Local Republicans Take Note

To the Editor:

It saddens me to have spent hundreds of hours personally and thousands of hours by our county party and county women’s group to vet our candidates on the ballot for the primary and general election only to have them defeat our work when they gather in Austin to elect the most important leader for the upcoming session. Our district House of Representatives member, Mr. Stan Kitzman, violated the rules of his caucus by exiting the caucus just prior to an important vote. He did this to “support” Rep. Dustin Burrows, a leader in the rulemaking that decided that caucus members would not exit the caucus to avoid a vote. Thus, both Kitzman and Burrows decided that rules they approved of would not apply to them. Twenty-five other Republican members similarly left the caucus—and then proclaimed themselves the winners with a majority of vote for speaker of the house. The balance of votes in their January “majority” would be Democrat members. Again, this would give Texas a Speaker of the House who cares little about the important legislation Texas needs now and continue to stall good bills by not letting them be on the calendar or given a hearing.

At the Republican Party of Texas convention, we spent three days - many others spent six full days - combing over our platform so we could convey to the voters of Texas what we stood for and what will make Texas gain back strength and freedoms for our future setting God, family and country/state throughout our platform. We want a return to integrity and morality in all governmental taxing bodies, as the pledge of allegiance to the Texas flag states!

Yesterday, Texas Scorecard ran a poll on what should be done for these members who defected. From their daily email, here are the results (12/10/2024): Slightly fewer than five percent think there should be no consequence. Meanwhile, 9.5 percent believe those lawmakers should be kicked from the caucus, and 11.8 percent want them to be forbidden from seeking reelection as a Republican. And then you have 74.2 percent who believe those Republicans should be both kicked out of the caucus and forbidden to run in the GOP primary.

Mr. Kitzman, to my knowledge, also did not sign the Contract With Texas. The purpose of this, as stated in the document: To keep the promises we’ve made to Texas voters we, the undersigned, expect the next Speaker of the House to advance the cause of liberty and adhere, at a minimum, to the following reforms to improve the integrity, transparency, and efficiency of the House. (google Contract with Texas for complete reading).

I invite Fayette County Republican voters to contact Mr. Kitzman’s office stating your reason for voting for him was to uphold Texas Party Republican values as Fayette County voted solidly Republican in November. It’s our one chance to change Texas and America back to our pledges which we say with our hand over our heart, “Under God.” Our voices must be heard.

Patsy Parker La Grange