TFRW "Tribute to Women" to honor Ellis County Ladies

Special congratulations go out to Sue Turner, Judge Linda Sibley and Marjorie MIller, our special honoree's at the Texas Federation of Republican Women "Tribute to Women" Luncheon. We are honored to have each of you represent us!

Warm Regards,

Paula Baucum, President
Ellis County Republican Women

Party Leader Royal Masset Offers First-Ever Endorsement to Eberle

Editor: Endorsements in politics can come a dime-a-dozen. However, when a political legend like Royal Masset endorses a candidate it's worth noting.


Royal Masset, long-time consultant and former Political Director for the Republican Party of Texas, has endorsed Dr. Bobby Eberle to be the State Party's next Vice Chairman.
"I have never endorsed a candidate at a State Convention because I believed as a long time party staffer and consultant that I served the party best by remaining neutral," Royal Masset said. "Until now." MORE.......

Meeting called for TONIGHT, May 25, 2006, Thursday, at 7:00pm.

NOTICE OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING & DELEGATES AND ALTERNATES SPECIAL MEETING

* If you are a delegate or alternate to this Years State Republican Convention you need to attend this meeting.The Executive Committee for the Republican Party of Ellis County an executive meeting this week to discuss the upcoming Republican Party of Texas State Convention. All Delegates & Alternates are requested to attend.This meeting of the Ellis County Republican Executive Committee has been called for May 25, 2006, Thursday, at 7:00pm. The location is the Party HQ at 204 S. Elm Street, Waxahachie, Texas. More information call 972-938-1415Items to be discussed:- Details & concerns regarding the Republican State Convention in San Antonio.- Vote to appoint acting-precinct chairs to fill vacancies.This will be an extremely important meeting. Please be sure to mark this event on your calendar.Rusty BallardRusty Ballard, ChairmanEllis County Republican Party 972-938-1415

"This will be a test for voters: Are Republicans capable of governing?"

An Immigration Vote Today,
Then the Real Fight Begins
By JOSEPH SCHUMAN
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE

The Senate today is finally set to vote on an overhaul of U.S. immigration law that combines tighter border security with a new guest-worker program and a route to citizenship for millions of immigrants who have lived in the country illegally. But the bipartisan support it enjoyed so far belies a rocky legislative road ahead.

The Senate voted 73-25 yesterday to head off what the Washington Post describes as "endless debate" on the bill, though today's margin may not be as wide since some of its Republican opponents also backed the cloture, saying they'd had a fair amount of time to air their concerns. Yesterday's backers nonetheless included 31 Republicans, 41 Democrats and one independent. Since the bill was revived a few weeks ago, conservatives managed to add fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border and a reduction in the number of annual guest-worker permits, among other measures aimed at appeasing some Republican opponents, The Wall Street Journal notes. But the underlying plan remains intact. And hostility to this multifront approach to immigration has only increased in the House, where the immigration bill in play is one passed last fall that makes it a felony to be in the U.S. illegally and holds no prospect for changing the status of the estimated 12 million such immigrants in the country now.

President Bush continues to back the Senate bill, but House Republicans made clear in a meeting yesterday with White House political czar Karl Rove that they will fight it. The experience of Republican Rep. Mark Souder helps illustrate where that antagonism comes from. Mr. Souder, hammered by constituents for taking a moderate stand on immigration, recently got 7,100 fewer votes in the GOP primary than in 2004, when he had the same challenger, the Los Angeles Times reports. And he represents the far-from-the-border state of Indiana. "The mood is so angry, we can't hold the House with any bill" like the one in the Senate, Mr. Souder said. "The Senate bill would be worse than nothing." Other Republicans worry the larger national risk to the party would come from producing nothing after such a long, emotional debate on the subject. "At the end of the day, 'no deal' doesn't work," Rep. Thomas M. Davis III tells the Times. "This will be a test for voters: Are Republicans capable of governing?"
The larger turmoil among Republicans in Washington isn't helping the immigration issue. One lawmaker the White House must court is Rep. James Sensenbrenner, a fierce opponent of the Senate's compromise but whose influence on the matter -- as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee -- is key for any deal. Yet he is also among the lawmakers who have shown the most pique over the FBI's weekend raid at the Capitol Hill offices of Democrat William Jefferson. Yesterday, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi issued a joint demand that the Justice Department return the papers of Mr. Jefferson, who is accused of accepting bribes. And Mr. Sensenbrenner, the New York Times reports, scheduled a hearing on the subject for next week that he has titled "Reckless Justice: Did the Saturday Night Raid of Congress Trample the Constitution?"

Cornyn, Kyl Comprehensive Border Security, Immigration Reform Bill

Strengthens border, interior enforcement and comprehensively reforms immigration system
Short Summary [PDF]
Section-by-section [PDF]
Bill Text [PDF]

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, and U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Chairman of the Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security subcommittee, have introduced comprehensive border security and immigration reform legislation. MORE

Meeting called for May 25, 2006, Thursday, at 7:00pm.

NOTICE OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING & DELEGATES AND ALTERNATES SPECIAL MEETING


* If you are a delegate or alternate to this Years State Republican Convention you need to attend this meeting.

The Executive Committee for the Republican Party of Ellis County an executive meeting this week to discuss the upcoming Republican Party of Texas State Convention. All Delegates & Alternates are requested to attend.

This meeting of the Ellis County Republican Executive Committee has been called for May 25, 2006, Thursday, at 7:00pm. The location is the Party HQ at 204 S. Elm Street, Waxahachie, Texas. More information call 972-938-1415

Items to be discussed:

- Details & concerns regarding the Republican State Convention in San Antonio.
- Vote to appoint acting-precinct chairs to fill vacancies.

This will be an extremely important meeting. Please be sure to mark this event on your calendar.


Rusty Ballard

Rusty Ballard, Chairman
Ellis County Republican Party

Informal Midlothian Republican Breakfast this Saturday

Subject: Informal Midlothian Republican Breakfast this Saturday
To: Interested Midlothian Republicans

From: Republican Party Breakfast Committee

What: Midlothian Area Republican Breakfast

Where: Carolines Cafe

When: Saturday, May 20th, 8:30am

The Ellis County Republican Party in an effort to encourage additional participation has established an informal breakfast on the third Saturday of each month in Midlothian. The plans are to establish similar locations in Waxahachie, Ennis, Red Oak/Ovilla and Italy in the near future. A quarterly County-wide Breakfast with formal speakers is TBA for July. Please join us for breakfast (cost on your own) and great conversation.

Committee Members: Paula Baucum, Ron Clark, Charlie Morton, Anne Grant, Jay Benton, JoAnn & Al Thompson

National Petition and Billboard CampaignCitizens say, "Stop The Invasion!"

About the Petition:
SPECIAL AUDIO REPORTClick here.
The Senate will vote on its Amnesty bill before Memorial Day -- a bill that will grant amnesty to 10-20 million illegal aliens. Grassroots citizens across the nation are responding by signing Grassfire’s “Stop The Invasion” petition and sponsoring billboards across the country. Your help is needed.Step #1 -- Sign the Petition: First and foremost, please sign Grassfire’s “Stop The Invasion” petition and then rally your friends. Grassfire wants to present 500,000 petitions to the Senate before the Amnesty vote!

U.S. Normalizes Ties With Libya

WSJ: 05/16/06

The U.S. announced the full re-establishment of diplomatic ties with Libya and plans to re-open a U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, capping a two-and-a-half year process in which Moammar Gadhafi's government has demonstrated in the Bush administration's view that it has abandoned efforts to build unconventional weapons and signed on to American counterterrorism efforts. The decision ends more than 25 years of hostility, and was promoted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a strong signal to Iran and North Korea that they should follow suit, as the New York Times notes. The move, though, was seen as more cynical to Arab and exiled Libyan observers, the Washington Post reports. They saw it as "a natural marriage of an American administration desperate for friends and oil in the Middle East and a government that needs to open its economy to the outside world," the Post says. "The announcement was called proof that promotion of democracy is no longer a top priority of the Bush administration, which is grappling to hold Iraq together and has turned attention toward building alliances against a hostile Iran over its nuclear program."

BLOG NOTE: Whether the liberal media "spins" this development or not. This is proof that the war on terror, when fought correctly, will work.

"A Free-Trade Counterattack"

Just when a citizen despairs of Congress ever doing anything sane again, it surprises. A few weeks ago, America’s representatives and senators frightened all with the protectionist Schumer-Graham bill [Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC)]. Now Congress has turned away from such dangerous legislation to a more welcome, bipartisan, pro-trade reform bill. Titled the United States Trade Enhancement Act of 2006 and co-sponsored by the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and the committee’s ranking Democrat, Senator Max Baucus of Montana, this bill would work with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and seek reform at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to correct the kinds of trade abuses of which the United States accuses China of committing. This change in Washington - combined with signs of a softening in Beijing’s trade posture - should do much to reduce trade tensions with China, though among the issues at stake sudden currency adjustments are unlikely and the huge trade imbalance will likely persist for the foreseeable future. In this week’s column, “A Free-Trade Counterattack,” Milton Ezrati writes about the positive developments in Sino-American trade relations. His observations include:- The Grassley-Baucus bill seeks to reform the IMF by strengthening its stance on currency manipulation.- China’s full ascension into the WTO in 2007 will force it to make major changes in the way it conducts policy decisions, including currency intervention.- China is moving toward reform, although admittedly slowly. Progress, however, is underway: Recently, the leaders of China developed a Five-Year Plan that aims to channel domestic growth in the direction of consumption. FULL ARTICLE

On the way to the Governors desk...

Today, by an extraordinary vote of 136-8, the Texas House of Representatives passed the $15.5 billion property tax cut called I called for during this special session of the Texas Legislature. The Senate passed the same plan 2 days ago by the unanimous vote of 31-0.
Speaker Craddick, Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and the members of the House and Senate are to be congratulated for this remarkable achievement.
This plan will result in a 33% reduction in property taxes for homeowners and employers by next year. This single piece of legislation will make homeownership more affordable for millions of Texans. But it doesn't stop there. Taken as a package, the entire plan will reduce the net tax burden on Texans by more than $6 billion. It will take many school districts out of Robin Hood, and allow districts to keep about $800 million in local property taxes that would have otherwise been exported somewhere else had the legislature not acted.
This bill contains taxpayer protections that will lower the tax rollback rate, limit school districts' ability to raise rates without a vote of the people and dedicate excess revenue raised by the business tax to additional property tax reductions in the future.
Texas teachers are going to be receiving a $2,000 across-the-board pay raise while Texas will become the first state to implement a well-funded, statewide merit pay plan for outstanding teachers. Also, the bill will hold schools accountable for unacceptable performance by providing consequences and intervention to ensure our children are learning. We are establishing an electronic student records system to allow for the quick transfer of records among public schools, colleges and universities. We are also requiring school districts to provide local taxpayers with easy online access to the district's financial data and proposed budget.
In short, this is the substantial tax relief that Texas property owners have been calling for a decade. It is an extraordinary victory for Texas taxpayers.
Rick PerryGovernor of Texas

And thanks to the Justice for this submission......

CORNYN WANTS TAX FUNDED RESEARCH AVAILABLE TO PUBLIC

In an effort to increase taxpayers' access to federally funded research, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Tuesday introduced the bipartisan Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006. The legislation is co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.). MORE.....

Blogs tend to be bastion for liberals?

I am shocked to have read that Blogs tend to lean to the left. As many know, conservatives have been pioneers of AM talk shows and other alternative forms of media. Well it appears that the right wing has lagged behind in the world of blogs... Maybe it's just me but I believe Blogs are not a fad and conservatives need to move forward to gain back ground.

Dallas Blog reports:

BLOG WARS: LIBERALS ARE WINNING
Blogs aren't votes but if they were this would be a banner year for Texas Democrats. The Texas Progressive Political Blog Directory lists nearly 100 self-styled, Democratic, progressive, liberal or left Blogs. No similar list exists on the Right or for Republican leaning Blogs but there appear to be only a dozen or so such Blogs. At the upcoming Democratic State Convention in Fort Worth their will be a Bloggers Caucus at the Flying Saucer Bar and Restaurant. No such event has been advertised for the GOP. Several of the Left Blogs like the Burnt Orange Report, Capitol Annex, and Grits for Breakfast are plugged in and well written. They also seem to have a pretty decent readership. It will be interesting to see what the impact is of the Democratic Bloggesphere come November. MORE......