A Final Update on the Precinct Chair Filings

Well, the filing deadline for the Republican Primary has passed, and the campaign season is upon us. Soon I will be out on the campaign trail, but my focus for the last two weeks has been on our precinct chair predicament—we don’t have enough precinct chairs now, and not enough incumbent chairs were re-filing for their seats. As some of you may know, I’ve been posting updates about this issue on this website and on the Big Jolly Politics website.

When we started the year, we had about 450 precincts filled out of 874 precincts in the county. As of last night at 9:50 p.m., the HCRP posted that we had filings in about 454 precincts out of 885 precincts (11 new precincts were created last year). On the surface, one could say that we had not lost ground, but that really isn’t the whole story.

Through the remarkable efforts of many people and several organizations (especially those people connected with the local Tea Party movement), who recruited precinct chairs by focusing on filling vacant seats in order to expand the reach of the party, and who conducted training seminars for prospective chairs, 181 new people filed to become precinct chairs in Harris County. Again, this was a phenomenal effort and result. The net result meant that about 70 previously vacant precincts would now have GOP precinct chairs.

So what happened? Well, about 27% of the existing precinct chairs—more than 120—chose not to re-file. Therefore, many of our new recruits filed in occupied precincts just to maintain our presence in that precinct. The net result is that at least 60 occupied precincts will have new chairs, while 64 occupied precincts will become vacant.

That's such a shame--and a waste of a tremendous opportunity the HCRP had to expand its reach with all of this new energy. I know that Donna Boharich has worked very hard and deserves a lot of credit for getting the HCRP focused on the primary--this was not her problem to address, and the result is not her fault. Moreover, I have learned that an effort indeed was made in mid-December to finally contact the precinct chairs that had not already filed to find out what they were doing and to remind them to file, but that type of effort, just before the holidays, was too little too late.

I know that I seem like a broken record, but where was the incumbent Chair, our paid Executive Director, and the rest of the Richmond Avenue team on this issue all last year? Why weren't they canvassing the incumbents to determine who was going to run again, and then actively working to keep their seats filled? Why weren't they using their new-found attraction to the internet, and to Townhall audiences, to recruit precinct chairs? It isn't that hard. I was on the phone and using emails to make sure that a few of the precinct chairs who I knew had not re-filed were finding replacements, and that their replacements would file by the deadline yesterday--and that was just with a weekend's effort. Think of what could have been done with a concerted, focused effort by the current team over a period of months. While they were out performing to Townhall audiences and putting the incumbent's face on Voter Guides that were of no benefit to the party—and we were out recruiting new precinct chairs to fill the vacant seats—no one was minding the organization--and it failed once again. Another lost opportunity.

So why is any of this important? There are at least three reasons we should care about this predicament:

1. The precinct chairs are the "roots" of our grassroots organization. We can not grow the party without expanding our base into every neighborhood, and we will never permanently expand into every neighborhood unless we have a chair in every precinct where there are potential Republican voters. They form part of our farm team, and help find others to run for office in their communities to form the farm team; they help with ballot and election security; and they form the frontline that mobilizes our voters to vote and participate in our convention process.

2. The whole purpose of expanding the party is to elect Republicans, and there is a 7% average differential in turnout between those competitive precincts where we have a chair and those where we do not. Of the 64 currently-occupied precincts that we did not re-fill, we were competitive in all but a handful of them in the 2008 general election, and at least 27 of those precincts voted strongly Republican in that election. Of those 27 precincts, 11 had turnouts between 72% and 80%. A 7% drop in turnout in those precincts could spell disaster for our ticket this fall. It is clear that the presence of an effective precinct chair is key to our get-out-the-vote effort.

and

3. It is more difficult to recruit and approve precinct chairs outside the primary process. Because of the current Vacancy Committee process, coupled with the chronic failure to get a quorum of precinct chairs to attend the quarterly Executive Committee meetings, it is not unusual for a candidate to go a half year of more before he or she is approved to be a precinct chair. This drawn-out process is adding to our inability to put the "boots on the ground" we need to fight the Democrats.

I hope that the HCRP will place a priority on filling these 64 vacancies as soon as possible. To fill these chairs quickly, I propose that that the party immediately create a task force to focus on filling these seats as soon as possible, which must include creation of a “fast-track” process for expediting the candidates through the Vacancy Committee and approval process. We simply don't have the luxury to allow this process to drag-out for months, or even half a year or more, before these seats get filled.

In the meantime, I will continue working with the groups I have been working with to find precinct chair candidates for the remaining seats that the party historically has left vacant, and we will direct them to the Vacancy Committee.

To everyone who filed, and to everyone who worked so hard to bring new applicants into this process--thank you. Let's now get down to the hard work of rebuilding this party.