A helpful reminder this Memorial Day

Posted without further commentary (image credit unknown). The Travis Tracker wishes our readers a happy and meaningful Memorial Day 2016. 

Zimmerman provides glimpse into policymaking by un-elected bureaucrats

Screenshot from the video clip

If you think the City Council has the final word on policy regarding Austin Police Department body cameras, think again.

See the following press release from District 6 Austin City Councilman Don Zimmerman's office for an example of how un-elected city workers often write rules in lieu of the City Council's direction or input -- in this case, policy regarding the use of footage obtained by officer-worn body cameras.

On Monday, May 23, 2016 at the Public Safety Committee meeting chaired by Austin City Council Member Don Zimmerman (District 6, Northwest Austin), Commander Ely Reyes from the Austin Police Department (APD) confirmed what Council Member Zimmerman has been saying for over a year, that APD, and other city staff, routinely make critical policy decisions irrespective of voting or even consultation of elected City Council.

In the meeting, Council Member Leslie Pool asked Commander Reyes “That's for adoption by council, right? So you're writing the policy for the council?” and his response was “No. The council doesn't approve our policy. Our policy has already been approved and implemented within the department.”

A video clip can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/CouncilmanDonZimmerman/videos/1030398933696217/

The full Public Safety Committee meeting can be found at: http://austintx.swagit.com/play/05232016-732/0/ 

Note: By no means are we implicating Commander Reyes or the good men and women of the Austin Police Department by sharing this press release. This is a critique of the City's policy drafting process, and not of any one individual.

Low turnout for Republican Runoff (yes, a handful of votes can make a difference!)

Less than 1 percent of the 667,116 registered Travis County voters turned out for the Republican Primary Runoff, which wrapped up Tuesday, May 24. And just over 9,000 Travis County Democrats turned out for a Railroad Commissioner runoff on the Democratic Runoff, making for a dismal overall turnout for both parties.

In races like these, the amount of votes friends and family bring to the polls can make all the difference. In the Bastrop County Sheriff's runoff, GOP candidate Maurice Cook won by four votes. In the Houston area, pro-life attorney Briscoe Cain upset longtime Rep. Wayne Smith (R-Baytown) for the HD 128 seat by around 25 votes. A single percentage point determined most of the statewide races.

Austin-area well-represented on State Republican Executive Committee

Half of those serving in Texas Senate Districts containing Travis County are from Travis County. Below are the newly elected members of the Texas State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) from SDs 14, 21, 24, and 25 chosen at the 2016 Republican Party of Texas Convention.

Travis County sends delegates to GOP national convention

The Travis Tracker presents the names of the national delegates and alternates representing Congressional Districts that contain Travis County. They are presented below by delegate, alternate (and the presidential candidate to which they're pledged).

The Republican National Convention is set for July 18-21 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Tracker will be relaying news from the convention floor from our national delegates.

One of the most comprehensively conservative conversations you'll hear in Austin

Travis County Republican Party Chairman James Dickey, with a month to go in office, highlights what challenges lay ahead for conservatives in the Austin area -- addressing everything from affordability, to Uber and Lyft, to race relations, to the 2016 presidential election -- on Austin Public Television's long-running "Trailer Park Show."

Dickey is joined by Travis GOP Communications Director Andy Hogue, MLK Association founder Mike Lee, former Texas House candidate Marilyn Jackson and show host James "Slow Pokey" Ritter.

Take a watch if you're at all doubtful about the future of conservatism in Central Texas and beyond. Some real solutions are presented at this table that transcend the usual cultural and political battle lines.

State platform vote percentages, top priorities

We now have percentages to accompany the list we posted over the weekend of how each plank of the Texas GOP 2016 platform performed under a new scantron-style voting system.

See below for a table and the file below for the spreadsheet version.

Percentages and vote counts. (Excel file, via Google Drive)

We'll have a 2-3 word description of each question on this list soon. Until then click here for a numbered list of each platform item.

In short, they all passed. And ...

2016 Texas GOP Platform results

For a PDF containing the results, see the link below. To figure out which question applies to which platform plank, click here.

https://www.texasgop.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2016-Texas-GOP-Weighted-Totals-.pdf

Stay tuned for some analysis in the coming week.

Censure rules survive convention floor, platform being voted on now

Far above the 100 or fewer planks party leadership had hoped for, Texas Republican Delegates are now voting on 248 state platform items via a scantron voting sheet method. The results of the "grading" are not expected until Saturday, and the tallies will be reported on each plank of the 2016 platform.

We understand that new platform planks are not allowed to be introduced from the floor, but convention parliamentarians are currently reviewing whether that restriction is valid.

The party rules being voted on today, according to Travis GOP Chairman James Dickey, contain some helpful reforms.

"The rules matter -- a lot," Dickey said, via Facebook. "... The theme of the changes was to work toward increased transparency and accountability. That includes things like expressly permitting video recording of meetings, requiring record votes on final issues by the SREC, and spelling out a process for censure of an elected officeholder."

For now, here are the permanent reports for our readers to review -- we report, you decide!

County Chair reform effort gains support of Rules commitee

Though a platform plank to allow a county executive committee to select its own county chairman failed in the platform committee, there's still hope for reform.

Thanks, Dan, for the input!

The Republican Party of Texas Convention's Temporary Rules Committee approved a rule allowing a county executive committee to request the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) officials committee to investigate whether a county chair has abandoned the office due to "moral turpitude."

"I think it gives you the ammo you need," said committee member Dan McDonald, a former Travis County GOP Secretary and now Hays County GOP Secretary.

According to McDonald, the proposed rule -- subject to the delegation and future action by the permanent rules committee and SREC -- reads as follows:

Legislative priorities draft approved by temporary platform committee

The 31 members of the Temporary Platform Committee of the 2016 Republican Party of Texas Convention came up with a list of "Legislative Priorities" this evening. When approved, this list will appear as a subset of the official state platform. 

From highest vote count to lowest, here are the priorities:

Mackowiak trumps O'Reilly on alleged candidate support

Travis GOP Vice Chairman and Austin/D.C. political consultant Matt Mackowiak must have been busy this week.

We'll let Washington Post opinion columnist Erik Wemple tell the story of what happened ...

Last night, [Bill] O’Reilly was attempting to defend his own honor against an opinion circulated in the Hill newspaper, by Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak. “Fox hosts Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, radio host Laura Ingraham, even Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge all worshipped at the altar of Trump,” wrote Mackowiak, “either out of personal friendship and loyalty or desire to have access to him for ratings. They failed to hold him accountable for his statements, actions, contradictions and lack of policy substance. They built him up.” 

So just how did the King of Cable News refute this charge?  [...] That back-and-forth was part of perhaps the worst performance on cable news over the entire 2016 primary campaign.

County Chairman reform plank rejected by RPT platform committee

A proposed state platform plank designed to help county parties avoid the leadership situation that Travis County GOP finds itself in was defeated in committee at the Republican Party of Texas convention today.

According to TJ Scott, the Senate District 14 Convention platform chair back in March and a state delegate at this week's convention, a "platform subcommittee made it shorter and passed it, but the full platform committee struck it."

This was the version that was passed by Senate District 14 convention:

"County Chairman Election -- The Texas Election Code should be changed to eliminate the position of County Chairman of a political party as a publicly elected official, and the rules of the Republican Party of Texas should be modified to elect County Chairmen by a majority of votes in the county executive committee."

Platform compromise reached (for now)

The Platform Committee of the Republican Party of Texas Convention met Monday and today to set up the ground rules of how to adopt the many components (or "planks") of the 2016 Texas GOP platform.

After a spirited back-and-forth on what is traditionally a slow day prior to the convention, the committee came up with a compromise the (hopefully) satisfy shorter-platform advocates and supporters of something closer to the status quo.

Below are some voices from the convention in Dallas from various perspectives. Yours are welcome in the comments section, as always.

2/3 rule passes GOP state convention hurdle (UPDATE: back to majority)

According to State Republican Executive Committee member Mark Ramsey, the effort to slim-down and narrow the Texas Republican platform cleared its first mile marker this afternoon. 

Supporters of this provision argue that the platform, as it stands, is somewhat of a laughing-stock to critics, and that a more succinct statement of beliefs would draw in a larger coalition of voters and be more respected by members of the Texas Legislature and Congress. 

Political diversity increasing in East Austin

Texas House District 46 candidate Gabriel Nila appeared at a forum hosted by Africans who emigrated to the United States, garnering some press in a newspaper serving the Austin black community.

Diaspora Vote, founded in 2010, invited all eastern Travis County candidates to participate in a non-partisan forum to "create a dialogue between the candidates and elected and appointed officials regarding local issues."

Nila, as it happens, was the only Republican to attend, joined by the Green Party's Flashe Gordon and Democrat Arthur Simpson (both running for Travis County Commissioner Court Precinct 1) and Precinct 1 Constable incumbent Danny Thomas, a Democrat.

Read the Villager article here (PDF file, page 8, screenshot above):

What is interesting is that notoriously absent Dawnna Dukes, the Democratic incumbent for HD 46, was not present, considering she is a celebrated advertiser of the Villager (see bottom-right corner -- click for larger view):