Election Schools for Judges & Clerks: Ellis County

As a heads up for your calendar please make note of March 5, 2006. On that Sunday the Ellis County Elections Office will be scheduling a training session for Election Judges & Clerks. This is the training that you must attend in order to be paid $7.00 per hour versus $5.15 per hour for working on election day. More details will follow in the coming weeks.

Candidate Event

Meet your candidate, Cathy Beer for District Clerk of Ellis County at the Nay's Barn on Tuesday February 7th from 5:30 PM until 8:00 PM. For directions call 972-937-8882 or E-Mail us at rcbeer@ectisp.net. Refreshments will be served. I hope we sent this to the right address. Thanks for doing this for everybody.

SUPREME COURT DECISION COULD UNDERCUT MCCAIN-FEINGOLD

DallasBlog - SUPREME COURT DECISION COULD UNDERCUT MCCAIN-FEINGOLD
Okay, it's not locally focused, but since we're a little more than 30 days away from a primary election here in Texas (vote March 7), it has direct bearing.
Read here.

Pitts receives an A rating from Americans for Prosperity

At this mornings republican Breakfast Club meeting Peggy Venable (See previous story below) announced that our state representative Jim Pitts has received an A rating for being tax-payer friendly in Austin. This is the AFPs first time to rate legislators. Good job Jim!!

Winner in addition to beautiful rain!

This mornings Republican Breakfast Club had a great turnout in addition to the blessed rain we had. About 49 people attended and had an excellent buffet while listening to Peggy Venable from Americans for Prosperity of Texas. Peggy is the Texas Director and discussed TABOR (Taxpayers Bill of Rights) and how Texas should put limits on how municipalities (cities) should not be allowed to use taxpayers dollars to lobby State & Federal legislators.

I encourage everyone to try to make next months meeting.

INITIATIVE TO IDENTIFY, PROSECUTE, PREVENT VOTER FRAUD

ATTORNEY GENERAL ABBOTT LAUNCHES TRAINING INITIATIVE TO IDENTIFY, PROSECUTE, PREVENT VOTER FRAUD
Trainers to visit with prosecutors, law enforcement in 48 key counties before March primaries

AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today launched a statewide initiative to work with local law enforcement and prosecutors to combat and prevent the persistent problem of voter fraud. The initiative’s initial phase, which will finish before early voting commences for the March primary elections, targets 48 key counties that either have a history of voter fraud or the population of which exceeds 100,000. The initiative was triggered by a dramatic increase in indictments for voter fraud.Trainers to visit with prosecutors, law enforcement in 48 key counties before March primaries .........

READ MORE: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/release.php?id=1423

Criminal Defense Bar of Ellis County

The Criminal Defense Bar of Ellis County held a brief candidates meet & speak today at lunch time. The location was at Fire Mountain in Waxahachie and was well attended by the local Bar. The Bars' president Joe Gallo invited Candidates from the 40th Judicial Court, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4, and the Ellis County Districts Clerk races. Ask your local attorney what they thought about how things went.

“Happy Birthday Texas” A Fundraiser for the Re-election of Congressman Joe Barton

“Happy Birthday Texas”
15th Annual
A Fundraiser for the Re-election of
Congressman Joe Barton
Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee


EVENT: 15th Annual Happy Birthday Texas

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: George P. Bush, attorney
Surrogate Speaker for the President in the last two Campaigns

DATE: Saturday, March 4, 2006

TIME: 5:30 to 6:30 pm VIP Reception
7:00 to 10:00 pm Dinner and Dancing

LOCATION: Hilton Hotel – Grand Ballroom
2401 East Lamar Boulevard
Arlington, Texas, 76006

COST: $25 per person for Dinner and Dancing
$250 per couple for Reception/Reserved Seating/Dinner and Dancing
$1000 per couple VIP Photo Op/Reception/ Reserved Seating, Dinner and Dancing

CONTACT: Carol Bouldin Judy Markley
Phone: 972-75-8688 Phone: 423-822-7049
Fax: (972)875-8777 Fax: 423-822-1744
Email: CBoudlin@aol.com Email: Markleyjj@aol.com

Join Joe
in Celebrating Texas Independence!

The loss of Craig Magers

As you may know, Craig Magers, husband of Emma Magers recently passed away. Emma is a longtime Republican activist and former precinct chair in Ellis County. A visitation will be held at Keevers Funeral Home in Ennis Sunday night between 6pm-8pm. In lieu of flowers the family has requested a donation be made in Craig's name to the Eddy Eagle Program at the National Rifle Association. http://www.nrahq.org/safety/eddie/ Craig was an avid gun collector.

Candidate Event

Friends and supporters of State District Court Judge Gene Knize have planned a coffee reception in his honor which will be held Tuesday, February 7, 2006 from 8 to 9 A.M. at the Ennis Chamber of Commerce, 108 Chamber of Commerce Drive in Ennis (near the intersection of Business U.S. 287 and
IH 45). Everyone is cordially invited.

*Candidate events are posted if properly requested for free. The posting of candidate events are not endorsements of events or candidates by the party or any of it's officials.

Candidate Event

Friends and supporters of State District Court Judge Gene Knize have planned a reception in his honor which will be held in Ovilla at the Ovilla Civic Center (across from the Ovilla United Methodist Church) on Red Oak Creek Road, just off the intersection of Main St.and FM 664 from 6:30 to 8:00 P.M. today January 26, 2006. Everyone is cordially invited.

*Candidate events are posted if properly requested for free. The posting of candidate events are not endorsements of events or candidates by the party or any of it's officials.

Candidate Event

Dan Altman for District Judge Chili Cookoff, January 28, 2006, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., Midlothian Civic Center, Highway 287, Midlothian, Texas. Free chili tasting, bounce house, clown, face painting, live band, rain or shine, we'll mak you feel at home.

*Candidate events are posted if properly requested for free. The posting of candidate events are not endorsements of events or candidates by the party or any of it's officials.

Attention Ellis County Candidates

In order to stay more up to date. If you or your representative emails or contacts me about an upcoming event I will post the details on this Blog. YOU MUST SPECIFICALLY ASK THAT THE EVENT BE POSTED. This is an invitation in progress so we may have to smooth out details as we go along. Such as, I will post your event only once. And I will only mention the important details of an event and WILL NOT post campaign slogans or literature. So, let's give it a try... Rusty

GUEST VIEWPOINT: DEFENDING CONFEDERATE HEROES DAY By Hon. Jerry Patterson

DallasBlog - Last Thursday the Dallas Morning News published an editorial suggesting that "Confederate Heroes Day" was "archaic," "retro," and "silly. The News noted that no less a Texas hero than Sam Houston resigned the governorship of Texas rather than swear an oath to the Confederacy. The paper suggested the legislature honor Houston by "ditching Confederate Heroes Day." Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson submitted the following op/ed piece taking the opposite view. Click here to read more ...

IMMIGRATION ISSUE DIVIDES TEXAS REPUBLICAN OFFICIALS

DallasBlog- RNC endorses the President’s approach on the immigration issue.
Click to read more ...

Reminder: The Republican Breakfast Club SATURDAY

The Republican Breakfast Club - The meetings will be held at 8:30pm on the 4th Saturday of every month at the Colonnade Restaurant. The Colonnade is located at the Waxahachie Country Club.Speaker: Peggy Venable with Americans for Prosperity who supports a taxpayers’ Bill of Rights. http://www.blogger.com/www.americansforprosperity.org What: The Republican Breakfast ClubWhen: January 28, 2006 @ 8:30am.Where: The Colonnade Restaurant, Waxahachie Country Club.Cost: $10.00*, this includes tax & tip.*Last time we had problems with change & tipping so we combined it all together. Thank you for understanding.

01/19/06 Executive meeting productive

Last night we had a good turnout at the executive meeting. Along with precinct chairs, candidates, and grassroots activists we had about 40+ people in attendance. The committee discussed gathering volunteers to work the upcoming polls for the primary election. Precinct Chiars/Election Judges please make sure to call Debbie Garvin (972-938-9383) to confirm the names that you have to work at your polling location.

Last night's speaker was Janelle Shepard who gave us an update regarding a recently released report on Republican officials in Texas accepting donations from traditionally democrat contributors. It was a very interesting presentation.

Finally, the candidates in attendance were given the chance to introduce themselves. For those candidates who didn't have a good reason for not showing up you might want to reconsider your campaign strategy. If you're wanting to win!

The new Dallas Beige Book is out, by Trey Garrison for DallasBlog.com

The new Dallas Beige Book is out, and the economic performance for the last quarter of 2005 was pretty darn solid. Eleventh District economic activity accelerated from mid-November to early January. Energy activity continued to strengthen, although the industry is still cleaning up after the hurricanes. Manufacturing picked up, and demand for business services increased slightly. Construction remained at about the same pace, while most real estate markets improved gradually. Contacts in the financial services industry say credit quality remains good. Dry weather is straining agricultural conditions, but the 2005 cotton crop was one of the largest ever.
Click to read more ...

Polling Locations - Point of Clarification

The polling locations (see 01/18/06 posting below) are combined and hopefully final. Any prior lists emailed out was for informational purposes regarding volunteers' names from previous elections only. I was attempting to give precinct chairs names of potential volunteers for this years primary election.

Preliminary number of clerks per polling location

Preliminary number of clerks per polling location:

The numbers for each precinct include the judge, alternate and clerks. There are a total of 161 needed. here are the numbers by pct.

101&102-5, 103 -5, 104&110-5, 105&140 - 5, 106&143 - 5, 107&142-7, 108&136-5, 109-5, 111-6, 112&118-6, 113&115-3, 114-5, 116&128-6, 117-4, 119-5, 120&145-6, 121&127-5, 122&126-5, 123&141-4, 124-4, 125-6, 129-5, 130-4, 131-4, 132-4, 133-4, 135-5, 137-6, 138-5, 139-6, 144-6.

REMINDER: Executive Committee Meeting tomorrow

Please see January 14th posting below for details regarding tomorrow night's meeting.

Calling all Elections workers!

Calling all Elections workers! The party needs volunteers to work polling locations for the March 7th primary. If you have worked in the past or are interested in doing so please call 972-938-9383.

Republicans on Right Track with Reforms

by Bobby Eberle

If there’s one thing the Democrats do well, it’s delivering a consistent attack message against the Republicans. Every Democrat seems to be on the same page. Lately, the attack revolves around the “culture of corruption” that they say has engulfed the Republicans. However, once again we see that it’s easy for Democrats to attack, and much harder for them to propose any constructive actions. Despite the fact that the Democrats are just as deeply tied to lobbyists like Jack Abramoff, the Republicans in the House are the ones stepping forward to address the problem and call for reforms....... For the rest of the story go to: http://www.gopusa.com/theloft/?p=199

Tresurer Report Filing Dates (per Texas Ethics Commission website)

Use Form C/OH for filing the following reports:

Semiannual reports (January 15 and July 15)
Pre-election reports (30th day before election, 8th day before election)
Runoff report (8th day before runoff election)
Exceeded $500 limit report
15th day after officeholder campaign treasurer appointment
Final report

Candidate Treasurer Report Due Today!

CANDIDATES: You have a treasurer report due by the end of business today. Please file them with Jane Anderson at the Ellis County voters registration office. Once again, please note that the party is under no obligation to give notice of reports due.

Trial Lawyer money in Texas Republican politics?

With Strayhorns' recent shenigans concerns have been raised about Texas Trial Lawyers (a/k/a/ plaintiffs attorneys) funding Republican candidates. Janelle Shepard , Executive Director of Texans for Texas, has released a new website that follows this traditionally democrat money to see if republicans are more willing to accept it.

Go to http://www.txsharkwatch.org/ to read more on this potentially alarming development in Texas Republican circles.

Changes to ballot at state level

Please note, due to apparent challenges at the state level some candidates names have been added or subtracted. As of this time I believe the list below accurately reflects the ballot names & places for Ellis County.

Ellis County Republican Party Ballot Certification Report

Ellis County Republican Party

Ballot Certification Report

2006 Republican Party Primary Election

March 7, 2006


Ellis County, Texas

US SENATOR
Kay Bailey Hutchison

US REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 6
Joe L. Barton

GOVERNOR
Rhett R. Smith
Rick Perry
Star Locke
Larry Kilgore

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
David Dewhurst
Tom Kelly

ATTORNEY GENERAL
Greg Abbott

COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
Susan Combs

COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE
Jerry Patterson

RAILROAD COMMISSIONER
Buck Werner
Elizabeth Ames Jones

CHIEF JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT- UNEXPIRED TERM
Wallace Jefferson

JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT, PLACE 2
Steve Smith
Don Willett
JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT, PLACE 4
David M. Medina

JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT, PLACE 6
Nathan Hecht

JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT, PLACE 8-UNEXPIRED TERM
Phil Johnson

PRESIDING JUDGE, COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
Sharon Keller
Tom Price

JUDGE, COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS, PLACE 7
Barbara Parker Hervey

JUDGE, COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS, PLACE 8
Terry Keel

STATE SENATOR, DISTRICT 22
Kip Averitt

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 10
Jim Pitts
Q.D. “Duke” Burge

CHIEF JUSTICE, 10TH COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT
Tom Gray

ELLIS

DISTRICT JUDGE, 40TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
Gene Knize
Dan Altman

COUNTY COURT AT LAW, PLACE 1
Bob Carroll

COUNTY COURT AT LAW, PLACE 2
A. Gene Calvert, Jr.


DISTRICT CLERK
Melanie Price Reed
Anne Grant
Cathy Beer

COUNTY JUDGE
Cindy Sibley-Thayer
Chad Adams

COUNTY CLERK
Cindy Polley

COUNTY TREASURER
Ron Langenheder
Greg Wilhelm

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, PLACE 2
Terry Gregory
Richard Lansing Trees Sr.
Billy A. (Bill) Dodson
Larry D. Jones

COUNTY COMMISSIONER, PLACE 4
Ron Brown
Steven Skipper

JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, PLACE 1
Bill Woody

JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, PLACE 2
Jackie Miller Jr.

JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, PLACE 4
Alan Gell
Linda M. Sibley
Kevin J. McDonnell

PRECINCT CHAIR 102
Melody Kay Cawthorn
Maurice Osborn

The Republican Breakfast Club - The meetings will be held at 8:30qm on the 4th Saturday of every month at the Colonnade Restaurant. The Colonnade is located at the Waxahachie Country Club.
Speaker: Peggy Venable with Americans for Prosperity who supports a taxpayers’ Bill of Rights. www.americansforprosperity.org
What: The Republican Breakfast Club
When: January 28, 2006 @ 8:30am.
Where: The Colonnade Restaurant, Waxahachie Country Club.
Cost: $10.00*, this includes tax & tip.
*Last time we had problems with change & tipping so we combined it all together. Thank you for understanding.

Executive Committee Meeting January 19th at 7:00pm-
The Executive Committee will hold its next meeting on January 19, 2006 at 7:00pm. The location will be the meeting room at the Waxahachie Chamber of Commerce at 102 YMCA Drive, Waxahachie, Texas.

The Guest Speaker will be Janelle Shepard, Executive Director for Texans for Texas a conservative grassroots organization which promotes fiscally conservative approaches to public policy. She will be discussing Texas School Funding problems and our available options.

Delegate Allotment for '06 RPT Convention Released

Ellis County : Senatorial District 22 - 67 Delegates to the State Convention. State delegates meeting in caucus on June 2nd & 3rd, 2006 in San Antonio.

Susan Combs keynote speaker at GOP Fundraiser in August '06

Texas Ag Commissioner Susan Combs and candidate for State Comptroller has agreed to be our keynote speaker at this years GOP fundraiser August 10, 2006. Arrangements are being made and you will be updated as more information is confirmed.

Ribbon Cutting a smashing success!

Well, at least it was well attended. In case you missed the event we had between 40-50 people in attendance at todays chamber of commerce ribbon cutting. In attendance were a great mix of the business & political community. Watch your local newspaper for a photo of the cutting. Also, I would like to thank everyone who helped in making the event a success.

Ribbon Cutting - January 10th at 4:30pm

The Republican HQ will have its Waxahachie Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting tomorrow, January 10th at 4:30pm. The location is at 204 S. Elm Street, Waxahachie, Texas. This event is open to the public and everyone is welcome. 972-938-9383

Candidate Ballot position Drawing Announced

The drawing for ballot positions will be held on January 12, 2006 at 3:30pm at the Party HQ. The HQ address is 204 S. Elm Street, Waxahachie (NOTE: Elm Street is a.k.a. Ferris Avenue & HWY 77 south). This is adjacent to downtown Waxahachie across the street from two Amigo's Mexican Rest. 972-938-9383