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.