Establishment vs. Grassroots, a battle between the “Political Elite” or “We the People” at the 2024 Texas GOP Convention
An Interview With Chairman Matt Rinaldi [CyFair4Liberty Summary: Rinaldi, having been a Texas Representative, knows full well the politics in Austin and of course how much power the Speaker wields, built on a coalition with the Democrats. Rinaldi’s strategy has been to hold Republican’s accountable, prioritize Republican legislation and reduce the power of the speaker across the Republican caucus.]
WHAT IS AT STAKE AT THE TEXAS STATE CONVENTION?
Dear Delegates and Alternates:
You can expect to meet 8,000-9,000 other delegates at the Texas GOP Convention beginning Monday, May 20th, having critical votes begin on Thursday, May 23rd and continuing through Saturday. At the center of many of the debates and elections you will find points of view between establishment and grassroots. In many cases, differentiating between them is not obvious. So, please talk amongst your peers, take a good look at endorsements, as they can also tell us a lot about the candidates.
Corporate, big money donors have had significant control of the Texas House. By facilitating the coordination of a few Republicans and the Democrat caucus, they have built a coalition that kills bills they do not like. To hell with the voice of “We the People”. CyFair4Liberty PAC (CF4L) supports the grassroots. Below are some links and quotes that support our position. We hope they will help you in making your decisions as well.
The Devil’s Bargain: How Texans for Lawsuit Reform “Lost Their Way”
“It’s not just TLR; I think it’s corporate America,” he explained. “Over the last 10 or 20 years they’ve gone from being basically a Republican party surrogate, supporter of tort reform, to now they support a lot of woke policies. They are distancing themselves from Republicans, particularly conservative Republicans.” Mark Pulliam, a retired attorney and longtime ally of Texans for Lawsuit Reform
The Status Quo: How the Establishment Exerts Control Over an Increasingly Conservative State
“TLR views those Democrat chairs as useful to kill the bills that they don’t want. And so if you are able to be placed into a position of power and called upon by TLR, for some purpose, at some point in time, they probably find Democrat chairs useful.” Attorney Mitch Little, HD65 Primary Challenger and Winner, also Ken Paxton’s impeachment lawyer
WHAT IS AT STAKE AT THE TEXAS STATE CONVENTION?
The Coup: How Texans Dodged an Attempt to Kill Their Power in 2023
“They’re trying to help [House Speaker] Dade Phelan keep control, and they’re helping the Democrats who control the Texas House,” he argued. “They are duplicitous and they’re dishonest about what they actually are trying to do.” Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton
Directionless: Power for Power’s Sake
“A high percentage of House members depend on TLR for most of their money, they don’t depend on their constituents. They don’t depend on the people who elect them, and so they don’t listen to them. They listen to TLR.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
https://texasscorecard.com/investigations/directionless-power-for-powers-sake/
Millions Pour Into Austin Swamp Campaigns [CyFair4Liberty summary: The Republican establishment has invested heavily, much more than originally estimated, in establishment candidates, many of which are aligned with the Speaker’s “inner circle”, voted to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton, and/or voted against School Choice.]
Hubris: The Texas Kingmakers [CyFair4Liberty summary: History of the heavy influence of corporate donor class on establishment and the formation of a coalition with the democrat caucus.]
WHAT IS AT STAKE AT THE TEXAS STATE CONVENTION?
The Texas Heist | Do Democrats Run The Texas House? [CyFair4Liberty summary: How a coalition of a few Republicans and the Democrat caucus kill’s conservative legislation that the establishment donor class does not support.]
After the Heist [CyFair4Liberty summary: Examples of the impact the grassroots has had on legislators and the primary once the Texas Heist was exposed, e.g., legislators held accountable for their actions.]
Texas GOP RPT Chair Candidate Forum [CyFair4Liberty summary: One of several forums across Texas with the RPT Chair candidates, attempting to get to the key differences among the candidates.]
Contract with Texas [CyFair4Liberty summary: A contract that lists some initial ideas that will reduce the power of Speaker, and therefore improve “We the People” representation.]
Texas GOP RPT Direction [CyFair4Liberty summary: A thoughtful and salient perspective of the WAR between the grassroots versus the Establishment and how that plays out in future policy via the future RPT head]
Texas GOP RPT Results [CyFair4Liberty summary: An election analysis where the more establishment incumbents did not fare as well as the more conservative challengers. Much of this success can be attributed to the RPT head who shined a light on Republicans acting like democrats in the legislature.]
QUESTIONS
Do you support the ideas in the Contract with Texas? [CyFair4Liberty summary: If they are not familiar with this, they are probably a “No” vote. If they are familiar with it, but don’t give you a concrete answer on whether or not they support, they are probably a “No” vote.]
Did you ever support the attempted impeachment of Ken Paxton? [CyFair4Liberty summary: If they admit it, they are a “No” vote. Remember, it was the establishment, donor class that was heavily influencing the move to impeach Paxton.]
Did you ever donate or receive donations from Texans for Lawsuit Reform? [CyFair4Liberty summary: If they admit it, they are a “No” vote. Remember, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, although at one time doing good for Texans, has been at the center of controlling the Speaker by leveraging the Democrat caucus.]
You can validate yourself with who has donated to Texans for Lawsuit Reform here:
https://www.transparencyusa.org/tx/committee/texans-for-lawsuit-reform-pac-28135-gpac
What are your thoughts on Dade Phelan, good or bad for Texas? [CyFair4Liberty summary: If you get an answer or word salad that simply doesn’t clearly indicate “bad”, they are a “No” vote.
Did you publicly support [CANDIDATE NAME] in the Republican primary? [CyFair4Liberty summary: Especially for House District races, e.g., Dade Phelan vs. David Covey in HD21, replace CANDIDATE NAME with either the incumbent or the challenger. If you know where the incumbent stands with the Dade Phelan, establishment, vote to impeach Paxton, relationship with Texans for Lawsuit Reform, their answer will be a clue to their alignment with grassroots or the establishment.]
CONCLUSIONS & ENDORSMENTS
CyFair4Liberty Conclusion and Endorsements
CyFair4Liberty is founded by grassroots, foundationally based on strong a biblical worldview and the Constitution of the United States. Based on much of the above information, as well as local knowledge in Senate District 7, CyFair4Liberty has endorsed the following candidates:
• RPT Chair: Abraham George - https://abrahamgeorge.com
• RPT Vice Chair: D’rinda Randall - https://www.randallfortexas.com
• SD7 SREC Committeeman: Ralph Fite - https://ralphfite4texas.com
• SD7 SREC Committeewoman: Deborah Fite - https://deborahfite4texas.com
• RNC Committeeman: Dr. Robin Armstrong - https://robinarmstrongrnc.com
• RNC Committeewoman: Debbie Georgatos - https://debbieg4rnc.com
We thank all candidates for their courage and fortitude to run and pray they will continue to remain in the fight regardless of the outcome of these elections.
2024 RPT Legislative Priorities
1. Border Enforcement - To repel invasion and deter illegal immigration:
- Creating a Texas Department of Homeland Security to prevent illegal entry and trafficking, and to deport illegal aliens to Mexico or to their nations of origin.
- Prohibiting, with mandatory fines and jail time, individuals, corporations, non-profits, governments, and social media entities from assisting or inciting illegal entry.
- Requiring the use of E-Verify by all employers in Texas with significant penalties for business owners who violate this requirement.
- Ending all subsidies and public services, including in-state college tuition and enrollment in public schools, for illegal aliens, except for emergency medical care.
2. Secure Texas Elections - Securing elections from each citizen’s registration to the final count of legal votes by:
- Requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.
- Requiring the Counties and the Secretary of State to update the voter rolls at least quarterly.
- Requiring a mandatory photo ID for every election, without exception.
- Restricting mail-in ballots to disabled, military, and eligible citizens who are out of their county for the entire voting period.
- Using only hand-marked, sequentially numbered paper ballots on anti-counterfeiting paper that are signed on the back by the election official at the voting location.
- Standardizing in-person voting, with early voting limited to a period of no longer than nine (9) days, no gap before Election Day, and assigned-precinct voting locations only.
- Counting ballots in precinct using a dumb-scanner method as soon as the ballot is returned by the voter and with publication of the results prior to submission to the County.
- Closing party primaries for only registered Republicans.
- Explicitly codifying the ability of the Attorney General to prosecute violations of the Election Code.
- Removing existing Secretary of State waivers to comply with current Election Code.
3. Stop Sexualizing Texas’ Kids - Stopping the sexualization of minors, which leads to abuse, exploitation, and trafficking, by:
- Prohibiting taxpayer funding to any entities that permit or promote sexually inappropriate content to minors and legislatively banning instruction on sexual orientation and gender ideology in schools and libraries.
- Repealing affirmative defenses in Texas Penal Code (43.24, 43.25) and redefining “harmful materials” to remove loopholes provided by the modified Miller Test.
- Establishing an independent Inspector General for Education to investigate fraud, waste, abuse, and criminal conduct within schools and refer findings to prosecutorial authorities.
- Compelling superintendents to report sex crimes within schools to outside law enforcement and removing immunity from civil liability for schools and their employees.
4. No Democrat Chairs - The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature shall end the practice of awarding committee chairmanships to Democrats and require all committees to be majority Republican.
5. Ban Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying - Prohibiting all forms of taxpayer-funded lobbying, including the use of tax dollars to hire lobbyists and payment of tax dollars to associations that lobby the Legislature.
6. Secure the Electric Grid - Securing the integrity of Texas electricity production and delivery of abundant, reliable, and resilient energy, ensuring that the Texas grid can withstand any natural or manmade threat to include weather, cyber, physical, electromagnetic pulse (EMP), and geomagnetic disturbances (GMD).
7. Texas is Not for Sale - Banning the sale of real property in Texas, and discontinuing taxpayer funding and incentives, to governments, entities, and proxies of China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, and to individuals from these nations who are not legal permanent residents or citizens of the United States.
8. End Federal Overreach - Resisting unconstitutional federal acts and mandates that restrict transportation, including mandatory kill switches in vehicles, road diets, and restrictions on the owner’s right to repair vehicles and equipment. Ensuring that Texans have medical freedom and can give or withhold consent for any vaccine or medical treatment without coercion, are not discriminated against based on vaccine status, and are not faced with any vaccine or medical mandate by public or private entities.