FORT WORTH, Texas — A Republican leader hundreds of miles away from Tarrant County is offering a $500 reward for anyone who can produce a list of the names of precinct chairs who voted to oust a Muslim man from his position in the Tarrant County GOP.
George Rice is an army veteran and a member of the Hidalgo County Young Republicans in deep south Texas.
"This isn't a Tarrant County issue. This is a statewide issue," Rice told WFAA. "Now it affects us. It affects our recruiting effort."
Rice said he was outraged when he heard about the effort in Tarrant County to remove Dr. Shahid Shafi from his post as county GOP vice chairman. His opponents launched a campaign online claiming that he was unfit because he is a practicing Muslim.
To Rice, that goes against what he believes Republicans stand for and his own experiences in the Army.
"I've served with a lot of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said. "These guys were patriots. They were fighters. They were Americans."
A majority of precinct chairs voted to support Dr. Shafi and keep him in his position, defeating his opponents in a 139 to 49 vote. But the names of those so-called 49ers have remained a secret.
The Tarrant County GOP said they will not release information about how individual precinct chairs voted because they are protecting the process. The vote happened behind closed doors in an executive session. But Rice doesn't buy it. He thinks keeping the names of the elected precinct chairs secret does a disservice to their constituents.
"I believe that we have the right to know who those individuals are so they don't get appointed to different positions within committees and affect state policy," Rice said."I'm done. I'm done ignoring this. I'm done waiting."
Rice said since he first shared his offer, he's been contacted by some who call him a traitor to his party and others who have offered to contribute to the reward. He believes that he is fighting for the future of the GOP.
"We're supposed to be the party of religious freedom, and here they are judging this man by his religion. To me, it doesn't sit well," Rice said. "Restricting someone's liberties based off your own dogma or fear isn't conservative."