Name 3 primary reasons why you are running for RPT Chair (i.e. including what changes, if any, are needed).
Three primary reasons I am running for RPT Chair are:
1) I have the legislative experience needed to pass the RPT Platform into law. Having worked as Legisaltive Affairs director at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Executive Director and General Counsel of the Texas Freedom Caucus, and Chief of Staff and General Counsel for Texas Senator Kevin Sparks, I have a long career of working on RPT priorities and getting them passed. We need a chairman who will take the time to not only testify on platform priorities during the Legislative Session, but sit with legislators and convince them to 1) vote for the bill and 2) hold the line in not watering the bills down.
2) I have the experience as a grassroots leader to make sure the voice of the grassroots is heard in the Legislature. Through my time as a precinct chair, SD Convention Chair, and CD Convention Chair, I have worked through and with the Texas GOP on many different levels. Although I know the ins and outs of the Legislature, I have experience speaking for the grassroots and delegates when it comes to the Legislature. When I was Freedom Caucus Director, I was on the phone or in person with grassroots Texans across the state nearly every single day. This also gave me a bank of connections for recruitment for up and down ballot positions in Texas, all of which need to be filled by members of the Texas GOP.
3) Because of my experience, I have a unique ability that has been tried and tested of bringing legislative camps and grassroots individuals into a room to hammer out a plan for victory for our priorities. During my time as the Freedom Caucus Director, we met with grassroots leaders and legislators daily to help pass Constitutional Carry, a ban on DEI/CRT in public schools, a ban on men competing in girls' sports, and the start of Election Integrity reform. I would do the same as GOP Chair, but would be in a much better position to be able to influence Legislation in that regard.
Do you believe in the Texas Republican Party Platform? Do you feel it should be downsized? Please explain.
I do believe in the platform. It is a bit lengthy, and I have heard some propositions for reform. Personally I believe it should be based more on principles rather than extraordinarily specific items. I like to say that our platform should take the U.S. Constitution appraoch, which is based more on principles and restrictions, than the Texas Constitution approach, which contains over 500 amendments. However ultimately, I will adhere to what the delegates at the convention decide, as is the job of the State GOP Chair. I do believe that in recent years we have neglected to work on the rest of the Platform as the Legislative Priorities have gotten most of the attention. I believe that we can "walk and chew gum" in that regard. It is not uncommon for me to personally work on 100+ bills during the Legislative Session and I would do the same as State GOP Chair regardless of what we decide to do with our platform.
The election process in choosing a House Speaker appears to be broken. What can you do to fiix it?
The Contract with Texas, which suggests many changes to the House rules, is a good start in Speaker election reform. But ultimately, the issue is a constitutional question. The Texas Constitution, in Art. III, Section 9, states that "the House of Representatives shall, when it first assembles, organize temporarily, and thereupon proceed to the election of a Speaker from its own members." The problem with the jockeying in the Speaker's race is that at any given moment (and especially when the party divide is close like it is right now--only eleven seats in between the Democrats taking charge of the House), a small group of moderate Republicans can easily side with the Democrat Caucus and prevail over the rest of the Republicans. Perhaps changing the Constitutional rule to reflect that each party chooses their own nominee for speaker, and the body elects from that pool of two nominees, would greatly disincentivize Republican office holders from going rogue and making a deal with Democrats. Regardless, we must be creative moving forward in solving this problem.
Do you believe the Texas Election Code should be removed from the Party Rules and if so, why?
Yes. The Republican Party of Texas is a private organization and has rights to freedom of association under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
What should be the legislative priorities for the coming session?
Personally, I believe these eight issues should be priorities. But to be clear I will follow whatever the delegates choose at the Convention!
1. Put God back in our public schools. This is not routinely discussed as a priority, but I have worked on bills like this in the past and believe they can pass. If we start with God, I truly believe all else will fall in line, and He will give us the strength and fortitute to do what needs to be done to get our state and country back on track. Some argue that this goes against U.S. Supreme Court precedent. It does, but we'll never right the ship if we don't try. The Supreme Court is currently in a great position to reverse some of its terrible decisions from the past, but it cannot do so without states like Texas taking bold stances like putting God back in public schools.
2. Ban Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying. Taxpayer-funded lobbyists take your tax dollars and nearly always oppose GOP priorities with them. Why this must end is self explanatory, and eliminating this immoral practice would solve a lot of problems with that.
3. Ban Democrat Chairs in both Chambers. This would need to be done by rule, so we would need to be ready to implement on day one of session, but it would go far in allowing other priorities to pass.
4. Secure the Border and Send the Federal Government the Bill. For too long our border has allowed unfettered access to illegal immigrants. We need to continue using creating ways to close the border (unfortunately using our own resources), but then we need to sue the Federal Government for those funds. It is their job to secure the border, and we deserve to recoup the billions of dollars we're spending on doing their job.
5. Secure our Elections. After we close the border, we must secure our elections from those illegal immigrats who are already here. Many people don't realize how incredibly easy it is for an illegal immigrant to sign up to vote--even in Texas. There are simple changes that can be made to the Election Code that would achieve this. We must also seriously consider eliminating voting machines, as these have proven over time to be hackable, unreliable, and ripe for manipulation.
6. Eliminate Property Taxes. This proposal would be daunting, but it needs to be done. Too many Texans are losing their homes, many of which have been in their families for generations, simply because they can't keep up with the government rent. Texans should be able to own their property and not risk losing it because they miss a few payments to the government. Many point out that we won't be able to collect the same amount of taxes under a different taxing scheme. I don't believe this is true as there are reports by the Texas Public Policy Foundation that only a small increase in sales tax would be needed to recoup the same amount of taxes under our current property tax system. But even if it was true--government should learn to live within its means, just as we do.
7. Parental Empowerment in Education. Our public school system in Texas is in shambles. Tax dollars should not belong to corrupt ISDs, but rather to the parents of the children that attend them. If the money follows the child, rather than the District, ISDs will have a much greater incentive to not waste tax dollars. There are several different proposals out there on how to achieve this, but one thing I think all can agree upon is the broken nature of ISDs. Parents must be able to choose where their children attend school, and should not have to pay for failing schools.
8. Remove the Defense to Prosecution for Sale, Distribution, or Display of Harmful Material to a Minor. Hand in hand with parental empowerment is this removal of the loophole allowing educators to distribute or display harmful materials to minors. Public school teachers are becoming more and more immoral in their interactions with their students, but all a teacher has to say in many instances is that they were sharing harmful material for educational purposes. There is not reason whatsoever that educators should be distributing or displaying harmful, often pornographic material to minors, and we should eliminate this exception.
Should Texas GOP limit their elected officials to 8 years or less from the same office, even though it will force some good candidates to leave an office?
I believe that term limits can be effective against officeholder corruption. However, we must be mindful that states like California have term limits, and they have obviously not solved their problems. In those cases, the lobby ends up taking control of the process, which is worse. I believe there is a way to implement term limits to avoid these pitfalls, but it will require much thoughtful consideration when drafting and passing the Constitutional Amendment that will provide for them.
Should the Republican Party close its primaries. Why or why not?
Yes. We cannot have Democrats voting in Republican elections. They do this to the extent that it affects who gets elected in under our party's banner. I have seen multiple calls from Democratic organizations and even the Democratic Party itself calling for crossover voting in primaries. Sometimes they are successful and we get moderate or even liberal Republicans who prevail over Republicans who adhere to our platform. It explains why our platform priorities have been so unsuccessful in passing in recent years. This shouldn't be allowed, and the way to prevent it is to close primaries.
The SREC is tasked with enforcing the Rules adopted at the last convention. Have they done their jobs and if not, what & why not and how can you fix it?
I believe the SREC has done its job in enforcing the rules adopted at the last convention. They have censured Republican officials who have refused to adhere to the party platform. They have taken up resolutions from the county level to address various issues that have come up from the grassroots. They have addressed several controversial issues in a thoughtful and respective manner. The SREC is somewhat divided and I believe that is partly because Republicans in general are independent-minded. Thoughtful and respectful division is a feature, not a bug, of our party. I would like to foster more civil discourse moving forward and to implement that, constant communication is key.
Are you willing to call out Legislators that will not support the Party Platform?
Absolutely. As Freedom Caucus Director, I oftentimes did just that. Legislators have no business running under the GOP name if they plan on voting like Democrats when elected. Reasonable minds can differ on details in the platform (I probably won't go after someone who says the tax rate should be 1.55% rather than 1.5%, if the platform says so), but when we're talking about subtantive issues such as pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, lower taxes, election integrity, etc., then they should certainly be called out.
At an SREC meeting, if a motion was up for petitioning the State of Texas to release RPT from state law, in exchange for the State of Texas not providing tax funds to defray election costs, would you vote for or against? Why?
I would vote for it. One, because the RPT should be released from state law--it is the right thing to do. And secondly, and most importantly, because I sincerely believe that God provides when we follow His path to do the right thing. Right now, division is being caused in our party due to our primaries being open for anyone, even Democrats, under state law. That has led to an erosion of our party's influence on the State of Texas. Our party is based on biblical values, and those values should not be eroded. If we follow the right path and do the right thing, God will provide the funds necessary to conduct an election.
As a Republican, if you had to give up one of the following core principles, which one would you select first and why?
a. pro-life;
b. 10% reduction in state, fed, local spending;
c. 2nd amendment;
d. illegal immigration;
e. foreign bases;
f. 10th amendment
I would give up foreign bases. I do believe that we need a strong military, and that we can keep a "peace through strength" attitude. But oftentimes, these bases become bloated areas of budgetary spending that simply serve to line the pockets of military contractors. I would certainly not want to eliminate all foreign bases, but with the 1000+ bases we currently control, perhaps we could downsize a bit while still maintaining an effective deterrent against hostile nations.
