The Bandera County Republican Party’s latest meeting was marked by heated exchanges over procedural issues, a controversial appointment to a precinct chair position, and disagreements regarding financial decisions.
Despite the conflicts, the group managed to approve the launch of a new website and discussed upcoming community outreach efforts.
The Bandera County Republican Party held its regular meeting on September 12 at the Silver Sage Dining Room, with an earlier start time of 6 p.m.
Chairman Mark Miller called the meeting to order, and Vice Chair Ben Wilhelm gave the opening prayer.
The roll was called, and all precinct chairs were in attendance. An audience of twenty citizens attended the meeting.
Secretary Courtney Wilhelm read the minutes of the previous meeting in July and they were approved. Treasurer Melanie Stringfellow gave a Treasurer’s Report which was also approved.
The Precinct 305 Chair, formerly filled by Joe Kitzman, was replaced with Marcus Kaspar.
Kaspar, a retired 31-year veteran of federal law enforcement, made a public statement before being voted upon by the group.
“I will do my best with what’s involved in doing it. My wife and I are both working on the voting, she and I have been working with the voting in the last five or six years,” he said. “We know how important this election is. We want to have this important election done, and Mark Miller stepped up and took the bull by the horns and saw it was completed.”
Local realtor and meeting attendee Rene Leith brought a point of order about taking nominations for the precinct chair. Secretary Courtney Wilhelm referenced the bylaws of the party and the Texas Election Code to clarify the process used to select the candidates.
Vice Chair Ben Wilhelm made a fiery statement to the audience about the vetting process and Brandi Conover, Precinct 203 Chair, questioning her part in the discussion about the appointment of Kaspar.
Wilhelm angrily confronted Conover, about her statements about the vetting process and her personal dealings with Republican Party Secretary Courtney Wilhelm.
Conover responded abruptly to Wilhelm, who was then escorted from the room by Assistant Secretary Brenda Miller.
Several passionate exchanges were made during the discussion before Chairman Miller was able to return the group to the vetting process discussion.
Miller responded that he had checked with the state Republican organization and was clear about the outcome if one of the individuals did not pass their vetting.
He added the vetting process clearly eliminated candidate John Irving.
The vote by the executive committee was taken and Kaspar was elected as Precinct 305 Chairman. Irving left the meeting before Kaspar was sworn in.
The next discussion that seemed to create turmoil was the discussion about securing a post office box in Pipe Creek.
“We have a new post office box in Pipe Creek. and the number is 624. One of the main reasons we set it up like that is because Courtney is the Secretary and Melanie’s residence is way out in the western end of the county,” said Miller. ”This will allow Courtney and I to come in and pick up the mail easily and be able to check it more often.”
A motion was made and seconded to reimburse Miller for the cost of opening the post office box.
Precinct 203 Chair Brandi Conover posed the question about whether the group had voted to spend the money, approximately $127, to secure the new box.
Some confusion seemed to exist about the Executive Committee’s notification of the box change.
Miller said the prior box was under the name of Conrad Striegl, the former county Republican chair ordered to resign by a judge following his no contest plea to fraudulent document execution earlier this year. He would lose a chance to reclaim that seat, replaced by Mark Miller earlier this year.
When Miller asked for discussion about the reimbursement, no discussion was evident.
Tempers flared between Miller and Conover over this issue. Several audience members spoke to the group urging them to be more cooperative and to act more positively together.
The website for the Bandera County Republican Party was next on the agenda. Miller called for discussion of the $220.80 dollars needed to secure web hosting.
“It allows us to take donations,” he stated. Melanie Stringfellow made the motion to approve the $220.80 for web site hosting. Miller assured the group that the web site was already built. The vote was unanimous to approve the web hosting company. The motion to launch the web site was approved.
Miller spoke about community outreach collecting toys for Samaritan’s Purse, run by Billy Graham’s son, Franklin Graham. He recommended the group purchase matchbox cars for the shoe boxes to be sent overseas.
Miller also raised the question of participation in the community coat drive. Precinct 408 Chair Dede Skoglund said that the Republican Women had opted to participate in Angel Tree for foster children.
Vice Chairman Ben Wilhelm spoke about a press release that would showcase the actions in each precinct of the Republican Party to get out the vote.
Wilhelm asked each Precinct Chair what they were doing in their precinct. Wilhelm would include that information in a release to the Bandera Bulletin.
Mark Miller also spoke about Ted Cruz yard signs. Ten were designated for each precinct. He also mentioned that the Donald Trump signs were still being printed but were not available yet.
In closing, Miller announced that the next meeting of the Republican Party will be October 10 but the meeting location is yet to be determined.
