TFRW ‘Champion Of Freedom’ Awarded To Brad Bailey For His Work on The Texas Solution

The Texas Federation of Republican Women held a luncheon at Brennan’s on June 25, 2013 in Houston, Texas. The purpose was to award its ‘Champion of Freedom’ Award to Brad Bailey for his Texas Immigration Solution. Bailey has been instrumental in informing the public about immigration reform. Harris County Judge Ed Emmett was the keynote speaker and spoke about the need for the Republican Party to be more inclusive and welcoming to newcomers to the party. This was an excellent opportunity for TFRW to show that the Republican Party is reaching out to the Hispanic community in Texas and that it is interested in growing our party so that we stay the majority. TFRW President Carolyn Hodges’ dedication and enthusiasm is exactly what our party needs. It was fun watching Hodges present Bailey with a ‘Red’ coat to his total surprise. This also added a little levity to the occasion.

I had met Brad Bailey before but had not had the opportunity to visit with him at length. As the Outreach Chairman for the Canyon Lake Republican Women’s club in my community, I thought this would be a good time and an ideal setting to ask Bailey some questions that are of interest to all Texans. It was also my pleasure to meet Kim Chambers, TFRW Outreach Chairman.

As much as Bailey meets and addresses hundreds of people around Texas, it is the grassroots that have to stand by the principles that have made America, Texas and the Republican Party strong. The more I travel around and speak to individuals, the more I understand how difficult it is to reduce ignorance and apathy. Amnesty as defined in the dictionary is simple, but so many Americans have chosen to misconstrue the meaning of the word. So much so that amnesty has become a derogatory word. Conservatives must lead the way in defining the true concept of what America is all about, its immigrants! Texas is fortunate to have a man so committed to growing the Republican Party. The following is my conversation with Texan Brad Bailey of the Texas Solution.

1. What motivated you to work on the Texas Immigration Solution?
We are in the restaurant business here in Houston area so I have had the honor and privilege to work with many Hispanics shoulder to shoulder in my family's restaurants. Being in the restaurant business I have also seen first hand how broken our nation’s immigration system is. When Governor Perry was running for president in the primaries, I saw how rhetoric and complaining about the problem of the immigration issue has overtaken providing solutions. And when somebody presents a solution, they are immediately attacked. I just think that is bad way forward for our party for our country, and I think conservatives need to lead on it. Being a business owner and having so many Hispanics working for us that are like family to us, to see what they have gone through for years and years. A lot of them have had citizenship since 1986. And to see what they have gone through, and currently what they go through, really led me to get involved. Little did I know that I would be doing as much as I am.

2. How critical is securing the border to Immigration Reform?
I think it is critical, and there is no better place than Texas to talk about this. We have 1200 miles of border with Mexico. We have some of the worst border violence around with the drug cartels and gun and human traffickers. We see so much going on right here in Texas, but we can provide Texas logic and Texas solutions to the problems. We can solve this so much better than the federal government. And we have proven that already with the Texas Department of Public Safety. They have operation Drawbridge that is getting criminals and has seized over $3M in drugs in the last twelve months. These are Texas solutions that are being presented. We understand our backyard better than the federal government does. But making sure that we have a secure border is important. However, I will add I think that the guest worker program, a modernized, using high technology, guest worker program is an essential part of border security. We need to see people getting background checks and getting biometric identification card and fingerprint technology. A Brooks County sheriff told me that when I see them coming across the river through the bridge with a guest worker biometric card I can dedicate all my officers and all my research to the bad guys versus running after someone coming here for a job. Streamlining it and making a new national guest worker program is essential part of border security.

3. How important do you believe Immigration Reform is to the Republican Party?
Oh, I think it is essential. I think, you know we are the party of Reagan, the party of Lincoln. We are being viewed as being anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic and complaining about the problem versus solving the problem. I believe we can take our conservative principles, respect the rule of law, and solve this problem versus kicking the can down the road. And I think that is an essential part to the solution. I also think that the Republican Party and groups such as TFRW have done a wonderful job of identifying who their speakers are and making sure they are conservative. Because there are a lot coming around the state and TexasGOPVote is the leader in reporting that they are not conservative. They are environmentalists, backed by unions, they are population control extremists, and they are coming into our party and are poisoning our water. That is how we have gotten so bad since 2006 onward. So I applaud TexasGOPVote for taking a lead and exposing these people.

4. What are the names of those organizations?
They are the Federation for American Immigration Reform, Numbers USA, Center for Immigration Studies. These three groups are all lined with shared board members. They have 16 board members that are on Planned Parenthood. They have 12 board members that are on the Sierra Club organization or Sierra Club backed organizations. Their big money donors all come from the Weeden Foundation which is actually one of the largest foundations to fund, getting Excel Pipeline delayed in Nebraska environmental wetlands. So these groups are not conservative. They don’t care about our party or growing our party. They are population control extremists. And they go to the highest levels of government. Our elected officials need to know who they are getting their information from and if they are concerned about being reelected and growing our party because they are not.

5. What in your opinion are the biggest obstacles to Immigration Reform?
I believe that the biggest obstacles to immigration reform is the rhetoric and hatred commentary that surrounds it. We have to educate everyone from across the state and across the country. We need to have voices like Bob Price who knows more about border security and issues at the border than a congressman from Iowa. We need to have our local law enforcement agencies talk about this. We can solve this problem by using free market conservative principles but the rhetoric and the amnesty labels that go on and the lies and half truths are hindering us from taking this albatross issue from our shoulders and we got to do that. We got to make sure that we talk about solutions and stop playing politics. This is a policy issue but let’s not forget that this is a political issue first and foremost.

It’s about politics, so we need both sides of the aisle. There are a few on the Democrat side and a few on the Republican side that genuinely want to take care of the problem and work with each other to fix it. But unfortunately, the political environment, the landscape right now is…If you work across the aisle with someone, you are a RINO. I don’t believe that. I believe that it is an issue we need to address and I am supporting people that provide solutions. Do I think it’s a perfect bill as it is? No I don’t, there are problems with it, and we need to fix those, but that’s why we have the legislative process. I believe that in the end we will see a better bill. But it is more important now than ever that we start calling our senators, congressmen and all the people we know that we want solutions to the problems from, that we want conservative solutions. We want free market solutions. We want a guest worker program and support border security. But having the amnesty label and the rhetoric that surrounds it is damaging our party’s brand and damaging the growth of out party and the future of our party. I believe Texas is ground zero for this fight and it’s time we take an offensive lead instead of being defensive.

TEXASGOPVOTE Bob Price and Sonja Harris with Brad Bailey

TFRW is ‘The most powerful women’s political organization in Texas today’! Yo soy una Tejana Republicana…I am a Texan Republican Woman!
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