(The Center Square) – After a year of fighting each other over bills and legislative processes, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan, both Republicans, agree on something: the Republican Party of Texas (RPT), they both say, has a leadership problem.
Patrick and Phelan both rebuked the RPT after 32 Senate Republican Executive Committee (SREC) members voted over the weekend against adding an accountability clause in a resolution they passed condemning antisemitism. Several members tried to hold party leadership accountable for associating with donors who allegedly work with self-described anti-Semitic and racist individuals by vowing that the RPT would not tolerate or associate with them.
After the vote, Patrick issued a statement saying, “the SREC failed today to pass language presented stating ‘…that the Republican Party of Texas have no association whatsoever with any individual or organization that is known to espouse anti-Semitism, pro-Nazi sympathies, or Holocaust denial.’
“This language should have been adopted – because I know that is our position as a Party. I am confident that the SREC will correct this at their next meeting – not affirming this language is totally unacceptable to me. I, and the overwhelming majority of Republicans in Texas, do not tolerate antisemites, and those who deny the Holocaust, praise Hitler or the Nazi regime.”
Phelan described the vote as “despicable.” He said the SREC “can’t even bring themselves to denounce neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers or cut ties with their top donor who brought them to the dance. There is a moral, anti-Semitic rot festering within the fringes of BOTH parties that must be stopped.”
The vote was held over the weekend at a publicly recorded meeting; highlights were posted on social media. It occurred two months after RPT Chairman Matt Rinaldi and others were embroiled in a scandal after he, another RPT staff member, an RPT donor and others allegedly met with a self-described anti-Semite, Holocaust denier and Nazi sympathizer who has publicly joked about violence committed against women. The Texas Tribune broke the story, and subsequently published others. A Tarrant County precinct chair and two SREC members, all women, expressed repeated concerns. Rinaldi has condemned antisemitism and denied the meeting’s description.
After the scandal broke, Phelan issued a statement saying, “Every single elected official or candidate who has received funding from the Defend Texas Liberty PAC,” (DTL), the RPT donor in question, “must publicly disavow their toxic affiliation.” He called on “any elected official who has accepted political donations” from DTL or its affiliate organizations to “immediately redirect every single cent of those contributions to a charitable organization” and not accept any more money.
Several House Republicans followed his recommendation. Patrick initially criticized Phelan’s statement, but two weeks later announced he redirected a $3 million DTL donation to purchase Israeli bonds.
Still unsatisfied with the RPT’s response, two SREC members, Chris Byrd (SD 25) and Rolando Garcia (SD 15), filed resolutions that failed. Tarrant County precinct chair Sheena Rodriguez then filed a resolution, to which SREC member Christin Bentley (SD 1) added an accountability clause using language from Garcia’s resolution, which the full body later removed resulting in Patrick’s and Phelan’s condemnation. The resolution stated the RPT “reaffirms our commitment by denouncing all forms of anti-Semitism and violence against Israel, Israeli Americans, Jewish Americans, and supporters of Israel,” among other things.
At one point during the debate, Garcia said, “Let’s not send the wrong message that we will associate with those who tolerate antisemitism, Nazism and Holocaust denial.”
In response to Garcia’s resolution using the word “tolerate,” Dan Tully (SD 9) said, “to add this additional language is very hurtful as you go down the road. It could put you on a slippery slope.”
Bentley, who’s called for RPT accountability for months, said, “In fact, if you’re tolerating something like antisemitism, Holocaust deniers, Nazis, white supremacist, the action that you take is to look away.”
Rinaldi said he “didn’t see any difference in the way we’ve operated” regarding the resolution as it was originally drafted, “because I don’t see any antisemitic, pro-Nazi or Holocaust denial movement on the right that has any significant traction.” Referring to including the accountability clause, he said, “I have to figure out what the word tolerate means. Do you, if a group allows them to speak, if a group allows them to exist, what does tolerate [mean]. I don’t know that.”
Jim Pikl (SD 8) responded by saying, “tolerate means if somebody … says, ‘Tim Dunn gave money to some organization that has ties to Hamas, we no longer can take his money. We cannot associate with him, he’s out.’ That’s an extreme example, and if that happened of course, we would probably all say that.” He then filed the motion to have the accountability clause removed.
While SREC members expressed confusion about defining antisemitism, the Republican-led Florida Legislature this year passed extensive legislation to combat anti-Semitism, including defining it. Antisemitism is “a certain perception of Jewish people, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jewish people, rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism directed toward a person, his or her property, or toward Jewish community institutions or religious facilities,” according to Florida law.
Some RPT SREC members sought to block having their vote recorded but failed. Those who voted against the RPT committing to “have no association whatsoever with any individual or organization that is known to espouse anti-Semitism, pro-Nazi sympathies, or Holocaust denial” include:
SD 2 Jerry FisherSD 2 Bruce BishopSD 3 Chris Breaux via proxySD 4 Gwen Withrow via proxySD 4 Dale InmanSD 6 Dawn McDonaldSD 7 Deborah FiteSD 7 Tom NobisSD 8 Maggie WhittSD 8 Jim PiklSD 11 Gaylyn DeVineSD 12 Jill Glover by proxySD 12 David WylieSD 13 Dr. Milinda MorrisSD 13 Dale GibbleSD 15 Gail StanartSD 16 Susan FountainSD 16 Matthew PatrickSD 18 Cheryl Thompson-DraperSD 19 Kelly PerrySD 20 Melissa KnerrSD 20 Chuck BurnettSD 22 Leslie ThomasSD 23 Elaine CookSD 23 Ed ZennerSD 24 Andrew EllerSD 25 Naomi NarvaizSD 26 Francisco CansecoSD 29 Robyn CooperSD 29 Adolpho TellesSD 30 Rachel HortonSD 31 Thomas Warren
