From platform apathy to activism in a little over a year

West Texas-based conservative activist Teresa Beckmeyer had an interesting recollection brought to her attention via a "Facebook Memory."

On May 24, 2016, she shared a screenshot of the following tweet from Texas Tribune founder Evan Smith:

Beckmeyer wrote in response: "It's what the grassroots has known for some time---those in positions of influence in the state feel the platform is irrelevant. It's up to the party and its leadership to change that."

Two years later she pointed out: "Hah, this was before James Dickey became RPT Chairman ..."

How to be 'daringly great' even after a political defeat

The Tracker does not take sides in primaries, but we wanted to share one of the most gracious, inspiring, and politically aware messages to supporters following an electoral defeat we've read in a long time.

Donna Davidson, a longtime stalwart of the Republican Party of Texas and a friend to the Travis GOP who lost to fellow conservative Mike Toth in the Texas Republican Party Runoff for Third Court of Appeals Place 6, sent this via email earlier this week. If you have ever had any disgust with the political system, pessimism about the future of the conservative movement, or any feelings of burn-out this will cure what ails you:

Breaking 10,000 votes in a lesser-known runoff: what that means

If you kept up at all with the Travis County Republican Primary Runoff you know how Tuesday night turned out. Chip Roy is our nominee to succeed Lamar Smith and Mike Toth is our pick for Third Court of Appeals. Here's the Travis county turnout for those curious:

U. S. Representative District 21  

Matt McCall 36.06%

Chip Roy 63.93% 

2,792 total Travis County votes cast (unofficial count) 

Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals District, Place 6  

Donna Davidson 53.73%

Michael ("Mike") Toth 46.26% 

10,053 total Travis County votes cast (unofficial count)

(Across all counties involved both races were decided by a margin of 47-53%. See more.)

 

And if you got you get your voting information from the local media, you would have mostly noticed coverage of a gubernatorial runoff and several other races on the Democratic ticket, which naturally dwarfed the county GOP turnout.

5 reasons to vote in the 2018 Primary Runoff

One thing is true about Travis County conservative voters: they're good closers.

Vote counts tend to increase toward the end of the first week of early voting. But in the case of the only week of early voting in the Republican Primary Runoff, voter tallies have been, as expected, anemic (under 6,000 votes by Friday). In an effort to boost our last day of early voting (that's today, Friday, FYI) we put together a list of five reasons why you should care about this year's GOP Primary Runoff -- especially in Travis County:

Advice for newly elected local officials

Congratulations! (Now time for some schoolin' ...)

Not a small number of Republican voters won their Local Election races on Cinco de Mayo. With that, conservative activist Don Stroud had some "unsolicited advice" for Leander city officials that can easily apply to any officeholder in any locality.

Read below for some nuggets of unapologetic truth from Stroud's Leander Lookout blog, and for the whole list click here.

• Your objective should not be to get re-elected, bloat your resume, carry water for outside special interests, or to advance your political career. If your objective happens to be any of those reasons, please refrain from taking the oath of office.
• Make your oath of office more than just good intentions.
• You are not the employee of the City Manager or city staff.
• The City Manager is to implement the policy you and the rest of the council determine, not the other way around. ...

Stroud suggests local officials keep the following questions in mind when weighing the pros and cons of every policy decision on the agenda:

• Is this the constitutional role of government?
• Does it fulfill the social contract? ...
• Is this necessary?
• Is it redundant?
• Can this best be handled through the private sector? Through outsourcing and effective contract management?
• Will the proposal or expenditure truly address a problem?
• What are alternative solutions?
• Is it good for ALL residents and taxpayers?
• Does this create more bureaucracy?
• What enforcement will be required?
• What are the unintended consequences?
• Does this abdicate local control?
• Can private or charitable sectors be enlisted to address the issue? ...

Source: http://www.leanderlookout.com/advice-new-leander-council-members

Austin Republican recognized in comedic style by 'The Daily Show' for 27th Amendment work

I amended the U.S. Constitution and all I got was
this lousy T̶-̶s̶h̶i̶r̶t̶  trophy!

Austin's own Greg Watson told "The Daily Show" on May 1 that he received "absolutely nothing" for his painstaking work in getting the 200-year-lapsed 27th Amendment to the Constitution ratified.

As a University of Texas student, when he discovered that this long-forgotten amendment from the Founding Fathers era (concerning Congressional pay raises) was still eligible for inclusion into the U.S. Constitution by virtue of having no expiration clause, he only received a "C" from his skeptical poli-sci instructor.

Proving his instructor wrong he "pestered, badgered, and cajoled" the members of various state legislatures until in 1992 the Amendment was finally ratified.

So the show gave him a trophy for it, crowned with the number 27! Given, it looks more like a Pinewood Derby award, but for Watson, a longtime legislative staffer and Travis Republican Precinct Chair, we know his real reward was having his grade boosted to an "A+" by UT just last year -- three-and-a-half decades later (which doesn't seem that long considering the amendment dates back to 1789). You can read the entire story here (Tracker, March 13, 2017) and you can watch an actor portray a younger Watson on the Daily Show clip below explaining the entire saga:

JP3 voters have a chance to stop liberal judicial activism dead in its tracks

(Sic.)

The Republican nominee for Travis County Justice of the Peace Precinct 3 apparently has no tolerance for using the people's court as a bully pulpit.

In an unexpected salvo, Martin Harry has filed three grievances with the State Bar of Texas against Sylvia Holmes, the Democrat candidate, for her "lack of judicious temperament." We summarize the grievances below, but if you want more detailed information see Harry's grievance page and his press release.