February 5th Milam County Republican Women's Dinner

Hello Everyone,

First I hope everyone had an enjoyable time the last few weeks. I know our house was full of children for the first time in forever and while it was a bit crowded it was pretty awesome to have everyone around. Now it’s a new year and it’s time to prepare for the coming year….only 10 months till filing time for the 2016 election!!

The first step in the process is the upcoming Texas Independence Day and Reagan Day Dinner hosted by the Republican Women of Milam County. The Dinner will be held on February 5^th beginning at 6:00 pm at the Cameron VFW hall. This year, the Republican Women are very excited to host a very special guest speaker, the Rev. Rafael Cruz, father of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz.

The Rev. Cruz has a tremendous life story and an even more special message about American Exceptionalism that is both inspiring and motivational. To understand all that he has been through and to know that only in America could someone come from nothing to a successful businessman who raised a future U. S. Senator (and possibly……).

Tickets are on sale now for $50 each and can be purchased from any member of the Republican Women of Milam County (email me and I can get you set up as well).

If you would like to donate an item for the silent auction please let me know and I will get that set up as well. Items can be brought to the event or mailed to the address below.

So mark your calendar for February 5^th and come on out and enjoy the evening. This is an opportune time to meet and talk to your elected officials at the local, state, and national level. There will also be a silent auction as well as our now-famous Prime Rib dinner. The Republican Women of Milam County put on what is generally regarded as one of the best events in Senate District 5 if not the whole state.

I look forward to seeing you all there.

Thanks,

Bill

Bill Whitmire

Chairman,

Republican Party of Milam County

P. O. 12

Milano, Texas 76556

254-482-0354

The Convention!

Well, I was able to shoot out updates and Twitter some but I don’t think I got out as much as I wanted to. I did get the first morning’s activities out so let me just play a quick game of catch-up.

The first afternoon and second morning was spent in our Senate District 5 Caucus. During this time we elected our representatives to the permanent Rules Committee, the Platform Committee, as well as several other committees.

Russell Martinez of Walker County and Megan Higginbotham of Williamson County were chosen to act as our Representatives for the next two years. I look forward to working with both of them. Voting was difficult because all the folks running for these offices were good quality people and any of them would have made good representatives for SD-5.

Later that afternoon we had more speeches with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Senator John Cornyn, and Lt Gov. David Dewhurst. Then we began the review and acceptance of the Party Rules and Platform. We finally had to recess from that for the first Congressional District Caucus session. During our first CD-17 Caucus session we choose the Caucus Officers and I was privileged to be chosen as the Vice-Chair of the CD-17 Caucus. After that we had an address by CD-17 Representative Bill Flores.

After the CD-17 Caucus everyone broke for the night’s gatherings. Some went to the Governor’s Gala event which featured the likes of Rick Santorum. I chose not to go and I think I got the best out of it as I ran into Herman Cain in the lobby of our Hotel and was able to have a pretty nice conversation with him. What a super nice man.

We discussed several things including my Great-Uncle who was one of the founders and leaders of the Henry County Georgia GOP where Mr. Cain lives. I think I got the best end of the Gala deal because I didn’t even have to buy a ticket and got to spend some time with a real gentleman of the Republican Party.

Later that night we reassembled for the nights work to finalize the rules and platform finishing up about 11:30 pm. These sessions are some of the fun of the convention as you see all the folks with agendas and all the people who have WAY too much knowledge of Robert’s Rules of Order. To many folks it is boring and hard to follow, but in reality it is honestly how the wheels of democracy work.

Saturday we all got up bright and early to head to the second and final CD-17 Caucus to elect our representatives for the Republican National Convention in Tampa. We also had to elect an Elector to the National Convention as well as the National Committeeman and Committeewoman for the Republican National Executive Committee. Then we finally headed to the Arena for our last General Session and the concluding votes on the National Delegates and Electors.

The final speakers were the National Committeeman Dr. Robin Armstrong and Committeewoman Col. Borah Van Dormolen (US Army Ret.) – Two exceptional conservatives. Ted Cruz and David Dewhurst also spoke about their July run-off for the US Senate. But the best speeches of the day were those of Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. These two men are the sort we need in the highest offices.

Following the speeches we still had one last hurdle, and thanks to the Congressional District representing Fort Worth we had to wait until 5:30 pm to begin the final voting; nothing like having the hometown folks holding up the works. But we got it all done and we headed home having completed the tough work that needs to be done to allow our party to function and to organize our mechanism towards victory in November.

I would like to personally thank all those who attended the convention. For the second convention in a row we were able to have a full delegation and were able to vote at full strength. For a small county like Milam County I can’t even begin to tell you how significant that is. So thank you to those delegates and alternates who stood fast and took part.

If you are interested in the 2014 convention then come on out and get involved. The 2014 convention will be in Fort Worth again and we are already making plans to make the 2014 the best experience for the Republican Party of Milam County Delegation.

Got to Get Some Rest,

Bill