Do you prefer driving, or flying?
Guess what: you can do both
Greetings allies,
Recently we were asked to explain the difference between a Political Action Committee (PAC) like CODA, and the county parties in Texas. After thinking about the best way to do this, we would like to use an analogy.
Think of traveling from Austin to Houston. Would you rather fly or drive? In this analogy, the county parties are the ones flying. Initially, flying may seem like the obvious choice. But you must cut through all of the red tape, TSA codes and regulations, to get where you are going. It may be just a quick flight, but you must get to the airport 2 hours before boarding and pack according to the rules of the airline. You must arrange for transportation to the airport, and sometimes parking. So, in actuality the trip may take 3-4 hours if you are lucky.
PACs of course are the ones driving. They don’t have all of the red tape. They can depart and arrive when they please, completing the drive in two hours with good music, interesting scenery, and you can pull over and grab some Whataburger whenever you feel like it.
In Texas, the county party is under the laws of the state, and we all know who is current in charge of crafting these laws (it isn’t Democrats). The governing body consists of a chair and precinct chairs elected during the primary vote. This is a 2 year term and is your CEC voting board. The vice chair, treasurer, secretary, and communications chair are elected by the CEC. They are not allowed to vote unless one of these positions is also a precinct chair. The CEC is only mandated to meet quarterly, so it is possible that some issues can be slow-walked if county leadership chooses not to meet more often than that.
County parties are sometimes required to file ethics reports, depending on how much money they raise. They also have some restrictions on when/if they are able to endorse candidates. Click here to see the County Chair Handbook on the Secretary of State website.
The state does have some requirements for PACs. We must also file ethics reports if we raise more than $500 per year. We cannot accept more than $5,000 a year from a single donor, and we cannot take money from corporate or union donors. That’s a simple task for a small PAC, and those are the only requirements.
A PAC is free to raise money and help candidates in many ways. We can also endorse one candidate over another in a primary. Most PACs have a board where things are discussed and voted on, but the boards are small, and there are no mandates on meeting frequency. The officers are elected by the PAC members.
There are many active PACS in our area, such as Mothers Against Greg Abbott, Blue Horizon, 134 PAC, Powered by People, and Annie’s List.
Whether you prefer flying, or driving, or some combination, it’s good to have choices. We’re all heading to the same destination: voting BLUE in 2024.
Thank you Fayette County Dems for inviting us to ride on your magnificent float on July 4th. Our mind is officially blown. Huge crowd, many smiling faces, the float to end all floats. Cookies, candy, cold drinks, music, expert driver, and plenty of seating IN THE SHADE. Put this on your calendar for next year, folks. Contact FCDP for everything you need to know about Parade Float 101.
Thanks to all who attended our July First Friday lunch at El Mexicano Grill in Smithville. We sorta took over the place.
About half of us were locals, but the other half definitely put some miles on the car to join us. We appreciate each and every one of you. Pencil us in for August. We are tentatively meeting somewhere in the Elgin area. If you have any suggestions, let us know in the comments.
Upcoming events:
Heather Cox Richardson is very popular among our allies. Here’s an opportunity to learn more about the heinous Project 2025 from her at a virtual event on Monday July 15 at 6pm CDT. Thanks to Kim Lehman for the heads-up.
In order to satisfy our CER grant requirements for July, we are organizing a phone banking event July 22-31. Our goal is to make a minimum of 500 phone calls to area voters to chat about what issues are important to them, and to encourage them to vote. We hope you can join us. You can make calls from the comfort of your air-conditioned home in your jammies, and/or you can join us for our Phone-A-Friend Fiesta the last week of July. Details forthcoming, but you know us. Of course there will be food and bev.
Speaking of food, we hope you can join us at our candidate meet-n-greet at the new museum in Bastrop on August 3.
Our July Book Club is the last Tuesday of the month, 7/30 at 6:30pm. We will be discussing American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins.
Thanks for reading. Remember to like, comment, subscribe, and share. Until next time!