Because of your consistent hard work and support, and because of some Divine Favor in several key areas, we came through election night in first place and finished with an 8,200 vote victory. Now we’re living up to President Bush’s nickname for me, Landslide Green!
The top two finishers will now be in a runoff April 13th (with early voting April 5th-9th) so we are hitting the ground running today for a six week sprint across the state and we need your continued help!
Our team is meeting today to start implementing our runoff strategy and here’s how you can immediately help:
Make a contribution for the runoff. To effectively campaign, we need to raise even more for the runoff than we did for the primary. Please make a contribution today.If you already gave the maximum $5,000 in the primary, everything starts over now and you are allowed to give another $5,000. Whether you give $50 or $5,000 or somewhere in between, we appreciate your help!
Spread the word that we came in first, but that we must win the runoff April 13th! Stay tuned into Facebook and Twitter and use that “Suggest to Friends” button that took us from zero on Facebook to over 13,000 in just a few months!
Plan ahead to help us at the polls April 13th. Whether you are there for just a couple of hours or all day, it has a HUGE impact on the outcome. Email matt@rickgreen.com if you are willing to help and also watch our website for more information.
Attend republican meetings as my representative. We need to cover all of Texas in just 6 weeks. If you can attend a few meetings on our behalf, we’ll get you a Green Team shirt and materials to hand out. Contact bryan@rickgreen.com if you can help.
Provide housing for volunteers traveling the state. If you have a guest house or travel trailer and you’re willing to let someone from our team stay there when in the area, please email matt@rickgreen.com. We especially need a place for someone to stay in the Houston area. We also need a place in the Austin area or a travel trailer we could use for 6 weeks and park on our property in Dripping Springs.
Make phone calls. If you are willing and able to make phone calls from your home, please email matt@rickgreen.com and we’ll get you a list and a script.
Click “Suggest to Friends” on Facebook. The amount we won by on Tuesday was about the same as how many more fans we had than our competitors. Facebook makes the difference.
We have surprised a lot of “experts” already. Let’s keep up the hard work and win this thing on April 13th!!!
Pray – “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it”
Vote – We can’t understate the importance of YOUR vote. If you don’t know where to vote see our list of voting locations in your county.
Click “Suggest to Friends” on Facebook – Chances are some of your friends don’t know who Rick is. This is an easy way to introduce them that only takes one click per friend.
Bring someone – The most effective way to get out the vote is to simply bring a friend or family member to the ballot box with you.
Update your Facebook status – Post a reminder to vote as a status update. This is an easy way to remind your friends to vote. Tweets help too!
Donate – We still need more money to help get the vote out. Donate today!
Volunteer – The campaign needs a lot of help getting the word out. This means making calls, waving signs and spreading the word. Volunteer today!
When I began my first campaign for the Texas House in 1997, people told me to be ready for the lies and distortions I’d soon read about myself in the newspaper. But I was never prepared for the onslaught that would come five years later in 2002 when I became a top target of the democrats in Texas.
I’ve had about every accusation thrown at me that you can imagine, yet every single time the claims were dismissed after the headlines had their impact. But the negative impression with voters lasts for years and most of them never hear the truth.
Unfortunately, the left wing has found a formula that works for them in politics. When they are faced with effective conservatives, they attack the character of the conservative relentlessly and truth is never an obstacle for them.
They have learned that if they just keep attacking, keep filing ethics complaints, keep launching “criminal investigations,” and keep running articles with accusations…even if they never, ever prove anything, convict anyone, or show even one shred of evidence to support their claims, sooner or later people just assume that “where there is smoke, there is fire.” What gets lost in the whirlwind is that the fire was arson started from the outside by those attempting to destroy.
Just ask Sarah Palin or Tom Delay or a host of other conservatives who have experienced the same relentless attacks.
Having said all that, please do not misunderstand me to be claiming to be righteous or perfect. I’ve made plenty of mistakes. Usually it was naïve decisions in my twenties when I was unaware of the lengths to which people would be willing to distort my actions and decisions.
Then there were times where I was just flat out wrong and made a foolish decision or had a knee jerk reaction. I pray that I’ve learned from these incidents just like most people attempt to do with their life experiences.
This document is intended to be a quick response to the accusations that were brought against me almost ten years ago in my Legislative race. For a detailed response and an honest discussion about those learning experiences, please read Our American Story.
In that book, we share the details, the behind the scenes events, and our perspective. Click here for an excerpt from that book, the chapter titled “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.” I’ve also posted several documents below to back up my statements regarding these many “ethics” charges leveled by the left wing.
Many have asked me why I did not file a libel suit against my opponent, the democrat party, and the media outlets that printed completely false statements. The truth is that I almost did. We had all of our evidence ready to go, but after much prayer and consideration, Kara and I decided against it for very simple reasons.
First, it is virtually impossible to win a defamation suit when you are a public figure. Unfortunately, the law is different for public figures and the only defense the perpetrator of lies has to say is: “I believed it was true.”
Second, we are not wealthy and a lawsuit like this would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Third, it would have consumed our lives for years and we’d rather enjoy our family and opportunities to impact the culture than be caught up in the stress of a high profile lawsuit for the better part of our children’s young years at home.
Now let’s get specific:
“Squeezing lobbyists to pony up at a fundraiser for a private foundation he started.”
This first one is almost comical. The Torch of Freedom Foundation puts on a mock legislative session each year called “Patriot Academy” for young students wanting to learn more about their government.
Ambassador Alan Keyes came to Austin to speak at our fundraiser and I sent invitations to everyone in my rolodex because I thought it was special to have a speaker of that caliber – I guess the Dallas Morning News considered that squeezing people.
Travis County DA & County Attorney “investigations.”
Two weeks before Election Day in 2002, liberal prosecutors from Austin started leaking to reporters that I and another republican legislator were under “criminal investigation” for our law firm representing clients in matters with state agencies. This was perfectly legal and had been practiced by both Republican and Democrat lawmakers for years.
But after all those years, one prosecutor somehow formed the opinion that this was now an illegal practice. It should be noted that about 15 democrat legislators had also represented their clients before a state agency that year, but the prosecutor declined to investigate the democrats, only the republicans.
After front page headlines that destroyed my reputation were run in the local papers for the last two weeks of the election, the charges were dropped after I was narrowly defeated on election night. Their plan had worked perfectly. They only wanted my House Seat back and they knew that they couldn’t attack me on my conservative voting record.
They had to create a “criminal investigation” in order to win and that was their goal all along. Right after the election, the lead prosecutor quit his job and went to work for my opponent’s top contributor as an “ethics advisor”. Click here for a copy of the new DA’s letter closing the case because there was nothing to pursue.
“Used state office for personal benefit”
“Used state office for personal benefit” is the accusation often leveled due to an interview I gave that was later used by the company in a commercial. I did not receive any compensation for the interview and had no ownership of the product. I had been taking this nutritional supplement for quite some time and the company asked if I would be willing to give a testimonial on camera, which I naively thought would be just fine.
“Represented felon before the parole board who loaned $400K to Rick’s company which was never paid back and Rick says he doesn’t know what happened to the money.”
This one is so egregiously false that it would have been the main basis of the libel suit we almost filed. This man’s 80 year old wife had been like a grandmother to me. Her elderly husband was serving the last months of a white collar sentence and was so physically digressing that the State gave him a “special needs parole” because it was costing the state too much to take care of his health needs, so they preferred for a man his age to finish his sentence at home.
She called and asked if I could help get the paperwork filed, which I did. As for the supposedly unpaid loans, he did in fact loan my startup company money in the early 90’s. The loan was actually given in small increments for operating capital over a period of several years. These loans were paid back in full and there was never any question at all as to what happened to the money as it was spent on startup expenses such as staff and inventory. Click here for a letter from the Judge who handled the man’s assets, it confirms that the loans were paid back.
“Green sent mailers criticizing his opponent for being supported by Melinda Ballard, the person who started the million dollar mold lawsuits, but he had filed a mold lawsuit himself.”
Not only did I never even mention my opponent in any of my advertising, but I have also never filed a mold remediation lawsuit or represented a client with one. My wife and I discovered mold in one of our bathrooms and air conditioner at one time, but when the insurance company wanted to do all the costly remediation that we thought was a waste of money, I went in and did most of the repair work myself because I thought the mold claims were overblown and running up all of our insurance premiums.
Final Thoughts
I think that about covers it. Once you step into the political arena, you live your life in a glass house. Everything you do is scrutinized under a microscope. I look back a these accusations that started ten years ago and they seem so silly to us now, but It’s important to Kara and me that people know exactly where we’re coming from.
I’m sure there will be more accusations to come as long as I’m willing to put my name on the ballot. Kara and I thought and prayed long and hard this time before stepping back into the arena.
We knew all of these accusations would come up once again. While we would have personally preferred to continue our very blessed private lives, enjoying our family without our name being dragged through the mud, we came to the conclusion that there is too much at stake in America right now for us to sit on the sidelines. When we think about our soldiers taking real bullets, all the name-calling we receive really is not a big deal.
If you are a supporter, we ask for your prayers for our family to keep our joy despite the attacks, to have wisdom to make the right decisions and avoid even the appearance of impropriety, and the courage to stand strong no matter the adversity.
For Freedom, Rick Green
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
President Theodore Roosevelt
Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910
Shorter lines - Voting early often has shorter lines than voting on election day.
You vote for sure - Things tend to come up on election day that may keep you from voting.
Your vote is counted first - On election night they count the early votes first so you make the news while everyone waits for the other votes to be counted.
When to Vote
Early voting is from February 16-26.
Voting day is March 2nd.
Early voting is from February 16 – 26
Where to Vote
Here is list of early voting information. If you county is not on this list chances are voting is at your county courthouse. See your local paper for a list of early voting locations.
Chuck Norris doesn’t endorse: he tells Texas how it’s going to be. Therefore, we would like to invite you to make the safest investment possible by participating in today’s Money Bomb!
Money Bomb Today!
Our goal is to raise $100,000, and we are confident that with your help we will reach it.
Please email your family and friends so they can join the fun as well! Any donation, whether $5 or $5,000 is a tremendous help.
Click here to donate, and don’t forget to forward this message on! Thank you so much for your support. May God bless you, and may He continue to bless the great state of Texas!
“I’m endorsing Rick Green as justice for the Texas Supreme Court. As a former state legislator and constitutional scholar trained to defend our nation’s founding principles, Green is exactly the kind of justice we need serving on the Texas Supreme Court.”
— Chuck Norris
Want Volunteer Updates?
If you are interested in volunteering, or if you would like push cards or bumper stickers, please contact Bryan Shufelt: bryan@rickgreen.com.
We believe we have God’s blessing. If you will help us raise money by being a volunteer, we’ll have all 3 of these covered. Forward this page on to family and friends to let them know about our money bomb.
Our goal for this Money Bomb is to raise $100,000. Any amount that you are able to give will be a tremendous help, whether it’s $5, $25, $250, or more.
“Rick has a thoroughly conservative worldview and a solid understanding of the Constitution – especially about the limited role of the Judiciary. His experiences as an attorney, public official, businessman, father, author, and public speaker will be an asset to all Texans.”
— David Barton, Founder of WallBuilders*
Just a quick reminder that the deadline to register to vote is February 1. If you have not registered, you can download a voter registration application here.
Please forward this email to your family and friends to make sure they have registered as well.
Money Bomb Febuary 4th
We need your help to spread the word that the next Rick Green money bomb is on February 4th.
We need your help in two ways:
Get the word out to your friends and family via email and Faceboo.
Set aside some money this week to donate on February 4th. Any amount will be a tremendous help, whether it’s $5, $25, $250, or more.
“THSC PAC and I are thrilled to support Rick Green for Texas Supreme Court. Not only is he a long-time friend, I know he strongly believes that judges should interpret the law instead of “legislating from the bench.”
Perhaps most importantly he strongly believes that a parent’s right to direct the education and upbringing of their children is a fundamental right protected under the Constitution as articulated most recently by the US Supreme Court in the 2000 Troxel decision.”
—Tim Lambert, Chairman of Texas Home School Coalition PAC*
Want to volunteer?
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Bryan Shufelt: bryan@rickgreen.com
Tomorrow, my family and I, as well as our campaign staff, will be attending the Texas Rally for Life at the Capitol in Austin. If you can be present, I strongly encourage you to come out in support of the inalienable right to life for all, including the unborn. We will be meeting at 11:45am in Republic Square and marching to the Capitol at 1pm. Hope to see you there!
Also, the deadline for voter registration is February 1st. If you or other conservatives you know need a registration card, you can print one here, or contact our campaign and we will mail you one. If you’re already registered, please make sure your address is correct and up-to-date. You can find more information on updating voter registration here.
Thank you so much for your support! May God bless you, and may He bless the great state of Texas!
“We need patriots like those who founded this nation, leaders of principle and conviction. Texans are fortunate to have such a patriot…his name is Rick Green and he has a proven record. Rick is a patriot we can trust to protect our families and our freedom. Join me in supporting Rick Green. We don’t need more politicians, we need more patriots.” - Charlton Heston of then Texas State Representative Rick Green
We took first place on March 2nd but since there were 6 candidates, we did not get 50% of the vote, so we must win the runoff April 13th. Find out how you can help us get to victory in April.
Forward this page on to family and friends to let them know about our money bomb.
