Advice For Republican County Chairs In Texas: Think First, Email Later

In this era of instant communications, many of us are guilty of writing something stupid, and then pushing the send button and not considering what the reaction of others will be or how stupid it may look or read.

Harris County Republican Chairman-elect Keith Nielsen did exactly this recently posting a famous Martin Luther King, Jr. quote and putting a banana next to it.

Party Chairmen are there to elect candidates, not to be a distraction. Nielsen was guilty of what is described in the first paragraph. He has since resigned, which was the right thing to do.

The Executive Committee will pick a new Chairman. Some outstanding experienced Republicans are interested, so as a public service, TCR will outline what makes a good Chairman based on my 92% plus success rate during my three terms as Chairman:

1. Unite the various factions. It's not the Chairman's party. It's every Republican's party.
2. Always be raising money to sustain the party and help its candidates.
3. Be a responsible spokesperson when appropriate.
4. Communicate with your leadership and the base regularly and be accessible to candidates and officeholders.
5. Understand that in the internet era, brick and mortar has been replaced by smartphones.
6. Think of politics as a chess game, not checkers, always plan at least three steps ahead.
7. Remember the job of a Chairman is to recruit great candidates and elect them.
8. In the new Harris County, you need to campaign with all the interest groups, as it's a majority-minority county.
9. Create opportunities to cultivate new leadership in the generations coming up.
10. Follow Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment, "Thou shalt speak no ill of a fellow Republican."

The HCRP needs a Chairman that combines the strengths of the last two who served, Paul Simpson and Jared Woodfill. The former did a good job of raising money, but fell down in the areas of spending money, party unity and public relations. Paul ended up with the worst three terms of any modern Chairman.

The latter was a great spokesman, an inspiring speaker but had problems keeping the financial side of the party in order.

Neither did a good job of bringing together all factions of the party. Essentially, they both catered to their base leaving the party divided and vulnerable to the Democratic surge.

The Democrats under Lillie Schechter are organized, united and very successful. She has done a good job of fundraising and has assembled a staff of twelve. Schechter has led the Democrats to essentially two countywide sweeps in a row. The Republican Party needs to up its game considerably, if it wants to become a player in Harris County politics again.

The challenge for the Executive Committee is to ignore your friendships and pick a new chairman who is up to the challenge. Bringing back Simpson or Woodfill is not the answer unless Republicans are content with continuing to lose.