Updated Filing GOP Filing list for Milam County!

Hello Everyone,

There are still a few people who have spoken with me about filing for office. They have until 6:00 pm, Monday, December 14^th to get with me and sign up. Since last week, Odes Foster of Milano filed to run for County Commissioner, Precinct 3.

For the final day of filing, I will available from 1:00 pm until 6:00 pm at 411 E. First Street in Cameron to accept applications.

To date the following have filed for office on the GOP Ballot.

District Judge

John W. Youngblood (Incumbent)

District Attorney

Bill Torrey (Incumbent)

Sheriff

David E. Greene (Incumbent)

Herbie Vaughan

County Tax Assessor

Sherry Mueck

County Commissioner, Precinct 1

Richard "Opey" Watkins (Incumbent)

County Commissioner, Precinct 3

John L. Fisher (Incumbent)

Odes Foster

Constable, Precinct 1

John Anderle (Incumbent)

Constable, Precinct 2

Charles L. “Charlie” West (Incumbent)

Kenny Schneebeli 

Constable, Precinct 3

Jay Beathard (Incumbent)

I also spoke with current Tax-Assessor Kolette Morgan and she said she will not be seeking reelection to office citing her health concerns for not wanting to go through an election.

I would also like to let you know about the 6^th Annual Reagan Day/Texas Independence Day Dinner set for February 4^th, to be held at the Cameron VFW post. Times to be announced in the coming week. All of the local GOP candidates will be there, as well as many of the state GOP candidates as well. The Republican Women of Milam County will be hosting this event and put on the finest dinner and fund raiser of the year. More information to follow on this. There will be a ticket for each of our Milam County Press outlets.

That’s about it for today. Have a wonderful and safe rest of your week and for those traveling for football games and such, be careful out on the roads.

Thanks,

Bill

Bill Whitmire

Chairman,

Milam GOP

254-482-0354

GOP General Info and happenings.

Hello Everyone,

I hope everyone is well into their Thanksgiving preparations and as always, if you need any help disposing of your desserts please let me know and I will be happy to come by and help out in that department. Remember, there are no calories during the Thanksgiving week!!!

To date the following have filed for office.

District Judge

John W. Youngblood (Incumbent)

District Attorney

Bill Torrey (Incumbent)

Sheriff

David E. Greene (Incumbent)

County Tax Assessor

Sherry Mueck

County Commissioner, Precinct 1

Richard "Opey" Watkins

County Commissioner, Precinct 3

John L. Fisher

Constable, Precinct 1

John Anderle

Constable, Precinct 2

Charles L. “Charlie” West

Constable, Precinct 3

Jay Beathard

I have been contacted by a couple others, Including Kollette Morgan about filing in the next few days.

We also are looking for a candidate to run for Constable in Precinct 4 (Thorndale and the West Rockdale area). We thought there was a young man who wanted to run for this; however, he says he was told by several members of the Thorndale VFD that if he ran as a Republican then he wouldn’t get their support.

I guess he forgot about the other 3/4ths of the folks in Precinct 4 who vote GOP or the more the 50% who voted straight ticket GOP last election cycle.

Anyway, we have a couple of individuals who have shown interest in this office we are currently discussing this with them. If you have anyone who might like to be run in Precinct 4 please give them my contact information. Also, if you know of anyone interested in running as a Republican, please have them get in touch with me and we can set them up.

The Republican Women will be having their Christmas Reception on December 3^rd, at 6:00 in Cameron at the Milam County Museum. The event is free so come out and meet the women and the candidates.

Also mark your calendars now for February 4^th, 2016 for the Annual Reagan Day/Texas Independence Day Dinner. All of the local candidates will be there and many state candidates as well. Come out and enjoy this special evening as the Republican Women of Milam County put on the finest dinner and fund raiser of the year. More information to follow on this.

That’s about it for today. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and keep me in mind on those desserts!!

Thanks,

Bill

Bill Whitmire

Chairman,

Milam GOP

254-482-0354

Filing for office - Who has as of yet!!

Good Morning,

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Here is the list of those to file for offices as of this morning.

District Judge

John W. Youngblood (Incumbent)

 

District Attorney

Bill Torrey (Incumbent)

 

Sheriff

David E. Greene (Incumbent)

 

County Tax Assessor

Sherry Mueck

 

County Commissioner, Precinct 1

Richard "Opey" Watkins

 

County Commissioner, Precinct 3

John L. Fisher

 

Constable, Precinct 1

John Anderle

 

Constable, Precinct 2

Charles L. “Charlie” West

 

Constable, Precinct 3

Jay Beathard

I will update this list from as there are updates. I will also update on the Milam GOP Facebook site as they com in and will post on the Milam GOP Twitter page as they com in.

As always, if you have a question or concern please feel free to call or email me.

Thanks,

Bill

It's time to start filing for office!!!

This Saturday, November 14th, marks the opening of the filing period for the 2016 primary election. I will be accepting applications for a place on the GOP primary ballot starting at 8:00 am Saturday morning at my family's office in Cameron, Texas.

The office is located at 411 E. First Street, across the railroad tracks from the Crime Stoppers Warehouse of Horrors.

I'll be there from 8 till around noon. If you need an application or just have a question feel free to give me a call at 254-482-0354.

Thanks
Bill

Getting Ready for the 2016 Election

I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s time to start getting ready for the 2016 Primary Election leading up to the 2016 General Election. I have been pretty quiet and for most 2015 as the Presidential field has more than made up for anything I could come up with.

This will be an exciting time for the country as we have a wide open Presidential race and lots of things to think about as we move towards 2016 and the upcoming elections.

But right now it’s time to start preparing for the upcoming Primary election here in Milam County. Filing for Party and Precinct Chair for the Republican Party of Milam County is already available. If you are interested, please feel free to call me at 254-482-0354, or email me at williamwhitmire@yahoo.com and I will be happy to get you the application. Filing for a Chair position will close on December 14^th.

Filing for county office will begin on November 14^th. We will have Opening Day Filing on November 14^th at a place to be determined. Filing for county office will continue until December 14^th and the specifics will be upcoming here and on the Milam County GOP website once we have it updated sometime this week.

If you are interested in running for county office, contact me and I will get you the Application for a place on the Ballot. Also, prior to filing for office you need to pick up a Treasurer’s Packet at the County Clerk’s Office in Cameron.

County Offices up for election in the campaign cycle are:

District Judge

County Sheriff

County Attorney

County Tax Assessor

County Commissioner, Precincts 1 and 3

Constable, Precincts 1, 2, 3, and 4

There will be more information to come. If you have any questions please feel free to call or email and I will do my best to answer your questions.

Thanks,

Bill

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

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