Bill Kneer Wants You to Shut Up

The Patriot Statesman posted a piece this week in response to this article from precinct chair Dale Huls, where Dale made the case for reform of the leadership of the HCRP.  Bill Kneer penned the piece to take up the defense of Chairman Woodfill, which we'll take a closer look at below.  


The article begins by quoting Huls, then offers this: 


While the accusations of the well-intended yet misguided seem to fire up a few against our current leadership the accusations made are just flat wrong. 


The accusations are "just flat wrong" Kneer says.  One expects a point-by-point refutation to follow.  Instead Kneer continues:


So let’s take some time to highlight the positive things that have happened within Harris County over the last decade under the leadership of Chairman Jared Woodfill.

• 4 out of 5 Republican sweeps within Harris County
• Well over $10 million raised to support the local party
• The Harris County Republican Party has remained debt-free
• In 2010 presided over the biggest victory in the 62 year history of the Harris County Republican Party
• Under the leadership of Jared Woodfill the local party has stood strong for our conservative values and has never caved in to pressure from the left

Ever the cheerleader, Kneer defaults to the party talking points.  Four sweeps in five terms looks impressive, certainly.  But claiming to have raised over $10 million becomes problematic.  A look at the Texas Ethics Commission reports reveals 80% of contributions in that quarter came from campaigns. The debt-free claim is silliness, because an entity that would lend to the HCRP would require at minimum some kind of accounting or audit, something the leadership runs from.  Moving on to the 2010 election, it would be instructive to see what the HCRP did in order to achieve this.  (There might have been something else going on during 2010 to boost conservative voter turnout, but I can't think what it might have been.  Maybe some original grassroots political movement or something.) 


Now the last item: "stood strong for conservative values" and "has never caved in to pressure from the left."  Kneer can't resist picking up the pom poms again, and attempting to recite platitudes as proof.  Which conservative values?  Fiscal responsibility?  And WHAT pressure from the left?  Pressure to do what?  Kneer, again, never says.  


Kneer tackles one of Huls' points this way: 

These misguided critics would take the great conservative record and spin a different story, “The HCRP leadership has laid bare a record of incompetence and mismanagement with respect to raising funds in the largest voting county in Texas (3^rd largest in the nation) to adequately fund HCRP facilities and operations.”

This statement is not only wrong but it is a downright lie. The truth is, that while no one is perfect Chairman Jared Woodfill has done an incredible job at growing our party within Harris County. Under the leadership of Jared Woodfill the County’s political map has become so red that the only chance a Democrat has is being appointed through the courts.

Again with the platitudes, Kneer is short on details.  "Incredible job at growing" the party.  The "political map has become so red" that no Democrats stand a chance.  Perhaps Kneer and company think repeating a lie makes it true.  A quick look at this map and this map show how much in denial they are at Richmond Avenue.  The fact that Democrat Bill White won Harris County in the 2010 election for governor will have long-reaching implications - Democrats are in control of the ballot board and serve as the election judges for early voting.  Ask True The Vote whether they think that's "so red" in this county.


Kneer then jumps back onto the financial picture, repeating "ten million dollars" as if it were a mantra to ward away vampires:


Chairman Woodfill does not ask for money, just to save it in the bank account and collect dust. Chairman Woodfill does the responsible thing. He plans a project, documents the plan, counts the cost, then and only then he goes out and gets the money to complete the task at hand. This is the responsible thing to do and he is done well for the last10 years. Under Jared Woodfill’s leadership our Party has grown and remained debt-free in the process.

Interesting.  I would wager there are members of county party leadership who would beg to differ.  But this also looks like an invocation of Luke 14:28 - "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?"  Problem is, without budgets or audits no one can know whether this is true.  You can't COUNT THE COST that you can't see; without audits and budgets there is no way to evaluate this claim.  Kneer claims Woodfill does all these things, then offers no proof but his say-so.  Isn't that remniscent of what Nancy Pelosi wanted Congress to do - approve things and THEN evaluate them?

Kneer next tackles a charge that has not been made.  He sets up his straw man by saying he always hears complaints of Republicans turning into RINOs or weak defenders of conservatism.  But not Jared!

Throughout his lifetime, Jared Woodfill has stood strong for the social and fiscal conservative values embodied in the Texas Republican Party platform. There’s not been one time where Jared Woodfill has caved in and betrayed our commonly held beliefs. He has stood strong in the battle against those on the Left as well as those on the Right who would have us leave the time-tested principles and convictions that have brought us victory.

Again, Kneer has no examples here, merely his word.  But that doesn't matter, because the charge has not been made.  Nothing to see here.

The job of the Harris County Republican Party chairman is not to do all the work by himself. It is to lead our local Party and be the spokesperson of “we the people” that make up the base of our County Party. To spread the vision of the Republican Party to all those who do not know who and what we are and stand for. There’s no one here locally that articulates our conservative message is consistently, and precisely, as Chairman Jared Woodfill.


I would argue that the chairman of the party is supposed to manage, grow, and maintain the party as well.  But going with Kneer's definition of spreading the vision, is this why the Outreach Committee hasn't met in ages?  


Now the pitch: 


Let’s not change generals the night before the battle, and take a chance on losing our nation. Jared Woodfill has been a great leader, a man of honor, integrity, and consistency.


Yes, great leaders never changed generals.  Not Lincoln.  Not Truman.  And this same argument was used in 2010 against the current Republican Party of Texas chair Steve Munisteri; he'd never be able to be ready for the fall election, he'd take too long to learn what he needed to know.  In mere months, however, Munisteri had pulled RPT out of huge six-figure debts, and back into the black in time for the 2010 election.  And notice how Kneer equates a Woodfill loss to a chance at "losing our nation."  What kind of awkward hyperbole is that?  


Kneer closes with this:

Since 2008 I have stood by Jared Woodfill and fought as hard as I could to help grow our local Party and save our nation. And since 2008 I have had the same people consistently nipping at my heels complaining about everything we do while they do nothing.  It is easy to criticize, especially when you do nothing to assist in growing the Party.  Every two years we hear from the same malcontent faction.  After the Primary, we don’t hear from or see these critics offering to lift a finger to help the Party, but come Primary time, they are there prevaricating and criticizing without having served the Party in the interim.

I call on all those who continually find fault and complain to man up, shut up, and help us defeat Democrats in November!

This is the best part of the whole piece.  Kneer charges unnamed critics with being biennial malcontents, only criticizing the party when primary elections roll around.  Who are these non-working malcontents, Bill?  


Would it be Dale Huls, who joined the party as a precinct chair in 2010 and, in addition to working with the Clear Lake Tea Party on their board, has worked on his wife's campaigns for state house, served on the board of Saddle Up Texas, attended Clear Lake Area Republican meetings and has attended Republican conventions as well as conservative rallies in Washington D.C.?


Would it be David Jennings, who has researched and then posted more information about the party than the party itself?  


Would it be Paul Simpson, founder of Conservatives in Action - a group who helps precinct chairs manage voter information in their precincts?  Paul who dares challenge the way HCRP is doing things, and who hopes to improve, strengthen and grow the HCRP?


We don't know, because Kneer doesn't say.  But Kneer DOES say they should shut up.  Bill would prefer critics to remain silent, but why?  Is it not possible to both criticize an organization AND work for its success?  


Aren't the two sometimes the same thing?  


Edited to add - It'd be very interesting to go drop your opinion on to Kneer's article, just to see whether they are moderating comments as well.  Most posts don't have comments, but that could be because they write such crap.  So go on, leave a comment, and report here below whether your comment made it to the light of day!

MIA Conservatives

What in the world is going on in Harris County?

Not much, apparently.

Today was the fifteenth e-mail, phone call or online message (counting all three ways of getting to me) in which someone asked me why they didn't see anything happening on the conservative side for the November election. This is getting so old. I don't blame the person for asking - he just wants to see conservative gains in our area, and doesn't know if he might have missed something somewhere. But there's plenty of blame to go around.


THE PARTY

Lord knows I'm not a fan of how the local Republican party leadership has operated in the past, but I must say they're far ahead of where I thought they'd be. That said, that's still LIGHT YEARS BEHIND where they need to be.

Meet and greets every week for conservative candidates? That's great! Also, the leadership has been holding sessions letting the precinct chairs know what they should be doing, and giving them tools with which to do it. Rumor has it that if a chair doesn't actually commit to doing these vital party tasks, the party will recruit another person in the precinct to do the job. THAT is exactly the focus I'd expect to see from a party that is serious about winning.

But the reports coming in from tea party folks suggest not many of the precinct chairs are engaged at all in working the plans, working with candidates in their areas, getting out the vote, or registering new voters. That's disappointing. It doesn't do a bit of good to have great ideas passed around and no one out there executing them. You can be a successful conservative without joining in party politics, but if you ARE engaged in party politics, you really have an obligation to do SOMETHING.


THE CANDIDATES

There are some great candidates out there working hard for every vote in their districts. Fernando Herrera, for example, has focused on walking the district (or skating the district!) and meeting people at every opportunity. Fernando has been at it since early this year, and always has energy and excitement in his campaign. John Faulk has probably been to more events than anyone else, asking for help and support with his campaign to unseat Sheila Jackson Lee. Neither of these candidates are depending solely on radio or print or mass mail to get them elected.

Successful candidates have poured their time and energy into doing two main things; meeting voters and recruiting volunteers. Take a look at several campaigns in the area and ask whether that is true of each of them. Just off the cuff, I can look on the east side and see Roy Morales struggling with both of those simple tasks. No campaign office, no noticeable volunteer team (in a city with a candidate that can turn 80 people out for a state house race's block walk, this is a deathknell in a Congressional race), very few candidate signs and zero energy. If they don't turn that campaign around immediately, say hello to another two years of Gene Green.

Not all this is Roy's fault; he also has to contend with things like Eric Story (who Roy defeated in the primary) bashing him at every turn, as well as Dan Patrick, who I understand is going around referring to Roy as "Roy More-or less." And that is who so many conservatives listen to? That's who's holding up the standard for the party? Ultimately the question has to become, who's worse for the district: Gene Green or Roy Morales? We're not going to get everything we want right away. We didn't get in this mess in two years and we certainly can't get out of it in two years. Long game, small steps. Dan can hang on to his grand vision of 100% perfection in conservative candidates all the way to the minority.

Still, energy in a campaign fuels more energy. Asking people to support you in a campaign is a serious endeavor. A candidate who gives voters something to believe in, shows up where they are, listens to them and convinces them he cares about them can count on them to support him all the way. A candidate who doesn't connect with voters won't have energy, and if he can't create and promote and maintain that energy, he probably doesn't really want to win.


THE PEOPLE

Oh, yes, I'm calling you closet conservatives out, too. I get so much e-mail it isn't funny, and a good bit of it centers around "Who do I vote for?" and "When are you going to have another rally?"

Really? So much for helping lead a fiscal and personal responsibility movement. It's a failure if all people want are another set of directions, or another entertainment opportunity. I didn't bleed, sweat and cry eighteen months of my life away to become an unpaid event planner and candidate cheerleader. I did everything I've done to try to get people to STOP OUTSOURCING THEIR DECISION-MAKING, and STOP WORSHIPPING POLITICAL FIGURES.

I've learned a lot these past months, but nothing more disappointing than the fact that most people really just don't care enough to do anything.

My hard-core, die-hard band of tea party allies and I will still be fighting for your freedoms; it's just going to take a lot longer if you sit in your easy chair and wait it out.

GET UP. GET BUSY.