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County Judge Considerations

Bastrop County Republican Party is at a crossroads in this primary election.  This is the second part of a three part series discussing the issues at play.  Part 1 (linked here) discussed the policies of our incumbent party Chairman and how I believe they have damaged our party.  In this second part, I will discuss how I see these issues impacting the County Judge race.

Don Loucks seeks a re-match election against County Judge Paul Pape, having been previously defeated 2-1 in the Republican Primary of 2012. The County Judge is the presiding officer of the Commissioners Court and is the chief budgeting officer of the county.  If elected it would put Mr. Loucks in charge of proposing a countywide budget for all county departments, including that of his wife, who currently serves as our District Clerk.

In my view, the County Judge race this election is not about philosophy or issues, it is about leadership and methodology.  While Mr. Loucks attacks Judge Pape incessantly on any decision over which they might disagree, and indeed has been doing so for years, there is also a record of leadership from Mr. Loucks to examine from which you can determine if you want his style of leadership taking over the helm of the Commissioners Court.

Here is the list of issues I have observed in Mr. Loucks that convince me he is not the best candidate for the office, notwithstanding what issues he raises:

• Party Policies - Mr. Loucks served on our party’s executive committee this last term, and supported Chairman Raley’s policies for our party.  That includes centralizing power in the chairman and away from the executive committee, closing the Republican office in a Presidential election, discontinuing monthly meetings of the party, failing to support our candidates, curbing of party communications, refusal to fundraise for the party, resisting re-opening the Republican office, resisting hiring the county to assist with our primary, and even seeding public doubt as to whether the county elections department was legally hired.  In so doing, he has supported the Chairman’s noncompliance with party bylaws, Robert’s Rules of Order, and majority votes of the executive committee.  It appears asserting control is more important than actually working to benefit the party.  For this reason alone, he should be demoted, not promoted, in my opinion.
• Candidate Support – Chairman Raley made Mr. Loucks chairman of the party’s candidate support committee.  While Mr. Loucks trumpets project management as being a forte, he failed to convene his committee to conceptualize or offer any candidate support to our nominees in the 2016 Presidential election.  Our voters' guide, already prepared for the primary, was ignored and not distributed.  Local data services to the nominees from our local party disappeared.  With no office, no regular meetings, and no special party events, local nominee sign distribution was not supported centrally at all.  Our pictorial directory of candidates, with its Vote Republican message, which we have been publishing in the paper for years, didn’t happen.  After the Presidential election, he then convened his committee to conceptualize support projects for candidates in the primary election of 2018.  Projects were considered, timelines proposed – then nothing else happened.  He did not have his committee follow through on a single idea.  He is a self-described adrenaline junkie.  He appears more interested in stirring controversies than tending to the mundane business at hand.
• Fundraising – He and Chairman Raley both refused to participate in the party’s Boots & BBQ fundraiser last Fall.  The event was initiated by one of our state-level Republican representatives.  She expressed to the executive committee her personal disappointment that some of our members, including Chairman Raley and Mr. Loucks, had refused to participate.  Mr. Loucks responded that her “interference” was duly noted.  In other words, he resented her aid to help the party raise money.
• Breach of Decorum – In executive committee debates, Mr. Loucks breached decorum in almost every meeting.  Robert’s Rules of Order characterize calling your fellow committee members names, impugning their motives, and questioning past decisions of the committee as all breaches of decorum.  Mr. Loucks regularly employs all three in debate.  Chairman Raley, who as chairman is charged with keeping decorum, refused to hold him in line.  Consequently, with a steady diet of such rhetoric, relationships were greatly strained.
• Hardball Politics – Mr. Loucks employs hardball politics.  I’ve seen that play out in these ways:
  • Intolerance of Disagreement – In my view, you advocate respectfully for your position, and allow votes to decide issues.  Mr. Loucks does not tolerate those who disagree with him, and with him, a personal fight is never over.  When he served as County Commissioner he would use his web site to attack viciously members of the public who disagreed with his stances. He has used his newspaper column similarly.  Long is the list of current officeholders and county employees  I have personally heard him speak against.  If elected, I fear he intends to attempt to clean house based on his list of personal grudges and desire for payback.  Most of Mr. Loucks’ attacks on Judge Pape relate to decisions made by the Commissioners Court, rather than just Judge Pape personally.  That informs me that Judge Pape is just the beginning.
  • Fake Issues – One of Mr. Loucks’ tactics is to propose a good-sounding policy, but laden it with unacceptable baggage.  When his fellow members object to the baggage, he accuses them of not supporting the good-sounding policy so as to try to tear them down in public opinion.  He and Chairman Raley are using this technique against your party’s executive committee over the Blue Santa vote.  Chairman Raley proposed supporting four charities at Christmas time.  Sounds good.  Problem was, one of her proposed charities didn’t exist, she wanted to include her controversial exclusive club in an attempt to legitimize it, and some were concerned that we should focus on one charity, not multiple.  The Chairman and Mr. Loucks proposed a one-size-fits-all resolution that included all the baggage, and the executive committee voted no.   Chairman Raley immediately called for adjournment allowing nothing else to be considered.  Mr. Loucks then posted an edited video (excluding the portion of him shouting at his fellow members) and they have been campaigning stating your committee opposed Blue Santa.  What they don’t tell you is in the next meeting, the executive committee voted to support the Tree of Angels program run by the Sheriff’s Office, and they did.  And what they don’t know is that some individual members who voted no made personal contributions to the Blue Santa programs in the party’s name.
  • Building a Case for Firing – Often Mr. Loucks forms an opinion that someone needs to go based on very personal reasons (i.e., that person might disagree with Mr. Loucks on an issue, support a different candidate in an election than Mr. Loucks did, be a former employee who didn’t work out well in his wife’s department, have a job Mr. Loucks wants, or refuse to attack someone Mr. Loucks wants attacked, etc.).  He will then begin a line of public attacks against that person’s job performance, without disclosing his true motivation.  I’ve watched him initiate attacks on both the Elections Administrator and the Tax Assessor/Collector and their performance, when underlying it, I came to understand that he was actually upset that they had hired employees who hadn’t worked out well in his wife’s office.  He wanted to drive the employees from county employment as well as any department head who had harbored them.
  • Persistent Attacks on the Bastrop County Young Republicans (BCYR) – The BCYR endorsed another candidate against Mr. Loucks’ wife for District Clerk in a primary election.  Our District Clerk took my advice as chairman, and made no public issue of it.  After the election was over, I asked Mr. Loucks to treat BCYR members with a mentoring attitude rather than open hostility.  He rejected my direction and has persistently attacked them since.  He even filed with the county a trade name certificate in their name in an effort to steal their name out from under them.  Based on that certificate, he told me, “I am Bastrop County Young Republicans.”   He followed that with a cease and desist letter threatening them with suit if they continued to use their name.  I believe that when he understood that, as chairman, I was not going to allow him to use the party structure to attack them, that’s when he decided that I as chairman needed to go.   Curiously, he has also filed additional trade name certificates claiming to own the names of “The Bastrop County Republican Party,” “Republican Party of Bastrop County,” and “The Republican Party of Bastrop County.”
• Credibility – The reason that this is not an issues-based race for me, is Mr. Loucks has lost all credibility with me.
  • False Accusations – Mr. Loucks makes false accusations against opponents.  From personal experience he has falsely accused me (and Judge Pape) of rigging an election, failing to attend required training as chairman, and stealing my email list from the party, just to name a few.  Our Chairman, similarly, filed a failed ethics complaint against Judge Pape, and has filed false sworn complaints against fellow executive committee members.  Seeing first hand Mr. Loucks’ distortions, when he accuses others of wrong doing in public, I know his every statement must be carefully vetted before being accepted. 
  • Lying on Request – At the request of Chairman-elect Raley, Mr. Loucks lied to a volunteer working with the Governor Abbott campaign in an effort to get her to disclose a data source.  Unfortunately for Mr. Loucks, he forgot to delete Mrs. Raley’s instructions from the bottom of the email he sent to the volunteer, so he exposed his own lie. The email may be viewed here.
  • Contradictory Issues – In this very race, Mr. Loucks’ signature campaign pledges are contradictory.   He is pledging to cut county spending so that your taxes decrease (not just the tax rate) while also telling the Sheriff’s office (which is the largest department in county government) that they deserve a living wage pay increase.  Based on his past actions, I believe he will make another fake issue of this: I’m guessing he will propose an impossible budget, make his fellow Commissioners vote against it, and then blame them in public so as to get rid of them.  If right, we are merely pawns in a game of control, and the issues are beside the point.

These leadership characteristics raise the following questions in my mind:

• As County Judge, will control be more important to Mr. Loucks than good policy?
• Will he respect the majority votes of the Commissioner’s Court when he disagrees with the decision, or will he perpetually seek to undermine majority will as he has done with our party’s executive committee?
• As presiding officer, will he enforce proper decorum so that all are respected whether or not they agree with him, or will he be the one most frequently out of line? And if he breaches decorum, how do you fix that?
• Will he lash out publicly against persons with whom he disagrees?
• Will he actually see mundane projects through, or will he perpetually seek the next controversy to supply an adrenaline rush?
• Will he abuse his position to persecute those with whom he disagrees, be they officeholders, county employees, party members, or constituents?
• When someone in county government disagrees with him, will he make them unwelcome wherever they go?
• Will he attempt a purge of county government to build a personal empire?
• Will he lie to accomplish goals?

Mr. Loucks’ past leadership has severely damaged our party.  The contrast between where we were two years ago and where we are today is stark.  There is good reason to believe he will take that leadership style to county government, and do similar, if not greater, damage there.

In contrast, I support Judge Pape because his leadership is entirely different.  He is supportive of the party and policies that make us strong.  He is not attacking our party organization or obstructing its proper function.  He takes stands and makes decisions, as all leaders must, but if you disagree with him you have no fear of retaliation. He is the better candidate because he is a stable leader who puts the good of the county, as he sees it, above other considerations.

Judge Pape also has a consistent tax policy that I personally believe in.  He has been persistently working to reduce the tax rate so that our rate becomes competitive.  He has been doing so at a measured rate to avoid impairing county operations.  As the rate becomes competitive, more business comes, and the tax burden is lightened off of the shoulders of residents.  Today, we are all paying less in taxes than we would have without his efforts.  This is a reasonable plan that balances considerations of both tax reduction and growth-of-services concerns.  (And keep in mind that county taxes are the minor portion of our tax bill – it is school taxes that are killing us.  You can gut county spending, and it will only help so much.)

If you want to see the kind of policies and politics that have distressed our party for the last two years spread into county government, too, then Don Loucks would be your choice. If you don’t want to repeat that history, then join me in re-electing Paul Pape for County Judge and electing Dianna Greenwood for County Chairman in this primary election.

If Mr. Loucks' leadership alarms you as it alarms me, then please take personal responsibility to aid your county.  Link to this story on your Facebook pages at https://bcrnews.blogspot.com/2018/02/county-judge-considerations.html.  Email it to your Republican friends.

The final segment of this series is as follows:

Part 3 - Choose a Direction

Albert L. Ellison, Founder
Bastrop County Republican News
bcrnews.blogspot.com

2018 Primary Election Information Visit http://www.bastropvotes.org/voter-information-2/voter-lookup/#VoterSearch to find your  Election Day polling location and view your sample ballot.  Visit our website for additional voting information.  Share Tweet Forward Copyright © 2018 Bastrop County Elections, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in either while voting in person or while viewing our website, www.bastropvotes.org. Our mailing address is: Bastrop County Elections 804 Pecan Street Bastrop, TX 78602 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Early Voting Schedule - Primary 2018

What the Republican Discord is About

I support Dianna Greenwood for Chairman of Bastrop County Republican Party. 

Today, a front-page news story in the Bastrop Advertiser highlights that Republican discord has put the primary election in limbo, which story can be read here.  In my view, here is a short list of some of the policies Jeanne Raley has supported as our incumbent party Chairman that convince me that a change of leadership is needed.  This list also gives a glimpse of what the discord has been about:

• From the beginning of her term, Chairman Raley sought unilateral control of the party, rather than executive-committee control.  She proposed party bylaws that would give herself and the committees of her sole appointment almost complete control of the party.  When your executive committee proposed amendments, she disallowed consideration of them, violating Robert’s Rules of Order.  A peaceful and expeditious resolution was mediated and approved unanimously by the executive committee.  She thereafter refused to honor that arrangement, and it took fifteen months to resolve the issue.
• She closed the Republican office in the middle of a Presidential election.  In June of 2016, she inherited an office that was extended and funded through the end of the Presidential election.  She closed that office in her first week as Chairman, without notifying the executive committee of her intentions, giving the party no central distribution center for candidate materials in the Presidential election.  For five months, she further resisted your executive committee’s direction to refund the donations given specifically for the office.  Voters went to surrounding businesses at the former office location, or even the Bastrop Chamber, seeking their party.
• She discontinued our party’s monthly meetings.  She held one meeting in August of 2016 for the benefit of candidates, and then she failed to comply with the executive committee’s direction to hold additional meetings in September and October.  Meetings did not resume until the following May of 2017 at the insistence of the executive committee.
• She failed to give centralized support to our nominees in the Presidential election.  With no office and only one meeting, our local nominees had virtually no party-coordinated support.  And they were all running first-time races.  She appointed her friend Don Loucks as chairman of the party’s candidate support committee, but he held no committee meetings in the Presidential election cycle to coordinate support for the nominees.  She did initiate a Presidential sign campaign, but despite record high interest, it lost money and failed to meet demand.
• She has significantly curbed party communications.  She refuses to use assets and media tools available to us.  She refused to promote the party’s fundraiser through its email list.  She is currently refusing to comply with party bylaws conferring management of media accounts to the party’s Public Relations Committee.
• She has failed to fundraise for the party.  She initiated no party fundraisers during the Presidential election, or since.  Curiously, she helped co-found an exclusive Republican club in September of 2016, and devoted her fundraising attention to it instead.  This is likely what she refers to in her campaign material as having “built a foundation for growth.”  When the executive committee undertook the Boots & BBQ fundraiser, she refused to participate in or promote it.  She asked invited guests and speakers not to come.  She has filed ethics complaints against some of the organizers falsely alleging the fundraiser was not an authorized event of the party.  Excluding designated giving and the proceeds of the fundraiser she opposed, general giving to the party in 2017 was $73.00, and she asked one of those three donors to stop giving.
• She resisted the re-opening of the Republican office.  When the executive committee approved the lease of the new office, she refused to sign the lease as directed.  They authorized their Finance Chairman to sign instead.  She cut the ribbon for the office opening, but has made little use of the office personally and has not used her time to staff it.  The party office is presently staffed by the efforts of others.  She has not used party communication channels to help raise volunteers to staff it.  She did not use it for candidate filing, requiring candidates to come to her in Smithville instead.  She has falsely claimed in her ethics complaints that the office was not authorized by the party.
• She opposed hiring the county to assist with election services in the Primary election.  The party bylaws require that the county be hired, but she has resisted nonetheless.  She refused to sign the contract the executive committee approved on September 30, 2017, requiring them to designate the party Secretary to do so.  By contracting with the county, the Chairman’s responsibilities are fewer than they would otherwise be.  She has nevertheless not fulfilled those duties in a timely manner, resulting in today’s news story on the issue.  When a county commissioner pressed her in a Republican meeting regarding her intentions to comply, she refused to say.  She and Don Loucks instead raise specious legal arguments as to the contract’s validity (citing a missing cost estimate she herself was responsible to prepare, which she did not complete until January 22, 2018, and which has no binding effect on the contract itself), knowing that election attorneys, Republican Party of Texas general counsel, and the county’s attorneys have all found the process valid under existing law.  

Chairman Raley’s policies have harmed the party, and our Chairman’s refusal to comply with party bylaws, Robert’s Rules of Order, or majority votes of the party’s executive committee have put our party in disarray.

In contrast, Dianna Greenwood’s policies and/or actions on these issues are as follows:

• Bylaws – the party should continue to be executive-committee lead; she will propose we continue to use existing bylaws rather than seek to centralize power in the Chairman.
• Office – having an office open to the public is essential in supporting our candidates and communicating with the public.  Dianna voted in favor of re-opening the office.  She has volunteered her time to staff our office since its re-opening.
• Monthly meetings – these should continue as an outreach around our community to help people connect to their party.  Dianna held an information meeting in her own precinct while the party had discontinued its meetings.
• Communications – we should make use of all communication media and assets available to us.  Dianna is the Chairman’s appointed Director of Communications, is currently serving on the party’s Public Relations Committee, and administers the party’s Facebook page.
• Fundraising – the Chairman should be engaged in the fundraising initiatives of the party.  Dianna chaired the committee that put on the successful Boots & BBQ fundraiser last Fall.
• Primary Elections – electoral responsibilities should demand our highest priority to ensure well-run elections.  The county is a vital source of expertise, equipment, and logistics coordination that lessens the burden and taxpayer cost of an election.  Dianna voted in favor of the contract for county election services.

We cannot grow if we disappear.  People will not stay if we cannot disagree with grace.  And there is no point in being Republican (meaning representative government) if we believe all power should be vested in one person who need not heed bylaw, parliamentary procedure, or majority vote.

If Chairman Raley’s policies alarm you as they alarm me, then please take personal responsibility to aid your party.  Link to this blog story on your Facebook pages at https://bcrnews.blogspot.com/2018/01/what-republican-discord-is-about.html.  Email it to your local Republican friends.

Spread the word and join me in voting for Dianna Greenwood as next Chairman of the Bastrop County Republican Party.

There are more elections on your ballot that touch upon these issues, and I will speak to those in the days ahead.  Those stories now appear here:

Part 2 - County Judge Considerations
Part 3 - Choose a Direction

Albert L. Ellison, Founder
Bastrop County Republican News

Come Meet Candidates - Republicans Meet Monday in Elgin

Bastrop County Republicans will meet Monday night at 7pm at First National Bank in Elgin (1312 US-290, Elgin, TX 78621). 

Republican primary candidates will be present and speaking.  We are about a month away from early voting opening in the Primary.  Come out and get to know your options for both local and party office, and leave with signs supporting your favorites!

I hope to see you there.

Albert L. Ellison, Founder
Bastrop County Republican News
bcrnews.blogspot.com

Republican Meeting Schedule 2018

Bastrop County Republican Party will hold monthly meetings through 2018.  They will usually be held at 7pm on the 4th Monday of the month (exceptions noted below) at First National Bank, but will rotate around the County.  The meeting schedule for the year is as follows:

• Jan 22, 7pm, First National Bank - Elgin
• Feb 26, 7pm, First National Bank- Bastrop
• Mar 26, 7pm, First National Bank - Smithville
• Apr 23, 7pm, First National Bank - Elgin
• May 21, 7pm, First National Bank - Bastrop (3rd Monday to avoid Memorial Day)
• June 25, 7pm, First National Bank - Smithville
• July 23, 7pm, First National Bank - Elgin
• Aug 27, 7pm, First National Bank - Bastrop
• Sep 24, 7pm, First National Bank - Smithville
• Oct 22, 7pm, First National Bank - Elgin
• Nov 26, 7pm, First National Bank - Bastrop
• Dec 11, 7pm, First National Bank - Bastrop - Christmas Social (2nd Tuesday)

Albert L. Ellison, Founder
Bastrop County Republican News

Chairman Raley Demands Retraction

In response to my last email giving the 2018 Republican Primary candidates for Bastrop County, Jeanne Raley, Chairman of the Bastrop County Republican Party, has demanded a retraction. Lest I be accused of mis-stating her position, and to give full play to her point of view, her demand in its entirety can be read here.

She takes issue with my following statement: "Chairman Jeanne Raley seeks to strengthen her position in Bastrop County Republican politics by seeking election to a second term, by fielding allied candidates for seven positions (up from the 3 she has held this last term), and through ally Don Louck's run for County Judge."  I will address three of her points, each in turn.

First, Chairman Raley claims that she personally recruited no one.  If accurate, point well taken. But that does not negate my opinion that seven precinct chair races have the potential to strengthen her position depending on how they go.  Mrs. Raley's leadership remains the central issue of those races, even if she left the recruiting to her friends.  Given that Chairman Raley's husband James is running for one of those positions, it strains my ability to give her the benefit of the doubt to believe she had no conversations with him about his run.

Second, Chairman Raley disavows any alliance with Don Loucks, who seeks a rematch election with County Judge Paul Pape.  But that contradicts Mr. Louck's published remarks.  Mr. Loucks ran for precinct chair last election in support of Jeanne Raley's challenge against me for the County Chairman position.  He printed in his column at that time (and I paraphrase) that he would be running for precinct chair to support the new chairman [Chairman Raley] in electing true Republicans [apparently speaking of himself].  By printing that statement, he announced an alliance with Jeanne to help her get elected as chairman for the purpose of changing who gets elected locally in the future.  So the two leave us with conflicting statements of alliance and wondering who to believe?  Given that Mr. Loucks almost always voted in favor of every position of Chairman Raley's in the last term (I recall no exceptions), given that Chairman Raley appointed Mr. Loucks chairman of the party's candidate committee, and given that Chairman Raley instructed one precinct chair candidate up for consideration before the executive committee to hide their friendship to avoid political repercussion ("Now just keep it our little secret that we are friends.  Life will be much easier for you, believe me."), I'm guessing Mr. Loucks has been the most forthright about their relationship.

The interesting thing to me in this is Chairman Raley's desire to hide and/or deny where her alliances exist.  It suggests to me that she views association with herself as a net negative before the electorate.  In my view, it is best to state what you stand for, identify those who will stand with you, and leave it to the voters to decide whether your position is best.  But that's just me.

Third, Chairman Raley, who considers herself a Constitutional Conservative, objects to me asserting my opinions in my emails and on my blog.  Umm, no comment.

Bastrop County Republican News was born as my response to Chairman Raley's significant curbing of communication to the Republican family.  You can complain fruitlessly at the chair, or you can step up and make a positive difference.  I chose the latter path.  In my communications through this email list and my blog, I have not before now uttered a word of criticism concerning Chairman Raley.  All that while, I was taking slander and/or abuse from Chairman Raley and Don Loucks in multiple forums.  Now that campaign season has arrived, we the Republican family have a choice as to our local party leadership, and I will be expressing my views, and basis for them, in future emails on that subject.  I will endeavor to be factual and reasoned.  I will endeavor to keep my discussion on issues of policy.  But I will most definitely be opinionated.  And you are free to consider what I say, dig deeper, assess for yourself, and come to your own conclusions.

For now, it is enough to state that I support Dianna Greenwood for Bastrop County Chairman, and I support the re-election of County Judge Paul Pape.

Albert L. Ellison, Founder
Bastrop County Republican News
bcrnews.blogspot.com