Blogs » Toni Marek: Blogger Extraordinaire » Republican Party Split: The Facts from an Insider

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I have stayed away from the article with 84 (now) comments about this issue until I could collect my thoughts and put them all in one place. Here goes...

I was at the Nominations Committee meeting with 5 other people. We are the only ones that know what happened in that room. If they want to come out and talk about it, they can - but for you others - you don't know - stop spreading rumors.

IT DOESN'T MATTER anymore.

What happened there and at the County Convention proved something. It proved that the majority of the Republicans in Victoria that are active and care about their party want a change in how it is run. They stood with a 177-84 vote and said that Mary Anne Wyatt was not who they wanted to run their party.

This didn’t come from the people she claims it did. It isn’t just new people to the party or “Ron Paul” supporters. They are people from all over Victoria County who do not like where their Republican Party is. There are some that are friends with Mary Anne and some that consider her a great person. It is not about that at all. It is about the job she has done as Victoria County Republican Chair.

I do not know who she is personally, and I don’t dislike her. I simply do not like what she has done (or lack thereof, really) with the Party since I have been a part of it. To clarify, I got involved in November 2007, and I have been extremely active since, so I don’t consider myself “new” to the game.

I am now a member of the Young Republicans, Republican Women, the Campaign for Liberty, and the Texas Liberty Campaign. I went to the Texas State Republican Convention and to Minnesota during the Republican National Convention. I have been active in local school board and city council races. I have been to a number of city council meetings.

I admit I have been silent for more than a few months on the Victoria Advocate, but I am on Facebook nearly every day networking with other Republicans and educating myself more about this whole game we call politics. I am also the Victoria County Coordinator for the Debra Medina for Governor Campaign.

I say all of this because Mary Anne also claimed in the article that “we” did all of this and then went away for 18 months. That is simply not true. I personally went to Executive Board meetings as long as I was told about them, and where they were held. I think anyone that knows me knows that I, Matt Ocker, Dale Zuck, Dave Hill, Jack Mullins, David Hagan, Kerry Miller, and many others (who I will name if asked!) have been very politically active since March 2008. For her to claim that is disappointing, especially when she knows it far from the truth.

I know that some people are still upset about the County Convention and the events that transpired. I am sorry for that, and this is my public apology. I am sorry that you were upset, and I am sorry that things went the way they did. It probably could have been handled better, but that goes for both sides. I have explained it time and time again. The only reason the County Convention happened the way it did, was because of the way Mary Anne Wyatt chose to run and organize the Victoria County Republican Party.

That is what this is all really about, Victoria. It isn’t about Ron Paul “people” wanting to take over. There are some people in this band of Victoria Conservatives that may not even vote for him, and some that I know don’t agree with him on some issues.

That is not why we are here. And honestly, if it were, have any of you seen what percentage of Victoria County votes for him? It makes it sound like Mary Anne wants to shut out 70% of Victoria County Republicans just because she doesn’t like our Congressman.

I urge you to visit the Victoria Conservatives website at: www.VictoriaConservatives.org

The Victoria Conservatives are here to bring integrity, activity, and conservatism back to the Republican Party in Victoria County, so that ALL of the Republicans that vote here can be proud to call themselves Republicans.


Comments


  • Thank you, Toni and Dale. Anything that runs the RINO's out and reclaims the Republican Party as one that believes in Constitutional, conservative governance is something that I can support wholeheartedly.

    January 20, 2010 at 3:47 p.m.

  • Thank you, Toni
    You have said from the beginning our group did not organize to hurt anyone feelings. The Victoria Republicans is not a social party. It is a political organization where ideas are shared and plans are made to attempt to implement those ideas.

    Political activity is about the sharing of ideas and allowing the voters to choose the right direction. Most folks including us, do not have in idea of the budgeting operations of local government. We researched how government operates through our questioning and exploring of the City of Victoria budget. We learned the process. I dare say, we know as much if not more about the budgeting process than most candidates running for office. As candidates for party office we need to have an understanding of government fiscal operations.

    What are we doing? We have placed our view of fiscal conservatism on our website. We are not putting up thousands of signs that say nothing. We are sharing our view with the voters for their informed decision in person, in The Advocate and on blogs. We have recruited candidates for party office with our same fiscal conservative view. We are now in the process of looking for fiscal conservatives who will fulfill our promise of finding fiscal conservatives to run for the city and school elected posts.

    The power of the vote is being given to the public. We have merely provided an alternative to the voter for which there was no option before. That is what the Republican Party and its members are supposed to do.

    January 20, 2010 at 1:03 p.m.

  • Well said!

    January 20, 2010 at 11:53 a.m.