Free Republic

The on-again, off-again procedure to find a Republican ballot replacement for Tom DeLay is on again. At least for now. But it could be back off again as soon as Monday (more on that later). Texas GOP Chairman Tina Benkiser’s office sent out a statement this morning saying U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks has denied a request by the state Democratic Party to extend a temporary restraining order that essentially froze DeLay replacement candidates in their tracks. Benkiser faxed GOP chairs in Fort Bend, Harris, Brazoria and Galveston counties, asking that they schedule executive committee meetings quickly (more on that...

* Susan Weddington resigned her position as State Party Chair in November 2003 * As Vice Chair it was David Barton’s duty to move up as Interim Chair until Delegates to the State convention could elect a Permanent Chair. * David chose not to exercise his Vice Chair responsibility and instead turned to the State Republican Executive Committee to elect an Interim Chair—threatening to resign if Gina Parker was elected. * By a nine-vote margin Tina was elected to serve as Interim Chair of the RPT over Gina Parker who was already planning to run for Party Chair at the...

TCR has been wondering if whether this year principled conservatives will get to run the Texas Republican Party or will the establishment/big business types run it through willing surrogates? First, TCR urges all delegates to the state convention in San Antonio to actually show up and have an open mind about party leadership. Just because someone holds office, doesn't mean they should continue to. Look at what he or she has actually accomplished - like the financial state of the party, what the party is doing to advance conservative principles, what vision do the candidates have about the future and...

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is the most powerful Democrat in Texas. No other Democrat is better positioned to launch vicious, vindictive partisan attacks against Republican leaders – and no one else does so with as much zeal as Ronnie Earle. It’s time to put a stop to the Earle of Injustice’s reign of partisanship. Sign the petition. Read the press release. Download the precinct convention resolution in Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) format. Tell your friends.

Seeking to identify possible unethical media leaks and wasted taxpayer dollars, Republican Party of Texas Chairman Tina Benkiser filed an open records request with the Travis County District Attorney’s office. Benkiser said she was requesting this information "because it is widely believed that Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is engaging in a baseless, partisan witch hunt apparently designed solely to score political points by generating negative media coverage of Republicans." "Taxpayers deserve to know how much of their money Mr. Earle is wasting on this frivolous investigation and whether he is unfairly leaking information to the media," said Benkiser....