribune writeup

As a side note, the Supreme Court probably felt they HAD to intervene since the Judicial maps was less involved in enhancing minority representation than in enhancing Democrat representation.  Doubling up an African-American and assuring that a Hispanic lost his potential for re-election because they belonged to the wrong Party (James White and Aaron Pena), at the same time restoring winnable district to Anglo Democrats like State Senator Davis and Congressman Lloyd Doggett, could not possibly be justified.under the Civil Rights Act.