The Texas Supreme Court has settled a yearlong legal battle within the Montgomery County Republican Party and denied a petition for a court order regarding the selection of precinct chairs.
The action comes after a tea party-led faction claims to have appointed six new seats while local party chairman Bryan Christ briefly left the meeting room last summer.
The court denied the petition June 23 that was filed in February by the Montgomery County Freedom Caucus, which includes several county precinct chairs who are with the tea party movement.
The tea party group said Christ never reported its appointment of six chairs to the Texas secretary of state, violating state law and keeping them from power in the county GOP. The group asked the Texas Supreme Court to force Christ to report the selections to the secretary of state, saying Christ violated state law.
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“This has been a colossal waste of time and energy for all those involved, which, among other disruptions to our Republican victory effort, resulted in the loss of our party’s long-time lease on the Republican Headquarters established by former Chair Dr. Wally Wilkerson, and also the diversion of tens of thousands of donor’s dollars away from the control of the County Executive Committee,” Christ said.
The former headquarters founded in the 1950s by longtime Republican leader Dr. Wally Wilkerson at 310 Metcalf St. closed in April. The party opened its new location at 921 W. Austin and will be the new Montgomery County Republican Clubhouse.
Christ said many of the items that were donated to the headquarters have been given back to their donors and the remaining items given to the Republican Party in Waller County.
The issue is the latest chapter in a struggle for power among Republican party leaders in Montgomery County that dates back to 2018.
During an executive committee meeting that year, a group stripped power from former chairman and founder Wally Wilkerson and created a seven-member steering committee to make major decisions for the local GOP. The group made Wilkerson one of the seven members, coming four months after Wilkerson defeated tea party challenger Terrance Boggs in the GOP primary.
The latest discord erupted July 19, 2022 when Christ called an executive committee meeting to adopt bylaws for 2022-24, according to a document filed by the tea party group. Under state law, the party must adopt bylaws every two years within 45 days after the term begins for the party chairman.
The party and the faction each filed separate proposed agendas, setting off a two hour debate over which agenda would be used. The meeting ended without any action.
With no action taken, Precinct 87 Chair Robert Walker, representing the tea party faction, and Precinct 24 Chair James Byers each called separate emergency special meetings for July 21, 2022. Because both Walker and Byers had valid agendas, Christ decided to schedule the emergency meeting for July 23, 2022 to bring both sides together.
According to the petition, Christ asked at the July 23 meeting to have a vote before the meeting on which agenda would be used. However, Walker said that violated Roberts Rules of Order and asked Christ to leave before he could call the meeting to order.
Walker immediately called the meeting to order, and Precinct 69 Chair John Wertz “declared” the Roberts Rules of Order were suspended, the petition states. Walker said Christ’s authority had been revoked.
The group then selected six people to fill the seats.
Eric Opiela, an attorney representing Christ, said he hopes this ends the discord.
“Now that the Supreme Court has ruled, it is my hope that rather than continuing their fight against the leaders elected by the Republican voters, they will join Chairman Christ and the rest of the precinct chairs in working together to build the Party as they work toward another victory in 2024,” Opiela said.
Warren Norred, an attorney who is representing the tea party group, could not be reached for comment.
