To Michael Berry: The name you are looking for is "Ed Hubbard".

Last night, this website received an email from Michael Berry, former Houston City Councilman, former mayoral candidate, and now the current radio host and AM Operations Manager of the local Clear Channel radio stations (NewsRadio 740 KTRH, The 9-5-0 KPRC, and The Sports Animal 790 KBME). In the email he stated, "I was referred to this site and asked to talk about it on my show, but after 15 minutes on the site it doesn't appear anyone is willing to sign their name(s) to anything." And that's all he wrote. Assuming that Mr. Berry's email was intended to be a criticism of those of us who are supporting the movement promoted on this site, I now want to respond to Mr. Berry, and to those who may question our motives rather than address the merits of "the Hubbard Plan."

First, I respect the general concern apparently expressed by Mr. Berry about anonymous criticisms posted on the Internet. Such postings are often the work of people who lack the courage of their convictions, or who have an improper motive. Without knowing the identity of the accuser, the victim often has no way to respond to the criticisms.

However, our political tradition has often embraced anonymous pamphleteers who attempt to speak truth to power by focusing on the merits of the debate, rather than the personalities of the debaters. The most famous of these pamphleteers were the writers of The Federalist Papers and The Anti-Federalist Papers during the debate in New York over the ratification of the Constitution. The anonymity of the debaters focused the readers of the letters published in the local papers on the merits of the debate, rather than on the personalities of Publius and Cato.

The group supporting this website had agreed, until now, that the most effective way for the grassroots of our party to consider the merits of "the Hubbard Plan" was to focus on the substance of the plan, rather than on the personalities of its drafters and promoters. We felt this approach was needed especially because of the recent history of our party, and partisan politics in general, which has witnessed some of our leaders viciously demonize anyone who challenges the status quo. One need look no further than to the vicious campaign run by a group of Republicans against Joan Huffman to see why we chose the course we did. However, we now have reached a point in this process where you have a right to know who is leading this group.

My name is Ed Hubbard. Within days of the last election, I began hearing widespread criticism voiced against the leadership of the Harris County Republican Party. Some of the criticisms I heard were valid, and some were not. However, I felt that just wringing one's hands was a waste of time, and anyone who knows me knows I'm not a hand-wringer. So, when I started hearing the post-election criticisms, I felt challenged to come up with an alternative plan for the future of the party. I sat down and, based on my recent experiences and what I had been reading others say, I developed a proposed plan for the party.

With the help of activists and precinct chairs, the plan began to be disseminated, and we then established this website and blog promoting the plan. I have promoted the plan publicly, including on a local radio program, and have made no secret of my involvement (hence the name, "the Hubbard Plan"). Although I have not written every word on this website, I have at least participated in the drafting of, or approved the drafts of, every posting on this site.

I am a life-long Republican, who cares deeply about this party: about our principles, and about advancing those principles by electing Republicans to office. You could say that I am genetically Republican, as my parents, aunts and uncles served in various capacities with the party in the state where I grew-up, and in the national party. I worked as a volunteer in Reagan's campaigns in 1976 and 1980 in Illinois, and as an intern on a successful Congressional campaign in 1980 before moving to Texas to attend law school. Over the last 25 years I've participated on local committees supporting George W. Bush's campaigns for Governor and Republican judicial campaigns. I won a contested campaign against an incumbent in the last Republican primary to run as the Republican nominee for a seat on the First Court of Appeals in the last election.

I did not write the plan posted on this website to promote myself, or to seek another office. Nor am I supporting this group because I want revenge for losing my race in the last election. Quite frankly, I was the only Republican candidate who could return to my good job in the private sector, and I was happy on November 5th just for the long campaign to be over so I could spend more time with my family. I did not want to participate in further political activity at this time, and I do not intend to ever be a candidate again for government office.

Instead, I am supporting this movement because I believe it is the right thing to do, and I have the courage of my convictions to pursue what I believe to be right. I reiterate what was said in our open letter to Chairman Woodfill, by urging all local Republicans who care about the future of our party (including the current leadership of the Harris County Republican Party) to use the links on this website to join in the discussion of our ideas, and by asking "all of you who believe you can help with the leadership of the party to step forward now, so that your fellow Republicans can consider you for leadership positions, including the chairmanship." If the current leadership embraces a new strategic direction, or if people come forward to participate in a new leadership that embraces a new strategic direction—not new principles, but a new strategic direction—I promise my support to that effort and will participate with them, if necessary, to get a plan off-the-ground. In fact, I will go one step further and make the pledge to my fellow Republicans that our ancestors made to each other and to history: the pledge of my life, my fortune and my sacred honor to the re-direction of this party so that we can elect conservatives to public office.

As we said in the open letter, if we Republicans want to accomplish the reform needed to elect Republicans in 2009, 2010 and thereafter, we have a choice to make, and the time to make that choice is now.

Open Letter to Jared Woodfill

To Jared Woodfill: Either Disclose how you plan to win back the county through the 2009 and 2010 elections, or step aside to allow for new leadership

Since the recent election, we have heard from the current leadership of the Harris County Republican Party on at least four occasions. In each instance, these pronouncements have amounted to less than they appear.

First, publicity about the chariman’s reaction to a two-year old email incident was unmasked as a thinly-veiled attempt to force a quick vote of confidence in favor of Chairman Woodfill’s leadership in the aftermath of the election losses. This improper attempt to shore-up political support for the chairman at the expense of the reputation of Republican officeholders was handled appropriately by the precinct chairs when they tabled the resolution indefinitely.

Second, the chairman’s email of December 6th was an escape from reality. The email mischaracterized the outcome of the election; provided misleading figures about how much money the party had raised and what the party had done with that money; made promises about future action that do not address the real problems facing the party; and made financial commitments the party can not, at present, keep. Nowhere in that email did the chairman level with the party faithful as to the actual, dire financial and strategic condition of the local party.

Third, the chairman’s public pronouncements that the party was supporting the Huffman campaign for the run-off election were not completely accurate. In fact, campaign volunteers could not reach the party headquarters by phone or email during most of the campaign period, and when volunteers showed-up to man a phone bank, the office was either closed, or no one was present making calls.

Fourth, the chairman’s new Christmas video blog uses PowerPoint graphics to merely state the obvious. The recited details about the Democrats’ use of the Internet were well-publicized during the primaries and general election campaign, but our current leadership is just now recognizing the need for an updated Internet presence. In the meantime, the chairman says nothing about a plan for how the internet will actually be used to win elections, and nothing about how the party will pay for its new technology plan.

In this post-election period, Republicans have been demanding real leadership and a new strategic plan for winning elections. The real state of the Republican Party in Harris County and across the state is perilous. A recent PowerPoint presentation from the state party provides some startling figures. While Republicans achieved a net gain in offices won across the state, virtually all of the gain came in county and local races in rural counties. Meanwhile we lost ground where most Texans now live. Of the 254 counties in Texas, Republicans gained votes in 140 counties with 2,438,604 registered voters, while Democrats gained votes in 114 counties with 11,136,458 registered voters. The 50 fastest growing Republican counties in Texas have a total of 637,694 registered voters, while the 50 fastest growing Democratic counties have a total of 8,959,881 registered voters. You do the math—if this trend continues, we will not elect Republicans in Harris County and will soon lose our statewide offices.

To date, the actions of Chairman Woodfill fail to respond to Republican demands and electoral reality. Since late November, however, there has been a plan circulating within the local party. It is the plan published on this website, which has become known as “the Hubbard Plan.” At first, those of us promoting this plan had hoped that current leadership would react to it by engaging in a discussion about these ideas, and about how to implement a real plan for winning elections. Instead, we have gotten more of the same from Chairman Woodfill. We now challenge Chairman Woodfill to tell us in detail how the current leadership is going to help us win local elections in 2009, and county elections in 2010, and how it is going to fund its efforts.

While we wait to hear from the chairman, we ask that a discussion about the direction of the party be conducted over the next month, and that, at the next scheduled Executive Committee meeting resolutions be considered related to adoption of the Hubbard Plan. Moreover, if the current leadership does not come forward with its own comprehensive plan, or does not embrace the Hubbard Plan, we ask it to step aside and allow a new team to mobilize the party to be ready to contest the 2009 city and school board elections with conservative candidates and policies (which we discuss more fully in another blog we have posted today). If the chairman does nothing, then we will seek a resolution at the next Executive Committee meeting asking for his resignation.

In the meantime, to foster the discussion, we are posting on “Rebuild the Party.com” a discussion within the Harris County Group, which will begin to discuss an outline for proposed bylaw amendments that would be needed to implement changes discussed in the Hubbard Plan. We urge you to use the link to that site posted on our “Organize” page, to join this discussion group and weigh-in with your ideas. In the meantime, we ask all of you who believe you can help with the leadership of the party to step forward now, so that your fellow Republicans can consider you for leadership positions, including the chairmanship.

We can not wait until the primary of 2010 to make the needed changes in direction and leadership. The time to act is now.

SPREADING THE FIELD: SCHOOL BOARDS AND EDUCATION REFORM

In the plan we have proposed, we discuss “spreading the field” in Harris County by putting a precinct chair in every precinct and a candidate on the ballot for every office. This approach includes promoting candidates even for officially non-partisan positions, including local school boards.

There are three reasons for promoting candidates for school boards. First, we care deeply about education and local government. Republicans have talked for decades about the need to address the problems with our educational system, and with keeping the power over that system at the local level. It makes no sense to continue, year after year, to argue these policy points if we do not actually promote candidates for offices that actually have the power to address them. If we truly believe that improving education is the key to solving so many of our economic and social problems, and believe that the effort to improve education should be directed locally, then we Republicans need to participate in that local effort.

Second, effective outreach requires establishing roots in every community and neighborhood. The one institution in American life in which every person participates at some point in their life is school—either as a student, a parent, a teacher, or a taxpayer. The school is the heart and soul of the community in which it sits. If we sincerely want to reach-out to the members of every community in this county, we need to be involved in the schools. To win the allegiance of our neighbors, we have to be good neighbors.

Third, recruiting good candidates for county, state, and federal offices requires a “farm team.” By learning to be good public servants in their neighborhoods, prospective candidates learn the facts and skills they will need for future office. If we are to remain competitive politically in Harris County, Republicans need to groom a new generation of candidates, and the best way to do that is to cultivate a new generation of local public servants.

So, by getting involved in local races in each neighborhood we get a “three-for”: we promote the principles we cherish; we reach new communities with our message; and we train a new generation of Republican candidates.

Merry Christmas

Joan Huffman's Victory Demonstrates Needs for HCRP Growth

Joan Huffman’s victory provides our party with a welcome tonic at the end of a painful year. We, again, congratulate Senator-elect Huffman and all the people who worked so hard on her campaign, including the volunteers who worked tirelessly during the runoff campaign throughout the 6-county district.

Unfortunately, the issue of “volunteers” returns us to a recurring criticism we have heard about the Harris County Republican Party this year: it provides little active support to campaigns like Huffman’s, and is unable to muster the volunteers necessary to even man a phone bank at the Richmond headquarters. On one day last week during early voting, while the party leadership was touting its organization of volunteers for the Huffman campaign on radio and in emails, a prospective volunteer told us that when he went to the Richmond office to volunteer to man a phone, only two staffers were present, and no one was making calls to get out the vote.

This report is consistent with the stories we have heard from volunteers and precinct chairs throughout the Harris County portion of SD17, who could not muster any support for their efforts from the party leadership in Harris County until the runoff campaign was almost over; and then, the support was lackluster at best. Thankfully, these local volunteers and precinct chairs, together with their counterparts in the other counties, filled the void left by the Harris County party leadership, and they got Joan Huffman over the finish line.

The experience of this runoff campaign proves the point we have been arguing for several weeks now. To remain competitive in Harris County elections in the upcoming election cycles in 2009 and 2010, we need more than cheerful pep talks from our leadership—we need a strategic plan and aggressive action from the party leadership in this county, and we need it now.

AN EXAMPLE OF HOW TO USE OUR MESSAGE TO PROMOTE OUR PARTY PLATFORM

Distilled to its essence, Republicans are the party of Individual Empowerment--which ultimately is derived from God's gift to us of Liberty. Individuals need strong relationships in order to control their destinies, so it takes strong families, neighborhoods, and local organizations, and effective local governments, for individuals to control their lives effectively. These types of relationships are not only important to traditional Republicans, they are important to the members of every community we are trying to bring into the fold. Our primary challenge will be how to communicate our principles and policies to new voters through a positive message of Individual Empowerment and Relationships.

Let me give you one example of how we could approach using this message to address an issue that our opponents label as “divisive”. Our party’s platform calls for the adoption of English as our official language. How do we effectively communicate this message to members of communities that have recent immigrants who still speak their native language amidst a culture that says--"don't worry, you don't need to adapt to America, we'll adapt to you”? We do so by focusing on how a shared language promotes individual empowerment.

It should be obvious that we can't form the relationships needed to maintain a neighborhood and control our own destinies, if we don't share the same language. Asking all of us to share a language is inclusive, not exclusive or divisive--we are not asking anyone to give up their native tongue, but only to share one common language in our public discourse. We are only asking everyone to adopt the means to communicate effectively, so we can work together as neighbors to control our destinies without excessive interference from government, as takes place in countries like Canada. Isn't that what "E Pluribus Unum" is really all about?

Why English? Because our most cherished principles and laws are conveyed in that language. Any linguist will admit that concepts conveyed in one language do not translate the same to other languages. So, no matter how good a translation is, meaning is always lost. To fully share our principles and empower each other, we need to share a language.

We can take this similar, positive approach to many of the issues we hold dear. If we do, our party will grow.

Congratulations State Senator Joan Huffman

HCRP OUTREACH AND THE SIKH FAMILY INCIDENT

Recently, the Houston Chronicle reported and commented on an incident involving our county’s Sheriff’s Department and a local Sikh family. Apparently, during the response to a call to the family’s home, deputies may have reacted improperly to a family member’s ceremonial knife that was sheathed on her belt. Although determining what actually happened, and whether the deputies’ reactions were unwarranted, are questions for others to appropriately resolve, our party missed an important opportunity for outreach in response to the family’s and community’s concerns.

Instead, our absence provided an opening for the Democratic Sheriff-Elect to reach-out to the entire Sikh community in Houston and show that he cares about their concerns. In the meantime, he gained free, positive press coverage and editorial praise for himself and the local Democratic Party.

Why should we care? We should care for at least two reasons. First, caring for the concerns of our fellow citizens of this county, and for the respect of their beliefs and rituals, should be a priority of any political party, but especially of the party of Lincoln, which believes in Liberty and effective local government. Second, many members of the Sikh community have been loyal supporters of our party, and our lack of public attention to this matter—either through the party or by elected officials—could be construed as a sign that we are taking them for granted. We can not afford to allow that impression to be created.

It is possible that some of our elected officials, or party officials, have contacted members of the family and the Sikh community privately to address this incident, but we need to start doing so publicly, too. For now, it is not enough just to show the affected family and the Sikh community that we care; we also need to rebuild a level of trust within the entire community that we Republicans understand that what happens to one of us affects all of us. Ultimately, no outreach effort will work unless that message is promoted by the party to all our neighbors in Harris County.

The Plan

Mission Statement:

There are three missions to accomplish by October, 2010: to reunite the party; to expand the party; and to win elections based on such reform.

The first mission of reform is to reunite all of the factions within the Republican Party of Harris County under an umbrella of shared principles.

The second mission is to expand the base of the reunited party into new “communities” of voters that we recently lost, or that have not voted Republican in recent years.

The third mission is to elect Republican candidates.

Objectives:

1. To work with precinct chairs, affiliated clubs within the Republican Party, and associated groups and individuals to coordinate the activities of the Party and to create the structural reforms needed to elect Republicans.

2. To develop positive principles, messages and policies that unite every faction within the Party.

3. To expand the Party into new communities.

4. To introduce our principles, messages and policies to new voters.

5. To recruit and train strong candidates who will share and promote our principles, messages, and policies, and to run them in every race on the local, state, and national levels.

6. To better mobilize the Party by using every available technology (old and new) to win elections within the county, and to coordinate with other county, state, and national party organizations to identify prospective voters, to get them registered, and to get them to the polls during the 13-day election.

7. To raise the money needed to effectively implement the plan and operate the Party machinery.

8. To better coordinate with other county chairs in the region to elect our shared candidates.

9. To work with other county chairs in other major urban counties around the country to develop an "urban plan" to use our principles to address urban issues, for candidate recruitment, and for voter outreach.

10. To work to reform judicial elections in Texas (or at least in urban counties) in order to retain the ability to elect restrained judges while avoiding sweeps.

Organization:

1. Management team

The administration would be divided between a Chair, a Vice Chair, and a Treasurer. The Chair would have overall management responsibility, and would be in charge of developing the reform plan for the organization, the shared principles and positive message, candidate recruitment and training, and the get-out-the-vote effort. The Chair also will serve as the liaison to other county and state party officials. The Treasurer will be in charge of fundraising and budgeting, and the Vice Chair will be in charge of the Outreach team.

2. Outreach team

This team will oversee outreach efforts to expand the base of the party, including the development and implementation of a plan for communicating our principles and message into the African-American, Asian, Hispanic and youth “communities” of the county.

3. Advisory Committee

The Advisory Board would be chaired by the Chair and comprised of the Management Team, the leaders of each Republican-affiliated organization in the county, at least one precinct chair from each Senate District within the county, and the Executive Director. Each countywide, non-judicial, Republican elected official will serve as an ex-officio member of the board. Committees of the board will be tasked with implementing each of the reform objectives.

4. Executive Director

This person will be a full-time employee who will coordinate and implement the reform plan.

Action Plan to Meet Objectives:

1. To work with precinct chairs, affiliated clubs within the Republican Party, and associated groups and individuals to coordinate the activities of the Party and to create the structural reforms needed to elect Republicans.

We have to reunite all of the various factions within the Party, and reform the structure of the Party to give each group a role and a stake in the Party’s future. Over the last year our Party has functioned like a watch in which the gears are all moving, but none of them engage each other. The outcome was predictable. We need to re-engage the gears.

The Chair will need to use the power of appointment and the Advisory Board under the current Bylaws to appoint the leaders of, or representatives of every Republican-affiliated group in the county to a seat at the Party’s table, with the goal of coordinating their efforts during the campaign cycle to help identify local races and local issues, to help identify and promote candidates for office (including precinct chairs and election judges), to help promote our message to their members and the communities they serve, to help fundraise, and to help get our voters to the polls. The membership of the Advisory Board eventually will include representatives of Republican minority-outreach clubs, community-based Republican clubs, the TFRW clubs, the Pachyderm clubs, United Republicans, Young Republicans, campus Republicans, and precinct chairs from each Senate District. The Chair should establish committees of the Board and precinct chairs to address each of the 10 objectives—with the goal of beginning to implement the action plan on each objective by no later than September, 2009.

In time, the Bylaws will have to be amended to fully implement the changes we need.

2. To develop positive principles, messages and policies that unite every faction within the Party.

Boiled done to its essence, our Party has always stood for “individual empowerment” instead of “government empowerment”. Empowering individuals with the means to meet the challenges we face, requires promoting policies that empower the relationships through which individuals act—families, neighborhoods, organizations, and businesses. Our message could be something like--We want to promote policies that empower you, your family, and your neighborhood to address the challenges we face, rather than continue to empower the same old government and politicians who continually let us down. This message is consistent with the most basic principles we Republicans share:

1. The proposition that “all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed….,” is the fundamental ideal for the organization of human societies.
2. This fundamental ideal is rooted in the rules of basic morality, as reflected in the parable of the Good Samaritan and the Golden Rule, which provide the basis for true and lasting equality: we should strive to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, which requires that we treat our neighbors as we ourselves want to be treated.
3. Although government is necessary to secure and preserve our fundamental ideal, governments can’t and won’t love your neighbor. Only people can love their neighbors through their active involvement in the life of their neighborhoods.
4. By promoting liberty, morality, integrity, and a sense of responsibility for ourselves and our fellow man, we continue to develop the character traits of justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue. These character traits are needed by each individual to practice forbearance, love, mercy and charity towards each other throughout life. These character traits and lifelong practices are necessary to promote the dignity of each human being, and to create the enduring wealth within a free-market system, needed to build and maintain lasting neighborhoods.
5. The original constitutional structures of checks-and-balances and Federalism, fortified by the Bill of Rights, the 14th Amendment, and our common-law system, were designed to promote and secure the development of lasting neighborhoods of people free from the dominance or control of government.
6. “Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.” Government actions should be consistent with our Constitution, and be limited to effectively promote and secure our fundamental ideal, the equality of the Golden Rule, and the functioning of lasting neighborhoods.

If we follow these principles, and pursue policies that empower people and their relationships, we will continue to embrace a culture of life because it naturally flows from our fidelity to the fundamental ideal that life is an inalienable right, from our respect for the dignity of each human life, and from our adherence to the Golden Rule.

If we follow these principles, and pursue policies that empower people and their relationships, we will continue to promote low taxation, because low taxes promote limited government, and thereby provide individuals with the means and power to shape their own lives and neighborhoods.

If we follow these principles, and pursue policies that empower people and their relationships, we will be more likely to attract young voters who are community and service oriented, and Hispanic, Asian and African-American voters, who value their relationship-centric communities.

3. To expand the Party into new communities.

The Outreach Team will identify communities and organizations to approach where we can begin to recruit new voters. These communities include the African-American, Asian, Hispanic, and youth communities. We will work with candidates and party members to develop our positive message of “Individual Empowerment” and “Neighborhood” in a way that effectively communicates our principles and policy alternatives to these communities.

We will immediately begin showing a presence in places that are not traditional places for the Republican Party to be seen, and we will collect contact information to effectively communicate to these communities in the future. We will do this in two ways.

First, we need to use technology to obtain text and email contact information for new potential Republicans, as well as their conventional contact information. We will use the full menu of modern technology to convey our message and speak to those that we are not reaching by solely relying on the old methods of campaigning, ie., direct mail, television, radio. Obama was able to text message 3 million people with his VP announcement. That made the VP pick personal to those that received the text message from the campaign. Our technology will be more open to allow newer generations to take part in the future of the party, not just have the future of the party fed to them. This is what is now termed “collaboration”.

Second, we need to undertake community projects that get us where voters are. If our message is that we are the party of “Individual Empowerment” and “Neighborhood”, we need to have an effective presence in the community. We need to undertake community clean up projects, recycling programs, adopt-a-highway programs and the like. When the only party that is talking to the people with these interests is the party that empowers government, the conversations get skewed. We have to make our views known and put a human face on these issues that are important to so many people. If the Democratic Party is the only party talking to people that care about these sorts of issues, our party will lose them forever.

4. To introduce our principles, messages and policies to new voters.

The Outreach Team will use every available media to get our message to the new groups and voters identified and recruited.

We will immediately work to grow the party email list. More people are using email and text messaging everyday. Many people now have access to these tools 24/7 through Blackberrys and cell phones. We will immediately begin training and empowering the precinct chairs, the backbone of our party, in the effective use of these technologies and how to get the vote out. The precinct chairs are the eyes and ears of the county party. They need to know that the party office is there for them. While we must immediately conduct precinct chair trainings, we need to make sure we are facilitating the precinct chairs that are already trained and those that know what needs to be done.

When schools start in August of each year, we will have representatives on those campuses talking to the new incoming students. We need that visibility. When new housing developments start to sell homes, we will be there with a welcome basket of sorts. When a new business opens, we will greet the brave entrepreneur with our message and our best wishes. Why are we limited to doing anything? We are free to be the party of freedom far and wide, our message needs to reach beyond those limits.

5. To recruit and train strong candidates who will share and promote our principles, messages, and policies, and to run them in every race on the local, state, and national level.

By September, 2009, we will have re-written the questionnaires and guidelines for candidates and precinct chairs, with a new purpose designed only to make an objective determination of their constitutional, intellectual, and ethical fitness to run for and hold the office they seek. We will replace any perceived litmus test for any office, with an acknowledgement of shared principles and of new ethical norms for their behavior in office. In order to attract a new, energetic group of candidates who will share and implement our principles, there will be no seniority-based requirement for any candidate.

By September, 2009, we will have interviewed each of the Republican incumbents who intend to run for re-election in 2010 to determine whether and how they will promote the principles, messages and policies we have agreed to pursue; and whether and how the Party can help with their campaign.

For open seats, we will try and interview and identify potential candidates, in order to promote at least one qualified candidate for each race, without interfering with, or discouraging contested primaries. We will endeavor to broaden the background of our candidates through the recruitment of candidates from every community within the county, and from the under-40 age group.

By June 1, 2010, we will have developed and implemented a Candidate Training Seminar for the winners of the March Primary and their consultants.

We not only need to have a candidate in every race, we have to spread the field by also fighting in every precinct, in order to increase our margins in Republican precincts, win back those precincts that leaned Democratic, and get marginal increases in Democratic strongholds. To meet this challenge we will need a wholesale change in the recruitment and appointment of precinct chairs—away from an emphasis on specific views on issues to commitment to our shared principles and to actively getting out the vote in their precinct. A complimentary plan will be implemented to separately recruit and train Election Judges and Precinct Chairs. The goal will be to have a separate precinct chair and election judge in each precinct by June 1, 2010. We will conduct separate training seminars for precinct chairs and election judges by August 1, 2010, with an emphasis on coordinating and implementing a sustained get-out-the-vote effort beginning at least 3 weeks before the start of early voting, and a get-to-the-polls effort during each day of early voting.

6. To better mobilize the Party by using every available technology (old and new) to win elections within the county, and to coordinate with other county, state, and national party organizations to identify prospective voters, to get them registered, and to get them to the polls during the election.

By December 1, 2009, we will develop a new strategy for identifying our voters, getting them registered, getting our information to them, and getting them to the polls in the fall.

Obama tapped the Internet successfully because he made it about "you" and "us" not "me" and "I." You were invited in. You were a key part of his campaign/movement. Your help was truly appreciated. Republican candidates need to grow more comfortable talking in these terms and focus less on being inaccessible objects of hero worship (the "me/I" strategy).

This isn't just about the Internet, it's about recognizing that in a people-powered era, with the power of technology-empowered grassroots movements on the rise, everything about the way we mobilize voters changes. Campaign plans that called for a few hundred or thousand volunteers making phone calls in the final days are hopelessly quaint and limiting in an era when millions of people want to feel connected and involved 24/7.

Starting with the November 2009 city council races and continuing into the November 2010 elections, we will use the 12 days of early voting and the actual election day as a combined bloc of 13 election days and we will work on getting our voters to the polls for all 13 days. The question will no longer be “will you be voting?” it will instead be “what day will you be voting, and how can we help you get to the polls?”. We then have to have a plan in place, with the means to implement the plan, to physically get our voters to the polls during the 13 days of voting.

7. To raise the money needed to effectively implement the plan and operate the Party machinery.

The Treasurer will establish a budget to cover the projected operating expenses of the Party through December, 2010, including the costs associated with implementing the 10 objectives (including fully funding our Outreach, technology, and GOTV initiatives); and establish a plan for fundraising to cover the budget. This budget and fundraising plan will be submitted to the Executive Committee for approval by its May, 2009 meeting.

The Treasurer will establish a fundraising team made up of individuals from each Senate District within the county, to help formulate and implement the fundraising plan. The plan should include use of all available resources, including donor networks and the Internet.

8. To better coordinate with other county chairs in the region to elect our shared candidates.

There are numerous state and federal offices whose districts cross Harris and at least one other county. The Chair will establish a working group for each such district to include the county chairs for all the counties within the district. Each working group will identify areas where coordination can help get-the-vote-out for Republican candidates in the district, and will create and implement a plan for such coordination.

9. To work with other county chairs in other major urban counties around the country to develop an "urban plan" to use our principles to address urban issues, for candidate recruitment, and for voter outreach.

The Republican Party has for too long neglected urban issues, and therefore is losing urban voters and elections. With the growth and increased population density of Harris County, we can not continue to ignore these issues and races and still win elections. The Chair will establish contact with GOP chairs of other urban counties, and consult with recognized officeholders and experts, to help develop and implement a plan for identifying and addressing urban issues, and for contesting urban races.

10. To work to reform judicial elections in Texas (or at least in urban counties) in order to retain the ability to elect restrained judges while avoiding sweeps.

We need to fix the way we elect judges in our urban counties—it no longer helps the party to elect judges the way we do, and it harms the system of justice to endure sweeps that bring in unqualified or unprepared jurists. We do not have to implement a completely non-partisan system to affect significant change.

The Chair will work with county chairs from Dallas and Bexar counties to come up with an alternative plan to submit to the Legislature before the end of the 2009 session. The plan should include moving countywide judicial elections to odd-numbered years, eliminating straight-ticket voting in such elections, and creating a more meaningful role for bar associations in the candidate-evaluation process.