SREC Reports
SREC 3rd Quarter 2022 Report
Your Senate District 16 Committeeman Matt Patrick and Committeewoman Susan Fountain attended the 3rd Quarterly SREC Meeting on September 23, 24, 25 in Austin Texas. Matt Patrick is in his 2nd term on the SREC and Susan Fountain is in her 3rd term on the SREC as we were elected at the June 2022 Republican Party of Texas Convention in Houston Texas. We serve for the cause and at our own expense, paying all travel expenses personally and spending 3 days (or more) preparing for and attending our quarterly meetings.
Both SD-16 Committee Members Susan Fountain and Matt Patrick were elected to the Officials Committee on the first ballot. Officials Committee Members are the ‘advisory board’ of the Republican Party of Texas, chosen from statewide SREC members, and aides the Chair in making major decisions, reviewing contracts, and developing the budget for the upcoming year. It is very competitive and considered an honor to be voted onto the committee. Our SD2 Colleague Jerry Fisher was also elected on the first ballot and we are proud to have 3 Dallas County SRECs on the Officials Committee.
We have a new ad-hoc committee for Local Government; the committee’s purpose is to endorse candidates in non-partisan races. The Committee Chair is Rolando Garcia from Harris County, one of the stronger grassroots advocates in the state and a leader within the Houston area. This means if you have a good conservative candidate you are working with that is running for school board, city government, etc. then the state Party will add their endorsement upon request, which can then be used publicly. This has proved to be very beneficial in Harris County and various school board races across the state over the past 6 months. The preferred method is to have the local County Party endorse first, and then make the request to RPT.
We were also appointed by Chairman Rinaldi to lead committees—Susan is chairing Party Organization for the 2nd term and Matt is chairing a new committee named Platform Advocacy. Party Organization works to develop the structure of the Party across the state. in collaboration with 254 County Chairs across Texas. Expanding the grassroots involvement through the SREC Platform Advocacy’s job will be two-fold: 1) Advocate for a limited set of planks that are not already part of Legislative Priorities to be passed into law; and 2) educate on the Platform statewide. That might mean speaking with elected officials at the national, state, county/city level (including school boards) & their staff, speaking to County Chairs or at CECs; or with Republican clubs or other organizations.
For the 1st time in over a decade, the Chairman has filled out the Finance Committee (which is really the fundraising committee). Chaired by Rep. Mayes Middleton, it includes numerous big donors and activists from across the state (including Dallas’ Doug Deason and Philip Huffines). RPT Vice Chair Dr. Dana Meyers is the co-chair. Matt has spoken to Dana and will be pitching in on that committee too.
Our Treasurer’s report showed that we have a good cash position right now. He also provided a comparison to the Texas Democrat Party, and as of the end of August, the score was (roughly) $1.4 million for the R’s, and $140,000 for the D’s.
The Candidate Resource Committee (CRC) is charged with raising money to give to down-ballot Republicans. They voted to donate over $80,000 total to over 60 candidates, including many of our candidates in Dallas County. As SREC members we frequently advocate for our local candidates—Susan and Matt were both successful in supporting donations to several people.
The 2024 Republican Party of Texas Convention will be held in San Antonio, and the Convention Committee has begun meeting and planning. We have a new chair for the first time in years—Gaylyn Devine from the Houston area—and we think Chairman Rinaldi has put together a good team.
Matthew G. Patrick,
Committeeman, SD 16
matthewgpatrick@aol.com
Susan Fountain,
Committeewoman, SD 16
srec.sd16@protonmail.com
