Just the Facts!

Hello Everyone,

It has been a while since I have written. With everything that has gone on in the last month I felt it wiser to stay quiet until everything was taken care of than to speak out; however, it is the time to explain a few things and get them out of the way so we can move forward towards the November Election.

Many folks have asked and even more have been talking about what happened with getting Opey Watkins on the ballot for the Commissioner’s race. Let me clear it up for everyone and explain it as simply as possible.

First off, I refuse to get sidetracked by the rumor mill or the questioning of anyone’s motives or actions in dealing with this. This was not the fault of the County Clerk, the Elections’ Clerk, the candidate, the Milam County GOP, the Democrats, or anyone else. I failed to get Mr. Watkins nomination certification filed on time and I take full responsibility for it.

The fact is I had the wrong date for the deadline. In one of those rare instances when my OCD did not kick in, I continued to believe August 29^th to be the deadline and did not realize that the 25^th was the actual date. I had it on my calendar to go to the County Clerk’s office on the 27^th and take care of the remaining paperwork from the primaries, file Mr. Watkins Certification, and verify the ballot for the Elections Clerk.

Once I found out my error I endeavored to correct my mistake and via the hard work of several individuals and a ruling by the 3^rd Court of Appeals we were fortunate enough to be allowed to file the certification late and get Mr. Watkins on the ballot and allow the voters of Precinct 1 to choose their commissioner.

This ruling was issued based on legal precedent as the court deemed that the voters of Precinct 1 and Mr. Watkins should not be punished due to no-fault of their own. The court ruled that it was my mistake that caused this and not anyone else’s. There was no malice or deception involved here, it was an honest and regrettable mistake.

Mr. Watkins has the full support of the entire Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Milam County. During the Executive Committee meeting held to nominate Mr. Watkins a quorum of Executive Committee members were in attendance and everyone, including myself, unanimously agreed on Mr. Watkins as the GOP nominee for the Precinct 1 County Commissioner place on the ballot.

I apologize to the voters of Precinct 1 and to Mr. Watkins in particular as it was never my intent for any of this to happen. I can assure everyone that no one has felt worse about this entire situation than I have. I promise to rededicate my efforts to ensure this sort of incident does not happen in the future.

I also apologize to Milam County Clerk Barbara Vansa and Elections’ Clerk Sherry Mueck. These two ladies work very hard to ensure we have fair and efficient elections in Milam County and I thank them for their efforts. I have always worked very hard to help them in there difficult job and with one mental lapse managed to make their job that much more difficult. As the prior court rulings have stated, the County Chairman is not required to be perfect. I know I’m not, but I apologize all the same and promise to work harder in the future!

In closing I would like to thank everyone who helped in this matter. It has always been my hope and goal to allow the voters of Milam County to choose their elected officials in a civil and fair manner.

It is my aim to continue to do so.

Sincerely,

Bill Whitmire

Chairman

Republican Party of Milam County

New County Comissioner

Congratulations to Richard Watkins on his appointment to fill the office of Precinct 1 County Commissioner until the November General Election. Milam County is thankful for your stepping forward to serve out the remainder of this term.

With the resignation of County Commissioner Balch and the removal of his name from the ballot it has become necessary for the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Milam County to select a replacement for Mr. Balch on the November General election ballot.

The media outlets that have reported that Mr. Watkins has already been selected as the nominee to represent the GOP on the November ballot have done so in error. As a point of correction, while Mr. Watkins will surely be considered for the vacancy as the Republican nominee for this, the nomination meeting has not yet occurred. Currently a meeting for this purpose has not been set but will be in the near future. At that time the Milam County GOP Executive Committee will set out the guidelines for consideration and will decide who the nominee will be.

Post RPT Convention Notes – Platform Debate

This last weekend I joined the rest of the delegates from Milam County in attending the 2014 Republican Party of Texas (RPT) Convention in Fort Worth. There was much to be excited about and much to discuss, but nothing has drawn as much ire as the debate of and the language included in the RPT Platform.

Initially there was the debate over two Minority Reports pertaining to the use of medical cannabis. First, the addition of a statement that would allow medical cannabis’s use was not approved. Then after another hour of debate, the already included statement to allow for the study of the use of Medical Cannabis was stricken. The stricken statement probably would have been okay except for the fact that it called not only for the state to allow the testing to be done, but also to facilitate (i.e. fund) the study. That is where many folks had an issue with it.

Then the final Minority report which covered the Immigration plank and included several triggers as to what must happen first in the immigration issue such as securing the border and effective E-Verify System to be put into effect. Later in the day the immigration issue again was brought up and carried quite a bit of the discussion on specifics that are too intricate to get into in a one page blog post. Safe to say, immigration was widely discussed.

Now the Platform Committee held hearings and meetings all week and brought forth a fairly well laid out 40 page document. As a general rule the platform is a document that provides a generalized basis for the party to use to define their basic beliefs. It is doubtful that anyone will agree with the entire document. Hopefully most everyone agrees with at least 80% of it. As President Reagan was apt to say, we must fight for the 80% we agree on and not over the 20% we disagree on.

But with all the good that is in this document, the one item that the press has decided to focus on it the inclusion of a plank to ensure the availability of Reparative Therapy in regards to homosexuals. I have heard many complaints on this from solid GOPers who were not there, and of course our liberal brethren have run it up the flagpole as an opportunity to further scare the LGBT community.

So why is it in there? I wondered the same thing.

I questioned two committeemen and this is how it was explained to me. While there is much criticism and theories as to its usefulness, the Platform Committee felt it necessary to include after the 2013 law in which California made the offering of this therapy to teenagers illegal. This plank simply states that Reparative Therapy should be available to an individual who may want to take part in it. Essentially, as stated in the document, the platform looks to protect an individual’s rights to Reparative Therapy in that “No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy.”

Of course liberals and the media have taken this allowance and decided to falsely represent it saying the RPT believes that reparative therapy is the only way to handle or cure homosexuality. As is usual, the Democrats fail to use the truth or the spirit of the plank, they simply scream and shout about the racist, homophobes on the conservative side and hope that people are ignorant enough to not seek the truth. That is how they have ruled places like California and have almost completely run it into the ground.

The platform speaks out in typical Christian-Judeo fashion on Homosexuality and while there are still a solid block that hold this as their belief, there are many who see homosexuality in a different light and don’t agree with the platform; however, that is part of their 20% of the platform that they do not favor.

Once the new platform is up and online at the RPT website I suggest you all to take a look at it. Like myself, I doubt you will agree with all of it but like I tweeted as I left the convention, “Remember, the platform is a guideline for the party to use as a basis of beliefs, not a set of mandates to override common sense. #rptcon14”

I’ll talk later about how the convention works, it’s definitely interesting and everyone should go at least once.

Thanks,

Bill

First Night on the Convention Scene!!

Well Kyle and I got to the hotel around 7 and set out to check out the Stock Yards for a good steak dinner and to enjoy the avenue before the crowds arrive tomorrow night.

By the way…if you haven’t been down to the Stock Yards then you need to check it out. Excellent foor, great music, and lots of places to by some western gear.

Fixing to leave the hotel for the convention center and all the fun!!

More later!!

Bill

First Night at the Convention - 2014!!!

First night in town means a stop at the Fort Worth Stockyards for a little Meal!!