Al Zolli says to be skeptical when using endorsement slates

So you are a newcomer to politics and think that you can make a difference. You decide to sign up to run for office and then go about the process of trying to get endorsements from various organizations. After all, if a group is going to issue an endorsement slate, they are going to be completely fair about the process and endorse someone only after considering all of the candidates in the race and carefully evaluating them.

You, like Al Zolli, are very, very naive.

You see, Mr. Zolli thought that he would have a fair shot at getting endorsements from various Harris County groups. And that was his mistake. Because none of the endorsement slates are “pure” – they all have their biases, no matter how hard they try to be unbiased.

After I posted about our combined endorsement list, Mr. Zolli contacted to tell me that the Conservative Coalition of Harris County was biased in their selection of candidates in HD150. I sorta laughed and told him yeah, no doubt, you had no chance to get that endorsement no matter what you did. And I could say that because I have spent years doing this and know what each group is about. In this case, Mr. Zolli had filed in a race that included one of the founders of the CCHC, Valoree Swanson.

But Zolli was insistent that the endorsement was flawed and that I should write about it. And after reviewing his case, I thought it would be a good way to tell you, as a voter in the Republican primary, to never take any endorsement at face value. Do your homework, review each candidate if possible, and if not, at least do yourself the favor of reviewing the combined list of endorsements (click link at top of page) to get a macro view of the candidates.

After filing for office on December 14th, Zolli received this email on 12/15 from the CCHC:

So he thinks he has a shot at their endorsement if he fills out the questionnaire. Note that the wording doesn’t say that but as a newcomer to politics, it seems reasonable to think that.

On December 20th, he sees this on the CCHC Facebook page:

He thinks, wait a minute, how could they endorse someone on the 20th when the questionnaires don’t even have to be turned in until December 30th? So he calls the person listed on the email as the contact, Alex McCoy and asks what’s up? According to Zolli, McCoy tells him that he was uncomfortable that Jeter put that information out and that they didn’t know Zolli was a candidate when they voted. So Zolli naturally wonders why they would send him the questionnaire if they didn’t know he was running?

Zolli sends in the questionnaire anyway on December 23rd. He didn’t hear from the CCHC about his submission, so he called McCoy on 12/29 and McCoy doesn’t know if it was received or not. He tell Zolli that he would check when he got home and call him to let him know. After not hearing from McCoy, Zolli sends the questionnaire again and then texts McCoy about it. McCoy responds that they didn’t receive the first submission on the 23rd but maybe the second submission from the 30th will go through.

On December 31st, the CCHC issues this press release:

Zolli is incensed, not that he didn’t get the endorsement but that the group doesn’t play fair and doesn’t even bother to list his name or the fourth opponent in the race in their press release.

At some point, the CCHC scrubs their Facebook page and Norma Jeter’s post saying that the group endorsed Swanson is removed.

I talked to Mr. McCoy about this. He was very defensive and was angry that I was going to write about it. He said that the group decided early on that three State House races and the Sheriff’s race were easy and they wanted to get them out of the way so that they could interview for other races. He did not tell me which other House races they considered easy. He told me that they voted on December 3rd on HD150 and issued a press release on December 7th about their choice of Swanson. He promised to send me a copy of that press release – he did not and it is not on their website. Further, he denied telling Zolli that he was uncomfortable with Jeter’s Facebook posting and says that he told Zolli that the group was not going to vote again on HD150 but that he was welcome to submit his questionnaire for inclusion on the website.

I also reached out to Mark Ramsey, a director of the group and a longtime activist in conservative circles, as well as being a member of the State Republican Executive Committee. He responded:

1. The CCHC group is volunteer and we do the best that we can. We’ve spent 6-8 full time days plus several more half-days on interviews already.
2. CCHC accepts ZERO money from candidates. Not for printing. Not for radio. Nada. It is entirely self-funded from the activists on the panels.
   We vote by secret ballot and do not know how each other voted. Only the totals and/or percentages are reported, and a formal endorsement is granted only if the panel vote is 70{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} or higher for one candidate. Panels are typically 10+ members.
3. The early thinking by our board was that in HC there were a few House races that would not have significant “late entries”. Ditto for Sheriff.
4. Those could be interviewed and voted early, trying to spread out the interviewing time as best as possible (while judges sometimes changed at last minute as attorneys jockey for position depending on who is running for what, etc.).
5. In 150, the interviews with Riddle and Swanson had been done and I think voted before Al Zolli and the Reverend Doctor Theresa Hearne Haynes filed (both at the last minute). We had a similar situation when Paul Day filed for Sheriff at the last minute.
6. I seriously doubt that either of the three affected late filers would have gotten even a single vote had they filed sooner, but that is hypothetical and my opinion only. CCHC panelists do tend to examine and consider the robustness of a campaign, and if it appears to be insignificant, they are unlikely to vote for such a candidate.
7. All three would have been given the opportunity to go through the entire normal interview process had they filed or otherwise announced publicly sooner. They filed at the end of the month-long filing period.
8. The “real story” is that a sitting incumbent who has been voting wrong (Life, ALAC, Ethics & Transparency, Fiscal Issues, Minimum Wage, Parental Rights, etc.) and getting worse is now being challenged by three challengers. I don’t think that is happening anywhere else in the entire state. There must be a reason…that reason would be Riddles poor record of late, again IMHO.

So basically Ramsey confirms Zolli’s story. He had no chance at getting the endorsement because it was a done deal before Zolli even filed for office.

Does this diminish the CCHC endorsements? Only in the case of HD150 and the two other house districts and sheriff’s race. They have done us all a service by putting these questionnaires online – please do read them.

I put this out here only to encourage each of you to never, ever rely upon endorsements from a single person or group, no matter who they are. All are biased.

And to Mr. Zolli, thank you for participating. I’m sorry that you have to see the bad side of politics. There are a lot of wonderful people, including those who are members of the CCHC, involved in the process. But all of us are biased in one form or another. Keep pushing for your vision of what is best for HD150, perhaps others will listen.

Learn more about Mr. Zolli at VoteAlZolli.com.