The Bandera County Republican Party met on Oct. 12 for their monthly meeting after electing a new county chair and party secretary in a closed session behind closed doors at the China Bowl.
Chair Conrad Streigl and Treasurer Cari Rene Leith recently vacated their positions in line with their probation requirements following a no contest plea to felony charges regarding fraudulent securing of document execution.
Parliamentarian Darcy Hasty chaired the meeting and said the new party chair was on vacation and would not be in attendance. No further announcement was made regarding the vacant positions and who had been chosen to fill them. As of the Bulletin’s press deadline, no information was on the party’s website.
There was no public comment about who the new officers were or how they had been selected. Party officials told the Bulletin that as a “private organization,” the Bandera County Republican Party is not obligated to be transparent by following open meetings or open records regulations.
No agenda was available for the meeting and handouts were limited to those passed out by Bandera County Sheriff candidate Josh Tiete.
Tate stated that he is a retired Army veteran who spent four tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. He remarked he had been a police officer for twenty-years and in the Army for twenty three-years. He offered to stay after the meeting to answer any questions from the members.
Speaker Wes Virdell is the Texas State Director of the Gun Owners of America Texas, a paid registered gun lobbyist and candidate for the Texas House of Representatives in District 53. Virdell will challenge incumbent representative Andrew Murr, an attorney, and a nine-year veteran of the Texas House.
Virdell hails from Brady, Texas where he is a part of his family’s heavy truck repair business. He is married with three boys and participates in competitive shooting.
He credits listening to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glen Beck as major influences on his viewpoints.
“I just absorbed everything like a sponge, it meant a lot to me,” he said.
Virdell said his top priorities would be fixing how the Texas House operates and selecting a speaker that will not appoint Democratic committee chairmen.
In 2011, Virdell began his study of the open carry gun laws in Texas. He frequented the capitol from 2011 to 2015 working toward legalizing the open carry of handguns.
Even though Virdell admitted to being pro law enforcement, he noted several law enforcement professional unions were against open carry laws. He said that he spent time testifying against the passage of these bills.
Virdell attributed the tragedy in Uvalde to the lack of a Guardian program where teachers are trained and armed.
“They left a ton of kids there without anyone to protect them,” he said, adding his job during the recent session was “hammering on that.”
He attributes this to his strong stance on second amendment rights as well as his independent opposition to lobbying.
“When I win this race and I get an office in the Capitol, there will be two things in that office. One is “Does your bill enable freedom?” and one is “Does your bill reduce the size of government?”
Virdell spent the last minutes of his presentation by labeling incumbent Andrew Murr’s voting record as a legislator as “poor” and questioned his integrity over residency requirements to represent District 53.
Attorney General Ken Paxton has endorsed Virdell, who said his name recognition had improved since his last election against Murr in 2020.
Darcy Hasty explained the framed American flag displayed at the meeting would be used as a fundraiser for Virdell’s campaign. Contributors of a minimum of 100 dollars would qualify to be in the drawing for the flag.
The next meeting of the Republican Party will be on Thursday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. at the BEC Meeting Room.
