Kathy Haigler was our 2nd hour guest on The Christian Politician radio talk show on yesterday. She gave some fabulous yet disturbing statistics that reveal a very real problem with the Harris County Republican Party. These statistics give us a major key to why the Democrats feel they have the right to label Harris County "blue".
It's not only the fact that they pretty much swept the election of November 4, 2008. But when you study the simple but telling numbers dealing with precinct chair vacancies within the county, party vs. party, you suddenly understand that on the line of scrimmage of local politics, the D's are controlling purely through numbers and effort.
Digest these numbers:
Senatorial District 4, the GOP has a 39.3% pct.chair vacancy rate vs. the D's 21.4% vacancy rate, in a 67% GOP voting district.
Senatorial District 6, the GOP has a 78% pct. chair vacancy rate vs. the D's 55.3% vacancy rate, in a 37% GOP voting district.
Senatorial District 7, the GOP has a 22.6% pct. chair vacancy rate vs. the D's 20.1% vacancy rate, in a 73% GOP voting district.
Senatorial District 11, the GOP has a 40.5% pct. chair vacancy rate vs. the D's 13.5% vacancy rate in a 64% GOP voting district.
Senatorial District 13, the GOP has a 66.1% pct. chair vacancy rate vs. the D's 26.1% vacancy rate, in a 28% GOP voting district.
Senatorial District 15, the GOP has 60.4% pct. chair vacancy rate vs. the D's 32.9% vacancy rate, in a 48% GOP voting district.
Senatorial District 17, the GOP has 34.2% pct. chair vacancy rate vs. the D's 12.7% vacancy rate, in a 60% GOP voting district.
County wide party vs. party, the GOP has a 48.7% pct. chair vacancy rate while the D's have a 26% vacancy rate.
The GOP can't have, nor can they reasonably expect to have a "grassroots movement' in the immediate and distant future when they don't even have roots in the grass! The precinct chairs are expected to be the front line activist of a political party. The Democrats are more active, more effective, more dangerous, more successful because they have the most essential component of activism in place -- the brigades of precinct chairs. The GOP does not!
In a fit of denial, our leadership can continually point to the "Obama Tsunami" as the reason why Harris County has "flipped". But the "Truth in Black & Right" is that the political infrastructure conditions on the ground in Harris County were ripe for a small wave to flood the electorate, never mind a tsunami!
Despite all of this, remember: It's Cool To Be In The GOP!
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It is "cool to be in the GOP"! Thank you for all your hard work to grow the Republican party. The Dem.'s are working 10 times harder and smarter than us and if everyone doesn't wake up, we will be exterminated by the Dem. machine, it has no sense of true right and wrong, no thought of pleasing the God of the bible, no pity for the unborn. It is said of the rep.'s that they are the 'money grabbers' and so on, but who has all the money(power)? It is the Dem.'s, look at Obama's coffers! Wake up!!!
ReplyDeleteHmmm , it is evident from the polls that democrats seek to destroy and have no concept of work. Guidelines, training, and reliability does not exist among the ranks of the democrats. Trying to do the work of both parties during the election make it hard to recruit Republican Precinct Chairs ... maybe it is time for the third party to step forward.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for, as Kathy said on air, a two-person leadership structure in the precincts. Let's recruit people to work the ground, and separate people to run the elections. Why stop at one?
ReplyDeleteYea!!! The new third party??? The party of Black and Right!!!
ReplyDeleteYou have to have a party leader who understands the need for precinct chair slots to be filled. The Harris County party does not have a leader right now. Missed the show being referred to, but interested in the topic anyway.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking as a Galveston County precinct chair (but very near Harris County), I was able to see WHO VOTED (because I got the book on Sunday) and then call all my friends and neighbors in the precinct (who hadn't) and ENCOURAGED THEM TO VOTE. If precinct chairs did only that much, they could make a BIG difference. It was just small things like that that made Galveston County a net "winner" whereas we know what happened in Harris.
ReplyDeleteTerry said....
ReplyDeleteI have been involved as a conservative for many years. My beginning was as a "wall builder" through the Nehemiah Project at Second Baptist!! I am both Precinct Chair and Election Judge, lots of people showed up at the convention at close of polls and talked a big story, but when the rubber hits the road they are not to be found. It always come down to the "few"! I am very happy and proud of my involvement and will continue to fight the fight for conservatism!
In regard to contacting my voters, I received thank you calls for reaching out to them!!
Terry - Point well made, we need more people like you across this county, and we need someone leading the party who will appreciate and empower the work you and others like you do. We don't have that leader now, so who's next?
ReplyDeleteI'm in senate district 7. My precinct has had a " chair" who never shows. At the primary vote, he didn't even set up the voting site. There was a last minute scramble to do his job. We've asked the leader to replace him, and suggested a name, but nothing. It's disgusting.
ReplyDeleteSally, make sure your new pick runs against the current chair in 2010! You may not be able to do much except have the person you support start meeting voters in the precinct and building a base of support right now. However, keep in touch with the County Clerk's office and get the election judge training for everyone who's interested. It makes a stronger case for a contested precinct chair election. Then campaign (it won't take much of that!) and get the new person elected!
ReplyDeleteI agree with most all that is being said. It is my feeling that precinct chairs need help. That is why I volunteered for the Training & Development Committee of HCRP. We had a training seminar scheduled but had to cancel due to Ike. Sorry about that. Our chair has not rescheduled a meeting at this point. We have talked about another training seminar in May. Check the HCRP calendar. Wishing you all a blessed Christmas...
ReplyDeleteJoann101
I'm a Precinct Chair and had a guy run against me for the job in the primaries. I asked him on election day, when I met him for the first time, if he could help. His answer, "Well I gotta get back to work". They want to get the glory of being a Precinct Chair but no responsibility of doing the job, i.e. run elections. That requires a new generation of people who will be more dedicated to the process.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to all.
ReplyDeleteGoodbye Hamas. Long live the State of Isreal.
ReplyDeleteAs a good Christian, always support a state that does not let its citizens launch rockets on a neighboring state. Do Americans fire rockets into Mexico? If American thugs were to fire rockets into Mexico, and the US Government were to do nothing about it, what do you think the Mexican Government would do after a while? The Jews in Isreal are only doing what the Christians in Mexico would do if someone were to fire rockets on them. And if anyone were to fire rockets at the US.......
ReplyDeleteDear Apostle Claver, Wow! You have sure challenged some Big Guns to come on the show! I hope that Mr. Berry, and Mr. X will come on. This is what we need to have happen more voices being heard in the debate on how to achieve the CHANGE in the Republican party.
ReplyDeleteI will certainly be looking forward to your show and will continue to listen as much as possible.
Happy and Blessed New Year
Mr. KAMAU-IMANI,
ReplyDeleteWhere does one get those numbers for the "chairs"?
Is it the Republican party?
Pardon my ignorance, I guess that explains the problem.... :(
The information can be retrieved from the HCRP website where all the pct. chairs are listed. This information came from a party "wonk" that crunches all these numbers and has been doing it for years. She's an insider's insider and likes all these types of things.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I live in Bexar County (San Antonio) actually, so I just emailed the GOP here to see if they have any vacancies.
ReplyDeleteI'll keep you updated on what the scoop is.
The Republican party does have to shape up, get energized and actually stand on principles in order to attract the younger ones, but certainly a grass roots effort (with actual grass) is where it needs to start.
The tricky challenge is overcoming the path of least resistance, both in the micro and the macro (individually and corporately.
It's that lazy gene in the human condition that says, "Well things aren't all THAT bad are they?" And, "Do we really have to do this?"