Recently, I had the privilege of speaking to the Bay Area Republican Women's Club ("BARWC"), an affiliated member of the Texas Federation of Republican Women ("TFRW"). As anyone who has ever been involved with the party knows, the secret to the GOP’s electoral success is the hard work and dedication of its women—as volunteers, as organizers, as fundraisers, and as candidates. The indispensable vehicle for mobilizing our women has been our Republican Women’s Clubs. Unfortunately, what I observed as a candidate during the last election cycle was a disconnection between many of the TFRW clubs in Harris County and the operation of the HCRP during the last election cycle.
The analogy I’ve used to describe this disconnection is to an old pocket watch. For a pocket watch to work, the gears must not only turn, they must engage each other. During the last election cycle, our clubs and party organization functioned like a watch in which the gears are all moving, but none of them engage each other. The outcome was predictable. Now, the gears need to be re-engaged for us to re-capture Harris County for the GOP.
Therefore, during my recent speech I outlined my proposal to restore the historic role of our women’s clubs in the operation of the HCRP as part of my strategic plan. To restore that role, I’ve specifically proposed the following:
*Inclusion in the governance of the HCRP. I intend to revise the structure of the HCRP’s Advisory Board to dedicate 4 of the 15 seats on the board to representatives of the TFRW Clubs located in Harris County. The proposal is that each of the four seats will be assigned to clubs located in each of the county commissioners’ precincts, and the seats themselves will rotate among the clubs in each precinct on an annual basis. Therefore, no club or region will be allowed to dominate involvement on the board, or be left out of involvement on the board. I promise that the final design of this plan will be decided after consultation with the President of the Greater Houston Council of the TFRW.
*Providing the core of our volunteer staff. As part of the effort to get local chapters of all of the affiliated clubs working with the HCRP again, I will ask the TFRW clubs to establish a volunteer staff to provide for continuous, open operation of the headquarters office, and any and all satellite offices in the county, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week throughout the year. During the 60 days leading up to and including the early vote and Election Day, the operation of these offices should be staffed at least 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. As part of this effort, I will ask the TFRW to work with the HCRP to design and implement local programs, like after-school activities, adult education classes and citizenship classes, which can be conducted in future satellite offices.
*Direct involvement in the GOTV effort. In consultation with the President of the Greater Houston Council of the TFRW, and the presidents of the TFRW clubs throughout Harris County, the new Vice Chair (Director) of Campaign Support will work with the clubs to coordinate volunteer participation with campaigns and the party’s mobilization and get-out-the-vote efforts.
*Inclusion in the communication loop within the party organization. As affiliated organizations develop online, the HCRP will link the TFRW club websites and social networking sites into the secure intranet to be developed for the party, in order to facilitate communication and coordination among campaigns, precinct chairs and club members in preparation for, and during the 13-day get-out-the-vote effort. These links will create “virtual” satellite offices that are linked into the full menu of online party communications and organizations.
*Cooperation to expand our outreach through electronic technology. The HCRP will work with our affiliated clubs, including the TFRW clubs, to promote the creation of new online “virtual” clubs as part of an effort to embrace younger voters. Many people under 35 years of age spend hours socializing and networking with others online in ways that mimic the ways we and our parents used our Republican clubs and community service organizations. We need to try and harness this energy and socialization to our advantage by learning to incorporate these new networking methods into the culture of our historic club-based organizational structure.
*Inclusion in the training process. The HCRP will develop and implement a Candidate Training Seminar and a Consultant Training Seminar, with the help of affiliated clubs, including the TFRW clubs. These seminars should provide consistent training in campaign technology, marketing and get-out-the-vote activities to all prospective candidates and their consultants. Access to this seminar should then be provided on a quarterly basis in the future.
*Coordination of candidate forums. The HCRP will include the TFRW clubs in the scheduling of formal candidate forums during the primary season.
*Involvement in the creation of a sustaining-donor fundraising campaign. The HCRP will ask the clubs to coordinate an annual fundraising drive for the party during the spring of each year to augment our development of a sustaining base of small and medium-size contributors for the party.
*Providing staff for our "war room" to respond to media stories. The HCRP will develop an online virtual “war-room” through the new interactive website. The purpose of the war-room will be to serve as a fast-paced clearinghouse of information that would provide precinct chairs and activists with quick responses to negative stories about Republican candidates and policies after the stories appear in local media and on liberal blogs. Our activists can then use this information to rebut these stories when talking with our voters, and to send rebuttals to the media and blogs. We will ask members of our TFRW clubs to help staff this war room, and to mentor young, computer-savvy volunteers who we also will recruit.
*Involvement in the public promotion of the party and its principles. The HCRP will develop a media plan to re-educate voters about our principles and to promote our message. This plan will include the creation of short spots on local media and the Internet, including radio and TV stations that service our Target Outreach Communities, in which noted spokespersons and party officials discuss the application of our principles to real issues. We will ask our TFRW clubs to provide volunteers to help prepare, produce and participate in these spots.
*Involvement in the process of meeting and registering new voters. When schools start in August of each year, the HCRP needs to have representatives on those campuses talking to the new incoming students. When new housing developments start to sell homes, or when occupancy permits are issued, we should be there with a welcome basket of sorts (including voter-registration forms). When a new business opens, we should greet the new entrepreneur with our message and our best wishes. I will work with the President of the Greater Houston Council of the TFRW clubs, and the presidents of the local TFRW clubs in Harris County to provide volunteers to staff this project.
*Support for GOTV in cross-county races. Finally, as part of a new coordination effort with adjacent counties with which we share overlapping congressional, legislative and judicial districts, the new Vice Chair (Director) of Campaign Support will work with the President of the Greater Houston Council of the TFRW clubs, and the presidents of the local TFRW clubs in those affected districts, to help with joint, cross-county mobilization and get-out-the-vote efforts.
In addition to these proposed steps, I and the members of the new leadership team will include the President of the Greater Houston Council of the TFRW in our consultations as we develop and implement our reform agenda for the HCRP. I am confident that if we work together, we will restore the prominence of the GOP in Harris County. I look forward to that effort.
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