HIGHLAND LAKES REPUBLICAN WOMEN

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

Second Quarter 2010

 

 

Acting President:                    Liz Ellis

                                        325 247-4025 or planoellis@aol.com

Past President/Advisor:          Susie Sitton

                    325 379-2049 or sitton9260@verizon.net

Treasurer:                               Ruth Aue

                                        325 247-2445 or ruthaue@hughes.net

Secretary:                               Jolene Hawkins

                                        325 388-6359 or lakehawk@zeecom.net

 

It’s July and time is moving quickly toward the 2010 mid-term elections.  With just more than 100 days until November 2nd, we continue to see evidence that more people are unhappy with the direction of our country.  Taking back the U.S. Congress and electing a representative government, means we need to work harder toward achieving an increased Conservative Republican presence in both houses.  The Democrat National Committee, along with the George Soros funded MoveOn.org, SEIU, and other financial supporters, has targeted the Texas State House as vulnerable and are pouring millions of dollars into winning back the Texas House.   Former Houston Mayor and businessman Bill White is mounting a well-funded campaign against Governor Rick Perry, although the just released Rasmussen Poll gives Perry a nine point lead (50-41). 

 

HLRW has been asked to be a key participant in the GET OUT THE VOTE (GOTV) campaign and you will be hearing more about this and planned training sessions as new locations are identified.  Two sitting U.S. Congressmen from Texas have been identified as “at risk” in the upcoming elections, namely Chet Edwards (D-Waco) and Ciro Rodrigues (D-San Antonio).  Several Republican organizations, including TFRW, Tea Party Groups and 912 Groups, will all be asking for volunteers from HLRW to assist Republican candidates in these races, namely Bill Flores (Waco/District 17) and Francisco “Quico” Canseco (San Antonio/District 23). Please consider attending one of the GOTV training sessions this summer so you will be confident and ready to assist in September and October with these or other important campaign efforts.

 

During the State Convention last month we saw the election of Steve Munisteri as  Chairman for the Republican Party of Texas.  In his new role, Steve immediately went to work, and has secured commitments from Senators Hutchison and Cornyn, as well as a group of Houston business and government leaders, to host major fund-raisers for the party.  Steve is also working to set up a program which will provide a means for raising funds through monthly automatic payments of $8-10, for those of us who are not in the habit of attending $$$/plate fund-raisers.  Over 30 years ago, Steve founded the Young Conservatives.  He is an extremely personable, well qualified, eager and tireless Party Chair.  He is working diligently on pulling together all segments of the Republican Party, along with improving the financial well-being of the RPT.   HLRW is assisting in the fund-raising by requesting each of our members, associates, former members and friends to contribute $5.00 (or more) to the RPT, which will be part of a $1,000 commitment by the Llano County Republican Party.  Contributions, for those who were not able to donate through HLRW, can be sent directly to the RPT at:

Republican Party of Texas

1108 Lavaca Street, Suite 500

Austin, TX 78701

 

SCHOLARSHIPS:

HLRW again this year funded scholarships for two extremely worthy Llano High School seniors.  In late May, HLRW Acting President Liz Ellis awarded each student, Taylor Delz and Claire Hartz, with a $500 Scholarship.  Both students will be enrolling at Texas A&M University in the Fall.  At our last meeting in May, members voted to include the requirement of an essay as part of selection process. The 2011 graduating class will be asked to submit an essay discussing American Exceptionalism.

 

PROGRAMS:

In April, Kevin Leeper, Administrator of Llano Memorial Hospital System, joined us to discuss the current status of the merger with Scott and White, as well as possible impacts the recently passed legislation on Health Care Reform could have on the operation of our hospital. 

 

The May program provided an educational and entertaining look at the differences in the Republican and Democrat parties.  Jim Simmons, our newly installed Llano County Chairman, gave an overview of the Republican Party, from RNC through the local affiliates and clubs.  Ron Hewitt, our immediate past Llano County Chairman, then shared excerpts from the Democrat Party platform with contrasting excerpts from the Republican Party platform. 

 

We are still working on programs for the fall, and will advise details as soon as they are finalized.  We have been discussing the possibility of hosting a joint program with one or more of our sister-organizations.  With each club holding programs for 20-30 attendees, we think a joint program with larger attendance could help attract those speakers who would have to travel some distance to attend our meetings.

 

LEGISLATION:

The current administration keeps promising jobs, but legislation being proposed only has a negative impact on job creation in the private sector.  We should all keep informed on these bills and others, and continue to let our voices be heard by communicating with our representatives in the House and Senate.   As you are obviously aware, even though our own Congressman and Senators agree with our conservative principles, they need to be able to substantiate feedback from their constituents when votes are recorded, so we need to remain involved and vocal on significant issues.

 

     Regulation of Financial Services has passed the House with no regulation of Fannie and Freddie, which were the major culprits in the financial melt-down of 2008.   In the Senate, with Republicans Olympia Snow, Susan Collins and Scott Brown reportedly supporting the bill, along with Conservative Democrat Ben Nelson, the bill passed the Senate today (7/15).

     “Cap and Trade,” already passed by the House, is presently awaiting the Senate’s version.  Luckily the National Association of Realtors was effective in minimizing the impact of earlier legislative wording that would have resulted in homes being required to be licensed, and certain environmental regulations needing to be met, prior to the home being given approval to be placed on the market for sale.

     Immigration Reform, i.e., Amnesty Program, is a hot topic now, especially after the legislation passed by the State of Arizona and the Federal Government’s lawsuit against that State.  The president continues to refuse tightening border protection until after “comprehensive immigration reform” (aka blanket amnesty).  Undoubtedly such amnesty will add an even greater burden to the Medicare/Medicaid roles which are now close to bankrupt.  It’s now more understandable that the President declared the then proposed Health Care bill would not be used to cover “illegal aliens.”  Along with blanket amnesty, the President proposes immediate citizenship and voting rights.

            State’s Rights is being challenged as part of Attorney General Holder’s suit against Arizona.  Governors of a number of states have taken exception to this Administration’s challenges to State’s Rights.

                        Tax increases, especially the Value Added Tax (VAT), and other obscure “taxes and fees” that are charged only to business, will either get passed on to the consumer as higher prices, or the businesses will be forced to move production off-shore, thereby further reducing available jobs for the U.S. worker.  The Bush Administration’s tax cuts are due to expire at the end of this year, and loosing those cuts will result in higher taxes to individuals and business.  The “Health Care” bill will reportedly result in higher taxes through taxation of employer-supplied health insurance as income, as well as certain other “medical care implements” being taxable items.

Second Amendment rights regarding personal gun ownership continues under attack. However, Second Amendment rights were recently affirmed in a major Supreme Court decision concerning Chicago’s handgun ban.  Bill White, the Democrats’ nominee for governor here in Texas, has been known to be on the “wrong side” of Second Amendment rights.

SEIU and other union organizations continue to press for “Card Check,” which essentially would eliminate the “secret ballot” for union workers.   

 

On the local front, Governor Rick Perry last week announced the formation of the Gulf Project, which will bring together Texas scientists, universities, industry experts, technology experts, and NASA, to work to ensure that Texas will never endure the environmental and economic disaster currently occurring in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion.

 

CARING FOR AMERICA

In addition to our Christmas toys for the Highland Lakes Crisis Center in Marble Falls, we will be deciding on a project directed at our service men and women.  HLRW would like to suggest a “care package” for Ft. Hood soldiers being deployed, or a similar endeavor to assist wounded military, or visiting families, during recovery/therapy at BAMC in San Antonio. 

 

AREA CLUBS:

We will be providing information on activities of a number of other Republican Clubs in the surrounding counties and encourage participation in their meetings and fundraising activities where possible.  The following are those for which we have been able to obtain information to date, and others will be added as information becomes available:

Star Republican Women (formerly South Llano County Republican Women) has just announced a fund-raiser Wine and Cheese Party for Thursday, July 22, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Riverbend Gallery in Marble Falls.  Tickets are $10.  For reservations, mail payment to Louraine Robertson, PO Box 8858, Horseshoe Bay, TX  78657.Regular meetings are held at Quail Point in Horseshoe Bay, beginning at 11:30 a.m. the Third Tuesday each month.  (Please see www.llanogop.org for more information.)

Llano County Republican Club meets for Quarterly dinner programs on the 2nd Tuesday of the Month, in March, June, September and December.  The September 14th dinner meeting will be held at the Kingsland Community Center and feature Ken Mercer, Vice Chairman Texas State Board of Education.  Contact Lynn Lane Snider@gmail.com for more information or Charlotte Hewitt at chewitt@sci-group.com for reservations..

Burnet County Republican Women are taking a summer break, but have announced programs for September and October.  Contact Camille Sweigart (sweigart@nctv.com or 830-798-2437) for more information.

Mason County Republican Women meets at the Mason County Library, beginning at 11:30 a.m. the third Wednesday of January, March, May, September and November.  Their annual fundraiser is a home tour, held the 3rd Saturday in April.  Contact Mary Carlman at 325/347-0605 or marycarlman@verizon.net for more information.

Gillespie County Republican Women meets in Fredericksburg at noon, the 3rd Wednesday of each month.  On July 17 GCRW will host a program highlighting the students the club sponsored to attend Girls’ State speaking about their experiences.  Their August 18th program will feature Michelle Wittenburg and Tort Reform.  Contact for GCRW is Glenyth Barrows at gbarrows@beecreek.net.

Fredericksburg Tea Party hosted a GOTV training session on Tuesday, July 13, and advice was sent out to email recipients as soon as HLRW received information about that session.  If you were unable to attend and are still interested, we have learned there will be further opportunities each Tuesday evening the next several weeks, and the details have been provided to our members in a separate correspondence.  For more information, you should contact them directly at fbgteaparty@gmail.com.

Other activities:  Dave Kithil is heading up a “strike force” and is seeking another ten to 15 volunteers to assist Republican candidate Bill Flores (Waco) in his effort to unseat the incumbent, Democrat Congressman Chet Edwards, in the race for House of Representatives, District 17.  Anyone who would like to join in this endeavor should contact Paige Schweizer at mpgs@nctv.com or by phone at 512-350-5237.  Paige will need your name and email address in order to keep you advised with updates as details become available.  Right now the dates needing volunteer in Waco are 9/24-25, 10/1-2, 10/8-9, 10/15-16, and 10/22-23, all Fridays and Saturdays.  Volunteers may canvas one or both days.

 

HLRW member news:

As you are probably aware, Sandra Overstreet advised that it had become necessary for her to resign her post as HLRW President.  As Vice President, Liz Ellis will step in to fill out the President’s remaining term, through the end of 2010.

 

If you are aware of anyone in need of our prayers and support, or you have good news to share, please contact Gennie Ward (gennieward@gmail.com or 325-379-1120) or one of the officers listed at the top of this Newsletter, so we can respond in a timely manner.

 

Our Newsletter is a work in process, so please share any thoughts and ideas which might help us improve this publication and make it more meaningful to you, the members.