Posted in the Tyler Morning Telegraph:

Stay-at-home-mom, 59-year-old Judy Holloway, of Austin Tea Party Patriots, said the movement formed and gained momentum because "politicians are not listening to the people." She said a year ago she "didn't have a clue" about the political process...

 

Ken Emanuelson, 38, an attorney and member of Dallas Tea Party and the Common Sense Texans Network, said the movement and its growth is about connectivity. The network allows groups around the state to connect and spread the word about what does and does not work within the grassroots effort.

Ms. Holloway's group is part of the Common Sense Network and she said members are incorporating every medium available, including Facebook, Twitter and creating Web sites, to spread their message and expand the movement's base.

If you're like us, you know that good policy is really not all that complicated.  Experience and common sense teaches us, for example, that:

1. Spending money you don't have and have no hope of getting is a recipe for disaster.

 

2. More government is rarely the solution to a problem.

 

3. Each individual must take primary responsibility for his own well-being and that of his family.

 

4. Every judge and prosecutor has a duty to apply the law as it is written, and not as he or she wishes it could be.

 

5. The people of a nation should determine for themselves the laws which will govern their lives.

Although the above ideas are common sense to us, we have learned that they are not common sense to everyone.  Bigger government, larger debts, irresponsibility, emotional decisionmaking and internationalism seem to be the order of the day.

If you believe, as we do, in limited government, fiscal responsibility, personal responsibility, the rule of law and national sovereignty are encouraged to SIGN UP so that we can help you find like-minded citizens in your same area.

The Common Sense Texans Network is not a GROUP so much as it is a CONDUIT to connect each common sense citizen to other common sense citizens.in their area.

Fellow Common Sense Texans:

As you know, a major part of our mission is to help inform our members and our fellow Texans with information about their representatives in Washington, Austin and their local areas.  In order to give our fellow Texans more information about the men and women representing them in Austin, we have performed an analysis of certain fiscal responsibility ratings of all 150 members of the State House using information from 4 sources:

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility 2009 Ratings

Heritage Alliance 2009 Economic Ratings

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility 2007 Ratings

Americans for Prosperity-Texas 2007 Ratings

We collected the ratings for each of the 150 members of the Texas State House and averaged the four ratings together for each (where available) in order to generate a 'composite' fiscal responsibility rating for each member.  We then sorted the legislators by their composite fiscal responsibility ratings and plotted them on three graphs:

Fiscal Responsibility Index - All Texas State House Members

 

Fiscal Responsibility Index - Texas State House Members Rated 50% and Above

 

Fiscal Responsibility Index - Texas State House Members Rated Below 50%

NOTE : a higher rating reflects a voting record in favor of fiscal responsibility, while a lower rating reflects a voting record against fiscal responsibility.  A legislator with a rating of 50% is voting against the taxpayers as often as he or she is voting in the taxpayers' interests.

Most of our members already know who represents them in the State House, but if you don't, you can look it up here:

http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Address.aspx

Please note that these graphs and numbers do not tell you everything you need to know about your state house member, but these ratings should serve as a starting point for learning more about who your state house members are and how they have been voting down in Austin.

Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Via the Austin American-Statesman:

Initially dismissed by some as inconsequential shout-a-thons and by others as pseudo-events cooked up by GOP-leaning special interests, the tea parties are showing signs of branching out from rallies to involvement in election-year politics. The movement has inspired some people to consider running for Congress and others to make plans for candidate forums.

"The pep rallies were fun," said Austin lawyer Greg Holloway, who with his wife, Judy, has organized tea party events. "But the game is all about elections coming up."

Common Sense Texans, a coalition of 100,000 people with ties to tea party groups, plans to sponsor candidate forums that allow the audience members to grade candidates immediately on their adherence to conservative principles such as limited government and fiscal responsibility.

Conservative reform groups in Texas, spurred by the requests of their membership, the success of last month’s Stand up for Texas Rally in Austin and the national perception that Texans are taking the lead in the grassroots conservative movement, have chosen to form a new coalition across the state named “Common Sense Texans”.  Encompassing tea parties, 9/12 groups and other grassroots strategists, the new coalition includes in its membership the major tea party, 9/12  and/or other organizations in Dallas, Arlington, Carrollton, Houston, Katy, Baytown/San Jacinto, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, Lubbock and Wichita Falls, with more local groups soon to join.  Organizers estimate that Common Sense Texans number over 100,000 and that this coalition will allow for a substantial growth in membership ranks.

The goals of Common Sense Texans are to educate, advocate and support citizens and their public servants in the group’s five core values:

Limited Government

Fiscal Responsibility

Personal Responsibility

The Rule of Law and

National Sovereignty.

“We have enjoyed the rallies and the opportunities they have provided to give everyday Texans a voice in the direction of government, but it is clear that despite these well-attended rallies many of our national leaders and some of our state leaders steadfastly refuse to listen to our call for a return to conservative values,” said Dallas Tea Party’s Phillip Dennis, one of the coalition’s founders and a prominent national conservative grassroots voice.  “It has been obvious – because we’ve been told so by members of Congress – that nothing short of the knowledge that we can vote them out will deter public officials from taking actions that violate the will of the majority of Texans and Americans.   The best way for us to make it clear that we can - and will - vote out public officials who spend too much, tax too much and lie to their people is to band together and grow our numbers.”

Common Sense Texans, through the efforts of the Dallas Tea Party, has developed a proprietary information program – available to all members of the coalition without charge - that allows members statewide to be connected with likely-conservative individuals in their zip codes and voting precincts so that they can form their own local organizations.  Felicia Cravens of Houston Tea Party Society notes, “Common Sense Texans is not trying to control local metro or neighborhood groups.  The coalition is designed to give us a springboard to allow us to continue to do what we do locally, but to do it better and with more information.  Let’s be clear.  We are moving toward getting out the vote by conservatives and to educate others on the conservative values that we believe will help our country.”

“Although we are conservative in political philosophy, we are non-partisan in approach,”  adds Judy Holloway, founding member of Common Sense Texans and organizer of Austin Tea Party Patriots.  “Both parties need to re-dedicate themselves to the principles of our founding fathers and remember that this should be the government of ‘We the People’ and not of special interest groups or pork-laden politics.”

Go Austin Tea Party!!!  Great coverage on KEYE:

Austin Tea Party Patriots will protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s afternoon fundraising visit to Austin by holding a rally in Pease Park from 11:30 to 2:30 pm.

 

"If there is one elected official who is the poster child for all that has gone wrong in Washington, it would have to be Nancy Pelosi," said Judy Holloway, organizer for the event and founder of Austin Tea Party Patriots. “We would enjoy the chance to speak with her and find some common ground, but we do not expect to have that opportunity.”

Excellent quote!

Here's some grassroots video:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 19, 2009

Contact: Judy Holloway (512.585.7673)

On Saturday, September 19, the Austin Tea Party Patriots, supported by tea party groups from San Antonio and Houston, plan to make note of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s afternoon fundraising visit to Austin by holding a rally in Pease Park from 11:30 to 2:30 pm.  

“If there is one elected official who is the poster child for all that has gone wrong in Washington, it would have to be Nancy Pelosi,” said Judy Holloway, organizer for the event and founder of Austin Tea Party Patriots. “Washington has really let the people of this country down under the leadership, such as it is, of Speaker Pelosi.”