Former Governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson is coming to Houston and Dallas!

As Governor of New Mexico, Johnson was known for his common-sense business approach to governing. He eliminated New Mexico’s budget deficit, cut the rate of growth in state government in half and privatized half of the state prisons.

Johnson also shifted state Medicaid to managed care (which led to better healthcare by creating a statewide healthcare network that previously did not exist and which saved money) and reduced state employees by over 1000, with no firings. During his term, New Mexico experienced the longest period without a tax increase in the state’s history.

While in office, Governor Johnson vetoed 750 bills (which is about equal to all the combined vetoes of the other 49 Governors in the country at the time). He is currently the Honorary Chairman of the Our America Initiative.

Gary Johnson in Houston — November 9 (RSVP on Facebook)

The Republican Liberty Caucus of Southeast Texas is seeking sponsors to help raise funds to keep the event free and open to the public. Please contribute today. If you haven’t joined the RLC yet and donate $30 or more toward this event, you’ll automatically become a member!

Special guests include:
– Debra Medina, President of We Texans
– Dave Nalle, National Chairman of the RLC
– Bill Tofte & Al Jameson — Houston Area Liberty Campaign

Gary Johnson in Palmer (Dallas) — November 11 (RSVP on Facebook)

Texas RLC Chair Joey Dauben is bringing Gary Johnson to his home town of Palmer, Texas. Contact Joey to learn more about the event.

Please join Texas RLC members and activists at one of these events.

On Monday the National Board of the Republican Liberty Caucus finalized its list of endorsements for state and national office in the Texas general election on November 2nd. The endorsements are based on recommendations from regional RLC chapters throughout the state and approved by the board of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas.

After reviewing the list, RLC National Chairman Dave Nalle observed that “Texas has produced a really outstanding selection of candidates who will be an important part of our effort to reform Congress and return federal and state government to a firm basis in the Constitution, fiscal responsibility and respect for individual liberty. Texas will lead the way to restoring the tradition of liberty in the GOP.”

The newly endorsed candidates include:

Federal:
Louie Gohmert (Incumbent), U.S. House, District 1
Sam Johnson (Incumbent), U.S. House, District 3
Jeb Hensarling (Incumbent), U.S. House, District 5
Clayton Trotter, U.S. House, District 20
Kenny Marchant (Incumbent), U.S. House, District 24
Dr. Michael Burgess (Incumbent), U.S. House, District 26
John Carter (Incumbent), U.S. House, District 31
Pete Sessions (Incumbent), U.S. House, District 32

Statewide:
Jerry Patterson (Incumbent), Agriculture Commissioner

State & Local:
Mary Lou Serafine, State Senate, District 14
Dick Bowen, State Senate, District 19
David Simpson, House of Representatives, District 7
Randy Weber, House of Representatives, District 29
Jason Isaac, House of Representatives, District 45
Ken Paxton (Incumbent), House of Representatives, District 70
Jodie Laubenberg (Incumbent), House of Representatives, District 89
Debbie Riddle (Incumbent), House of Representatives, District 150

Previously endorsed RLC candidates in Texas include:

Dr. Ron Paul (Incumbent), U.S. House, District 14
Melissa Goodwin, Judge, Third District Court of Appeals
Mike Barré, Travis County Justice of the Peace, District 3
Grant Rostig, Caldwell County Commissioner, District 4

Congratulations to this slate of liberty-focused candidates.

For Immediate Release: June 24, 2010

Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas Calls on Party Leaders to Address Problems with Anti-Gay Platform Planks

CONTACT: Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas
(512) 656-8011

AUSTIN, TX – At the state Republican convention earlier this month, Texas Republicans opted to abandon the Republican tradition of respecting the Constitution and protecting individual liberty and privacy rights by adopting a platform which includes planks attacking the civil liberties of certain Texans.

The platform advocates policies which would make it a felony to perform a same-sex marriage in Texas, which would re-criminalize sodomy and which would take away the rights of gay parents in custody cases. These proposals are contrary to the values of most Texans and run counter to the Republican tradition of vigorously defending individual liberty.

The Republican Liberty Caucus strongly opposes the Texas GOP platform’s anti-gay and anti-liberty planks. We call for the state party to take action to address this problem. While it may not be possible to repeal or change the party platform, the state leadership should issue a clear statement that the platform is non-binding and does not represent the core, shared beliefs of Texas Republicans or of our candidates.

In a year in which we are looking forward to extraordinary opportunities for a great slate of Republican candidates in Texas, it would be a terrible mistake to shackle them to a platform which will alienate many potential supporters. This platform will weaken the party at a time when a strong coalition of Republicans and independents is needed to stop the radical agenda of Democrats in both Austin and Washington.

“We need to focus on keeping the government out of our pocketbooks; especially in Texas,” said Texas RLC Chairman, Joey Dauben of Ellis County. “There are far more pressing problems for the GOP in our state to worry about. While I personally disagree with same-sex marriage from a Biblical perspective, marriage is a contract between individuals and God, not with the government. If we want government out of our wallets and our boardrooms, we should also keep government out of our churches and our bedrooms.”

The Republican Liberty Caucus believes that cutting government spending is more important than wasting our limited resources on policies that open Texas to lawsuits and treat some citizens in a different manner than other citizens. Texas RLC members believe divisive social issues should be put on the back burner and instead the focus should be on solving real problems.

We call on the state party to send a clear message to voters that the this platform does not represent the highest ideals of our party and that as a party we support individual liberty and equal rights for all Texans.

–30—

The Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas advocates constitutionally limited government, individual liberty and traditional Republican values. It is part of a nationwide organization which shares those goals and has local organizations in almost every state. This year the RLC has endorsed hundreds of candidates nationwide, including Rand Paul (KY), John Dennis (CA), Peter Schiff (CT), Mike Lee (UT), and Nikki Haley (SC).

For more information on the Texas chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus, visit http://www.rlctx.org. For information on the national RLC, visit http://www.rlc.org.

After a grueling Texas State Republican convention which ran more than 4 hours overtime, tired RLC members staggered into the Aloft Hotel in downtown Dallas to attend a special statewide meeting of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas. Most of the attendees were also convention delegates, but some had come in from around the state just to attend the meeting. The Austin, Dallas and Houston areas were most strongly represented among the group of over 30 RLC members who were in attendance.

The purpose of the meeting was to reorganize the Texas RLC state board and recharter the state organization to address a peculiar situation where the state has a number of successful and active regional chapters but no functioning state board. In the three-hour meeting the attendees were able to elect provisional board members and executive officers, approve a set of bylaws, fill out a charter application and discuss various issues of concern for Liberty Republicans in Texas. The meeting was moderated by RLC National Chairman Dave Nalle who is a Texas resident and RLC national board member Dan Shiell.

The overall mood was enthusiastic in the wake of the hard-won convention victory of Steve Munisteri, the new Chairman of the Texas GOP. Munisteri has a background of association with relatively pro-liberty leaders and campaigns, including having worked for Ron Paul, Fred Thompson, Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan. He is expected to be much more friendly towards Liberty Republicans than his predecessor who was quite hostile and had even denied Debra Medina’s new advocacy organization a booth at the convention. Many of those attending the RLC meeting had been working hard at the convention to assure a Munisteri victory.

The meeting agreed to elect officers and board members on a 60-day provisional basis to be confirmed or modified and approved in a teleconference to be held within that period. This will provide time for RLC members in chapters around the state to review the work of the representatives at the meeting and for additional board members to be selected. Joey Dauben of Ellis County was elected Chairman. Judson Vandiver of Dallas was elected Vice Chairman. Dave Nalle of Travis County was elected Secretary. Joe Petronis of Austin was elected Treasurer. Board members elected at the meeting included Jeff Larson (Houston), Summer Yen (Austin), Patricia Nalle (Manor), Dan Shiell (Dallas) and Stephen Schoppe (Austin).

At a dinner gathering after the meeting, National RLC Chairman Dave Nalle commented that “After a convention where hostile party factions were at each others throats, being able to sit down with a group of real Liberty Republicans who so clearly shared the same objectives restored my faith in our movement and our efforts and the potential for achieving great victories for liberty in the Lonestar State.”

It’s just a few days until the Republican Liberty Caucus statewide meeting in Dallas.  The Texas chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus has to rebuild and we need your help now more than ever before.

On Friday (yes, tomorrow) night at 8:30 pm, the Texas RLC will have a meet and greet gathering at XYZ bar at the Aloft hotel in Dallas. Please join RLC’ers to mix, mingle, and engage.

On Saturday, the Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas will hold its annual business/reorganizational meeting 4pm at the Tactics Room at the Aloft hotel.  If the Convention floor fight extends until after 4pm, that is when you should arrive at the Tactics Room.  We have the room booked for the evening.

Please RSVP to attend these events on Facebook.

Judicial candidate (and former Judge) Melissa Goodwin and past gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina (pictured) will be addressing the Texas RLC. At the business meeting we will be electing a new board and officers for the Texas RLC and approving by-laws and rules. All are welcome to participate in these activities but voting will be limited to dues-paid RLC members, though you will be able to join the RLC on site.

If you can’t be there, you can follow the events at the convention through facebook (check out the group Texas Liberty Delegates) or on Twitter by subscribing to the feed for Texliberty.

We hope you’ll join us for the meeting and be part of restoring the RLC as a potent force in Texas politics and in promoting the  principles of limited government, free enterprise and individual liberty in the Texas Republican Party.  For more information, see our updated website at http://www.rlctx.org.

A special thanks to Dave Nalle and the Texas RLC Organizing Committee for making these events possible to members, future members, and other interested parties. See you on Friday and Saturday!

Dave Nalle is leading by example.

Mr. Nalle, Chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus, has been appointed Communications Director for the Travis County Republican Party in Austin, Texas.

Congratulations to Dave! Let’s get more of our Republican Liberty Caucus leaders elected to state and local Republican Party posts to change the direction of the Republican Party.

The Republican Liberty Caucus endorsed fourteen candidates in yesterday’s Texas primary.

One positive note is that Debra Medina, RLC-endorsed candidate for Governor, received nearly 300,000 votes — which would have been something totally unmanageable just a few months back. Congratulations to RLC member Penny Langford Freeman for running Debra’s campaign and to Debra for being an attractive spokesperson for limited government.

Other than Congressman Ron Paul, who won his primary easily with nearly 80% of the vote against three opponents, none of our other Congressional challengers were successful.

Rick Green, who was not endorsed by the RLC but has constitutionalist leanings, won a six-way statewide GOP primary to become the Supreme Court Justice in Place 3.

RLC-endorsed candidates for Board of Education won their primaries, with Ken Mercer defeating one opponent and Brian Russell defeating two opponents.

None of the RLC’s endorsed candidates for State Representative were victorious, but Holly Turner is in a runoff for her State Representative seat in District 47.

Also, RLC Chair Melissa Goodwin won her primary to be Court of Appeals Judge in District 3. Goodwin was previously a Judge, but had lost her seat in the 2008 election.

Travis County RLC Chairman Mike Barré won his race for Travis County Justice of the Peace. And Texas RLC Webmaster Grant Rostig won the Republican primary to become the Commissioner of Caldwell County.

All said, fairly good results! Congrats, Texans!

This week the National Board of the Republican Liberty Caucus finalized its list of endorsees for state and national office in the Texas Republican primary on March 2nd. The endorsements are based on recommendations from regional RLC chapters throughout the state. The RLC has endorsed more Congressional candidates in Texas than in any other state.

After reviewing the list, RLC Chairman Dave Nalle observed that “Ron Paul and Jerry Patterson have shown us that liberty Republicans can win state and federal offices in Texas and this year the selection of candidates is outstanding at every level. Texas will lead the way to restoring the tradition of liberty in the GOP.”

This round of endorsements includes only candidates who are in contested primaries. We look forward to great success when they carry on to victory in the general election in November.

Debra Medina, Governor (www.medinafortexas.com)

Tyler Russell, US House District 8 (www.tylerrussellforcongress.com)

Joe Petronis, US House District 10 (www.petronisforcongress.com)

Ron Paul, US House District 14 (www.ronpaulforcongress.com)

Stephen Schoppe, US House District 21 (www.schoppe.us)

George Morovich, US House District 25 (www.morovich.com)

Jessica Puente-Bradshaw, US House District 27 (www.texansforjessica.com)

Dick Bowen, Texas State Senate District 19 (www.dickbowen.com)

Holly Turner, Texas House District 47 (www.hollyfortexas.com)

Ryan Lambert, Texas House District 50 (www.lambertfortexas.org)

Stephen Casey, Texas House District 52 (www.stephencasey.net)

Melissa Goodwin, Judge, Third Court of Appeals (www.judgegoodwin.com)

Mike Barré, Travis County Justice of the Peace District 3 (www.barrefortexas.com)

Grant Rostig, Caldwell County Commissioner Place 4 (www.grantrostig.com)

These candidates represent the best that the Republican Party has to offer this year. They are visionary reformers, dedicated to the principles of limited government, free enterprise and individual liberty. They join hundreds of other RLC candidates around the country who are part of our effort to elect a cadre of new leaders who will guide the Republican Party and our government back to the principles on which the nation was founded and which are embodied in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

Information on current RLC endorsees can be found on our endorsements page.
A listing of all current RLC office holders by state can be found on our RLC office holders page.

In the 19th century there were ongoing debates about the degree to which government should be involved with money. It was not until the 1930s, more than 150 years after the nation was founded, that government asserted a full monopoly on money by illegalizing the ownership of gold.

By February 1912, about 98 years ago, Senator Bob La Follette, a small business-oriented Progressive and presidential candidate that year, made a speech in which he noted that Wall Street had come to so dominate the media that even recently founded magazines were no longer independent. The next day the New York Times ran an article stating that La Follette had suffered a nervous breakdown, effectively ending his candidacy for president. He continued on as a Senator until the 1920s.

Since then the media has avoided discussion of Wall Street and the Fed. Some, like Glenn Beck, claim ignorance. Others simply kowtow to special interests across the board. Still other media outlets, the majority, do not know what news is, so cannot be expected to discuss a subject like the Fed. Still others are consciously linked to the interests of Wall Street. In any case, Beck is to be commended for being the first to speak on this issue. But is that really a good thing?

Glenda McGee just wrote me this e-mail:

“Glenn Beck and Sarah Palan had me and a few million others THRILLED for many months. The minute the TEA PARTY showed promise in Arizona and Texas they led the movement over the cliff.”

Beck needs to do a better job if he is to remain convincing as a voice for advocates of small government. To do so, he could try a few things:

1. Read a few books on money and banking, including Murray Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money and Hans Sennholz’s Money and Freedom. He might also read some Hayek and learn about the concept of free market money, an institution that existed here in the US for most of its history.

2. He could be playing an educational role. In the videos I’ve seen of him he claims ignorance. If he wants to be a leader, he should take the time to learn the issues. It’s fine to complain about the Fed’s ownership structure, but that doesn’t lead to any policy prescription.

3. He needs to learn basic history. Money has been a traditionally central argument in American politics until the past 80 years. The bad guys won and have been controlling the debate ever since.

4. Thus Beck could teach his viewers about: (a) the basic policy options, including competing, free market monetary systems and metallic-backed currencies and (b) the historical process by which centralized monetary control was rejected, re-adopted because it facilitates war (specifically the War of 1812), rejected again by Andrew Jackson, reinstated again in small part by the Republicans in order to finance the Civil War, rejected again during the Gilded Age , rejected by the public in the election of 1896, and then adopted by subterfuge in 1913 and re-enforced through fear tactics in 1932.

Shedding crocodile tears about the Fed’s ownership structure is a good way to seem like you oppose something that your boss at Fox really favors.

Let’s hope for a better performance from the undoubtedly theatrical but so far unconvincing Mr. Beck.

Another election gone by, and it turned out quite well for the Republican Party overall and the Republican Liberty Caucus in specific.

Republicans elected new Governors in New Jersey and Virginia. Neither of the candidates, Chris Christie or Bob McDonnell, was endorsed by the Republican Liberty Caucus, but we believe they will provide a better vision for their states than their respective opponents.

In Virginia, voters elected State Senator Ken Cuccinelli to the post of Attorney General. Cuccinelli is a social and fiscal conservative, and some RLC members have been offended by his social conservatism. Still, he seems to be one of the few politicians in the state that understands the concept of limited government, and has a voting record consistent with the RLC’s goals. His new position elevates Cuccinelli to one of the most high-level advocates of limited government in the country.

RLC members in Virginia worked hard to help Cuccinelli win the nomination for Attorney General, and many contributed to his campaign directly. Cuccinelli has said that he will not enforce laws he deems unconstitutional. In 2007, Cuccinelli took the time to drive several hours to address a small group of RLC members. View his speech to RLC members at YouTube.

In the RLC’s biggest victory of the night, RLC National Committeeman Dan Halloran was elected to the New York City Council in a Queens district that leans heavily Democrat. Halloran is also the state Chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus in New York. He worked tirelessly to become elected and will join just four other Republicans on the 51-member City Council.

The RLC also had some other significant victories in New Jersey and New Hampshire. Incumbent Michael Patrick Carroll, who the RLC discovered earlier in the year, was re-elected to his New Jersey House seat. Perhaps the most successful liberty-oriented politician in the state, Michael Doherty, was elected to an open seat in the New Jersey State Senate. The RLC profiled Doherty in an earlier edition of our newsletter.

In the Granite State, Jim Forsythe led a team of liberty-loving Republicans that successfully helped three candidates obtain victory. Political newcomer Lynne Blankenbeker was elected in a special election to the New Hampshire House, and RLC members Phil Greazzo and Cameron DeJong were elected to Alderman and Selectman positions in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Several non-endorsed candidates with strong libertarian leanings were also successful on Election night, including Kim Rafferty, who was elected to the Birmingham City Council in Alabama, and Shaun Kenney, who was elected to a County Supervisor in Fluvanna County, Virginia. In Minnesota, RLC member Luther Stueland won a position on the Moorhead City Council and Patricia Barnum was elected to the West St. Paul ISD 127 School Board.  Additionally, Lisa Marie Coppoletta has advanced to a run-off in a race for San Marcos City Council in Texas.

Unfortunately, TABOR ballot initiatives — which would tie revenue increases to population and inflation growth to keep spending in check — were defeated by voters in Washington state and Maine. The gay marriage ballot initiative in Maine passed, overturning gay marriage in the state, while voters in Washington state chose to extend rights for gays and lesbians.

The nine victories for RLC-endorsed candidates this fall combined with the five spring victories (in Arizona, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Texas) have resulted in a very successful off-year election for liberty-focused Republicans.

Congratulations are extended to all of the above candidates, our other endorsed candidates, our supporters, and the folks that helped our endorsed candidates succeed.

Complete RLC election results are available here.