Category: Uncategorized

Keep Nine Amendment

April 2022

TFRW has formally announced its support for the Keep Nine Amendment to the United States Constitution. This
proposed amendment states, “The Supreme Court of the United States shall be composed of nine Justices.” TFRW joins
the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) and the Republican National Committee (RNC), among others, in
supporting this endeavor.
Our Founding Fathers crafted a magnificent document, our Constitution, that ensures certain unalienable rights to all
Americans. These rights are protected, at least in part, by the independence of the Judiciary but are being threatened by
progressive lawmakers pushing to pack our Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court has not always consisted of nine
justices, it has been that way for more than 150 years.
The impetus for an amendment to prohibit court packing began in 2019 when Senator Rubio, joined by Senator Cornyn
and 20 other Republican senators, filed S.J. Res. 14 which provides “The Supreme Court of the United States shall be
composed of not more than nine justices.”(1) Then, in the summer of 2020, a bipartisan group dominated by former state attorneys general formed the Coalition to Preserve the Independence of the Supreme Court, which calls itself “Keep Nine” for short. Subsequently, in February 2021, Senator Cruz introduced the “Keep Nine” amendment in the Senate. See S.J. Res. 9. The goal of both resolutions is to prevent either party from using the Supreme Court as a political tool for its own advantage, and the good news is that Texas Republican leaders are united when it comes to maintaining our Supreme Court at nine justices. This is the perfect time for our members to approach their Congressional Representatives and Congressional candidates and ask them to go on the record in support of the Keep Nine amendment. This will not be an easy effort, because amending the U.S. Constitution typically requires the vote of 2/3 of the members of both the House and the Senate and then ratification by 3/4 of state legislatures. (2)
For more information about Keep Nine, go to keepnine.org. If you are interested in working on this initiative with TFRW,
contact me at vplegislation@tfrw.org to join our Keep Nine committee.

Run Offs

Republican Runoff Election: May 24, 2022
Llano County : Precinct 4 J.P- Lisa Simpson vs William Koch
District 24 State Senate: Pete Flores vs Raul Reyes
Texas Attorney General: Ken Paxton vs George P. Bush
Texas Land Commissioner: Dawn Buckingham vs Tim Westley

Property Taxes

State lawmakers will tell you they hate property taxes as much as anyone. But the state itself doesn’t levy the tax — local governments do. And lowering it in a meaningful way would require state officials to raise taxes or cut programs. For them, talking about it is easier than doing something.

TransGender Issues

Texas appeals court (3 rd Court of Appeals) on Monday reinstated a temporary injunction blocking Texas from investigating parents for child abuse if they allow their transgender children to receive gender-affirming care. They issued the order as part of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal on behalf of the parents of a transgender teenager who were being investigated by child welfare workers.
“Having reviewed the record, we conclude that reinstating the temporary injunction is necessary to maintain the status quo and preserve the rights of all parties,” said the unsigned order by Chief Justice Darlene Byrne and Justices Chari Kelly and Edward Smith. (all 3 are Democrats elected in 2018).
Last month, Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a nonbinding legal opinion arguing that some gender-affirming care for minors could be considered child abuse. Four days after the opinion published, Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents facilitating gender-affirming care for their kids.
District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued the temporary injunction March 11 after the ACLU and Lambda Legal sued.
The same night Meachum’s injunction was issued, Paxton filed an appeal and claimed he froze the injunction, allowing the state to continue investigations. However, experts said the appeal fell into a complicated legal area, and lawyers had challenged such automatic stays before, claiming the state should not be able to overturn an injunction simply by filing an appeal.
With Monday’s order, the injunction for now will continue to block the ongoing — and any new — investigations into Texans accused of child abuse based only on the allegation that they provided gender-affirming medical care.

Submitted by Mary Cunningham

September 14, 2021

Stephen Peter Munesteri, Senior adviser and Policy Director will speak to Llano on September 14, 2021 at the meeting of the Highland Lakes Republican Women.  Meeting will begin at noon at the Uplift Church Meeting Room, 301 TX Hwy 71, Llano, TX.  Public is invited to attend and reservations are required.

Munesteri (born December 25, 1957) is an American attorney who served as the chairman of the Republican Party of Texas from 2010 to 2015.  In 2017, he was appointed to the White House staff as Deputy Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Public Liaison.

Munesteri was elected chairman at the state convention held in Dallas on June 13, 2010, when he unseated Cathie Adams, the wife of a Dallas chiropractor, who had held the position for only eight months.  He is the first challenger in modern Texas Republican history to defeat a sitting incumbent for the position of state chairman. Early in his political career, Munesteri served as state chairman of the Texas Chapter of Young Americans for Freedom and founded the Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) in 1980.

Munesteri stepped down as party chairman to join U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky as a senior advisor to Paul’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Beginning in 2017 Munesteri served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director for the Office of Public Liaison in Trump Administration.  He left the Trump Administration in 2019 to help run the 2020 re-election campaign of Texas Senator John Cornyn.

In December 2020 he joined the office of Texas Governor Abbott as Senior Adviser and Policy Director.

Seating is limited so please email to reserve a seat.  Attendance is free.  A meal will be catered by Gio’s.  Lunch is optional at a cost of $15 and must be reserved in advance.  If you want lunch, choose from Lasagna, Calzone or Ziti Dante.  Email reservations for seating to hlrttx@outlook.com.  If you desire a meal, state that in your email and include your choice of main dish.  Meal will be served at 11:45am and meeting will start promptly at 12 noon.

HLRW November 2020 Meeting November 10, 2020 12 noon to 1pm

Uplift Church Meeting Room, 301 TX Hwy 71, Llano, TX

$10 Box lunch from Millers.

Speaker—AJ Ares Plus a Representative from Turning Point USA

Come and hear an amazing story of how A.J. tried to start a local High School Republican Club of Texas at Llano High School. A. J. is a Junior and a fellow Republican that personally experiences political bullying daily at our public school by teachers and peers for supporting President Trump.

Turning Point USA, (TPUSA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote freedom.  Founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk, the organization’s mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government. Turning Point USA believes that every young person can be enlightened to true free market values.  Since its founding, Turning Point USA has embarked on a mission to build the most organized, active, and powerful conservative grassroots activist network on high school and college campuses across the country. With a presence on over 2,000 campuses, Turning Point USA is the largest and fastest-growing youth organization in America

Jonathan M. Saenz is President of Texas Values, a non profit group dedicated to preserving and advancing a culture of family values in the state of Texas.

The Texas Values mission is to preserve and advance a culture of family values in the state of Texas.

The Texas Values vision is to stand for biblical, Judaeo-Christian values by ensuring Texas is a state in which religious liberty flourishes, families prosper, and every human life is valued.

Texas Values promotes the core values of faith, family, and freedom in Texas through:

• Policy research
• Public education and standing for truth in the media
• Grassroots mobilization
• Voter education
• Reviewing legislation and providing legal analysis
• Testifying at the Texas Legislature, State Board of Education, and other governmental entities

Meeting is on October 13, 2020 starting at noon.  We are back in our regular meeting location at  Uplift Church, 301 E. St Hwy 71, Llano. Masks are encouraged.

Boxed lunches are available for $10 each but MUST be reserved in advance.  You have choice of meat+cheese+veggies for your sandwich.  Call  Tiffany at (903) 372-1819 to place your order.

We are accepting 2021 membership dues at this time.  If you want to renew your membership or join for the first time, you can download and print a 2021 membership application here on this site.  Just print, fill out and bring to the meeting.  2021 dues are $40 for Full Memberships and $15 for Associate Membership.

It was great to be back in the swing.  We had 40 people attend out September General Meeting where Jeff Rose was our speaker.

We were happy to announce that we have donated $1000 to Jeff Rose’s campaign for re-election as Chief Justice of Texas Third Court of Appeals, $500 to Lani Popp for Board of Education and $3000 to the Texas Republican Party’s Candidate Resource Committee.

We welcomed three new members and two new Associate members.  We are accepting renewals of memberships now too.  If you want to renew your membership, you can click on the membership form link, print out a form and mail it with your dues or simply bring to our next meeting.

Nominating Committee is looking for volunteers to serve on next year’s Board. If you are interested, call Tiffany, Eva, or Darlene C.

In support of Governor Abbott’s Disaster Declaration of March 19, HLRW has canceled their April and May meetings.  Check back for news of a possible special called Summer meeting and regular scheduled September 8, 2020 meeting.

In the meantime, rest assured that the HLRW Board is working on your behalf.  Here are a few of he things they are doing:

Volunteer are needed to work on the 2020 Campaign Donation Committee.  This committee will research and make recommendation for campaign donations using funds raised in February at our Lincoln Day Dinner.  Call Tiffany at 903 372-1819 or email her at tiffanybethlatta@aol.com if you are interested in being a part of this committee. Selections will be presented to the membership for a “virtual vote” in the near future.

Scholarship Committee will award a scholarship of $1000 to a Llano High School Senior.  Name of the recipient will be announced by April 30 and awarded at the 2020 Graduation Ceremony.

VP Kathy Oles encourages all to join with her and participate in the TFRW Red Dialer Program.  This is a way to work from home calling non registered Republicans to encourage them to register and vote in the upcoming election.  Contact Kathy Oles at 760 831-2066 or email kathyolesoit@gmail.com for more information.

Don’t forget to submit your recipes for our HLRW cookbook to support our Annual Scholarship Fund.  Simply go to www.typensave.com.  Log in using hlrwcooks as ID and onion695 as password.  Enter a many recipes as you would like.  Be sure to add any comments you would like to share and carefully proofread your submission.

A Spring edition of our Newsletter will be published by May 1.  It will be emailed to all members and a link will be inserted here.

Stay safe. Stay healthy.  See you in September (or maybe August).

For up to date info, check out our FACEBOOK page.

 

On May 27, 2015, HLRW awarded a $1000 scholarship to Dalton Ward, a local Llano High School Senior.  In August, Dalton enrolled at Texas Tech in Lubbock.  We wish him well in his studies.  Here is a copy of his winning essay:

Right to Feel Secure

While a militia is less of a priority today than it was in 1791 when it was ratified, I still believe in the idea of civilians being able to fend for themselves.  Not only does the 2nd amendment make its supporters feel safer, it also proves useful to them in the event of a catastrophe.

The piece of mind that a firearm can grant its carrier can prevent them from feeling unsafe and unprotected.  Without the ability to defend themselves from a potential attacker or threat, people feel vulnerable and sometime afraid.  The people of America should never feel this way.  According to the fathers of our country it is the duty of the government to ensure the safety and well-being of the governed.  Regardless of if you support the right to bear arms or not, you more than likely agree that we should be able to feel safe in our own home.  For some people, they will not feel safe without a firearm in their home.  These people deserve the right to their firearm, considering they follow all rules and regulations set by the government.

I recognize the fact that some people shouldn’t  have firearms regardless of their rights, people that have killed, are suicidal, or with an extensive criminal record.  Today, firearms are legal; today there are these types of people that are able to obtain firearms.  The reality of it is, is that these people that should not have a gun, have obtained them illegally anyway.  Taking away everyone’s right to bear arms will not totally stop these people from obtaining a firearm.

Our 2nd amendment should be preserved, times have changed from the 1700’s but the amendment is still relevant to today’s world.  To take away our right to bear arms is to take away many people’s sense of security.

-Dalton Ward, May 2015