Paul Simpson Kicks Off Campaign to be the Next Harris County GOP Chair

This past Wednesday at Cafe Adobe to an overflow crowd, Paul Simpson, candidate for Harris County Republican Party Chair, officially kicked off his grass roots campaign. Surrounded by supporters and family members, in the heart of the Spring Branch Community, Paul reminded us of why he is the right person for the job of county chair. “We are in a fight for the future of Texas. Harris County is a key battleground. To win, the GOP needs to rebuild, ground up. But reform must start at the top. That's why I ask for your vote in March 2014 for Harris County Republican Chair." Oh, yes, it's high time for a change in leadership at the helm of the Harris County GOP.

I am a precinct chair for the county party and I have seen first hand the challenges we face as we try to work through a local party that has neglected the activists and the grass roots, trying to win elections without a strong leader to lead us in the fight against the vocal, vicious left wing Democrats who, by the way, have won the top of the ticket the last three elections. Unfortunately, we have ignored the long time basics of how to win elections, empower our grass roots activists, precinct chairs and volunteers on how to contact the voters and directly engage them, much to our peril. When there's a problem, at least in my mind, the first step in rectifying that problem is to admit there is a problem. At this moment, our county chair can't or won't do that.

To have an effective grass roots effort, exclusive power held by those at the top cannot exist. With Paul as the County Chair, that power would be spread throughout the camp of precinct chairmen, activists and volunteers. You maintain the top-down approach of this current party leadership system, something that we have proof of failing us election cycle after election cycle and we will continue to lose elections.

Enter Paul Simpson with his Precinct Manager tool. He, along with a handful of dedicated activists, put together this system three years ago, on their own dime and their own time, two things that should be valued above all else; time and treasure. They also grant access to, wait for it...EVERYONE! Amazing, right? This is more proof that Paul's bottom up approach to empower the precinct chair and through them, develop a stronger base and rebuild the party is crucial in the high stakes effort we call Harris County politics.

How about the finances of the party? We held an executive committee meeting on Monday night and one of my fellow precinct chairman stood up at the mic and offered up a resolution that stated that the party needed a budget. Yep, a budget. You know, that pesky little thing that most households run on by taking the money that's coming in and then subtract expenditures to see what is left? I was interested to see what would happen after that and sure enough, the party leadership and others started jumping and scrambling with a call for a quorum. While the quorum was being certified, which by the way, I don't ever remember hearing if we had one or not, the resolution was shot down because someone determined that this would be a by-laws change and we would need a two-thirds majority to vote on something of this nature. So, what do we get instead of a budget? We get vague numbers in a spreadsheet thrown up on the screen in a power point presentation. This is shameful and all too reminiscent of how Obama and the Democrats forced universal health care on this country.

Why do we have such lack luster leadership with a weak infrastructure? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count. If you guessed 'money', you would be correct. The chairman's own financial woes have come to roost, and in my opinion, have affected his capability of running the office of party chairman honestly and effectively.

We all need money, yes? When you don't have money what happens? You become desperate. The current county chair is no different because he, too has become desperate. What happens when you become desperate? You typically do things that you wouldn't normally do to get by. You mean like accepting judicial appointments from a Republican judge? Yes, exactly. Check the link to this article that goes into a bit more detail about those judicial appointments.

Harris County deserves better leadership than what we have now. The Harris County GOP precinct chairs, volunteers and activists deserve better leadership. If you're anything like me, you have a family and responsibilities at home to care for. I, for one, am burning the candle at both ends trying to keep up with the circus that is politics, both locally and nationally. We fought hard during the summer with Senator Ted Cruz and his attempt to defund Obamacare and we took the fight to Washington with his plea of #MakeDCListen.

Let me ask you this, do you want to make a difference? If you want to #MakeDCListen, then you have to #MakeHarrisGOPListen first. The ripple effect will be bigger than you think.

Disclaimer: Kelly Horsley serves as Communications Director for the Paul Simpson for Harris County Chair Campaign. However, this article is the opinion of Kelly Horsley as an individual blogger, not that of any candidate or campaign.