Notes from the SEC meeting, December 6th, 2014 I was so honored to take the oath of office as your representative to the Republican State Executive Committee this past Saturday. We met at the state capitol in house chamber and the oath was administered by the newly elected circuit court judge Justin Angel. It was so exciting to stand in that hallowed hall and be given the oath by a judge for whom I have so much respect. The first order of business was the election of officers. Chairman Chris DeVaney was elected to serve another term. He has been the party chairman since 2009. Betty Cannon was elected to the position of vice-chairman, Frank Colvett was re-elected to the position of treasurer, Beth Scott Clayton Amos was elected to vice-treasurer, and Christi Cross was elected as the secretary. John Ryder and Peggy Lambert, our national committeeman and woman, reported that they are working on new rules for the presidential election process. Only the four traditional states will be allowed to hold their primaries in February of 2016. The entire primary process should end the middle of April. We are also trying to get more control of the debate process in order to cast Republican candidates in a better light. With the short response time allowed in past debates, Democrats have been able to state a sound-bite that resonated better with voters than a legitimate response with an answer that a Republican can give, if only given the time. This should be an exciting change for 2016! The 2016 national convention will be held in Cleveland, OH. For those of you considering going, youll be pleased to know that all of the convention hotels are within walking distance of the arena. Reince Priebus is running unopposed for the chairmans seat. At the last national meeting, the committee voted to reaffirm the conservative party platform and to support the nation of Taiwan. In his political report, Brent Leatherwood gave us two numbers: 1.8 million and 741. These indicate the number of contacts made by the party during the election cycle and the number of Republican candidates elected to office, respectively. Linda Buckles, president of the TFRW, said that March 9th will be the Republican Womens Day on the Hill. The state TFRW convention will be held in Murfreesboro next year on October 23-24. Republican woman should go ahead and write these dates on their calendar. As for new business, three resolutions were presented. Angie McClanahan presented the first concerning closing the primaries. In addition to the proposed resolution, she read letters from Representative Sheila Butt and Senator Mae Beavers, both in support of the resolution and indicating that they would each be carrying a bill in the General Assembly to close the primaries in the next session. A motion to send the resolution to the Issues Committee was made and a voice vote requested by many members. Rather than a voice vote, the chairman suggested that members stand to indicate their vote. The motion to send to Issues was passed with 35 members voting for and 27 members voting to keep it on the floor for a vote. This will be in the sub-committee for 30 days and I will report back to you their decision. The next resolution (presented by Kathy Bryson) was in support of delaying the implementation of the new Advanced Placement US History standards (APUSH) since they are clearly built around revisionist history and liberal leanings. A similar resolution was adopted by the national committee. This passed unanimously with a voice vote. The final resolution (presented by Rebecca Burke) was to honor parent activists working to fight against the Common Core State Standards. A similar resolution was adopted by the national committee. This also passed unanimously with a voice vote. Finally, there was a request by the treasurer to maintain the chairmans salary package, which also passed unanimously with a voice vote. Again, it is my honor to serve you in this capacity. If you have any questions or suggestions, I look forward to hearing them and working with you however I can.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 17:03:14 +0000