I tell you what, for a first time event, this thing went off very well. Daniel McCool and his helpers at the Clear Lake Area Republicans club put together a first class affair. The food was awesome, catered by Del Frisco’s – wonderful, especially for a buffet! There was a silent auction and a live auction – the Ruger Coyote Special with Gov. Perry’s sig on the box went for $650! Darn it, I should have saved more pennies. The dance didn’t really happen – most of the R’s left after the main speaker! I guess they needed to get home and get a little sleep before church – you know how them R’s are about church.
As for the actual program, a last minute change put Ed Hubbard in charge. He must of been wearing boxers because he was a little looser than normal. His job was to keep the program moving along and he managed it pretty good. No way anyone is going to get a politician to stick to an exact time limit but he tried. First up was a series of R elected officials. Ted Poe talked about the border in general, the I-8 mess out in Arizona, and the recent Falcon Lake killing. Pete Olson then talked about the effort to get NASA funding restored but his best line was when he said he couldn’t wait until January to “rip the gavel from Pelosi’s hands”. Not a lotta love there, eh, Pete?
Next up was Debbie Riddle.
And then none other than the frequent flyer champion stood up in front of a room full of white Republicans and told them he was just like one of the spies that Moses sent into the Promised Land. That’s right, Apostle Claver Kamau-Imani was in the house. I always get a kick out of watching the audience reaction to his message, especially when the audience is almost 100{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} white and older. His message is that we must engage people of color – that is the promised land if we (Republicans) are going to win elections in the future. Note that he isn’t telling us to change our message, simply to engage. Stop saying that it can’t be done or else we are going to be out in the wilderness for 40 years because we won’t be winning elections. The message is spot on and it usually takes awhile but eventually the audience warms up to the idea and starts shoutin’ “Preach it, Brother”. And Claver does. Visit RagingElephants.org or his Facebook page: Apostle Claver Kamau-Imani for more information. Warning: his message is very different from that of the backroom brokers of the HCRP who do not want to engage people of color.
The headliner for the evening was The950 and KTRH740 radio host Michael Berry. His ratings are through the roof these days because he has been willing to step up to the microphone and tell people the truth about Tea Parties, race wars, class wars, corrupt politicians, etc. It wasn’t too many years ago that another guy in town did that but he has moved on to bigger and better things.
Michael did something in his speech that shows what kind of guy he is. He was talking about voter fraud and the recent Houston Votes fiasco and noticed that Tax Assessor Collector Leo Vasquez was sitting in the audience. He stopped and asked Leo to stand, telling people that it took courage to do what he did. The packed room gave Leo a standing ovation, a well-deserved standing ovation. Too bad the current HCRP leadership hasn’t stood with him. It does take courage to do what Leo did, not only in calling out Houston Votes for their misdeeds but also for his outreach to minority communities to increase voter registration prior to the primary that he lost. Hopefully, Leo will not be jaded by the treatment he’s received from some in the backroom hierarchy of the party and will some day return to politics. We need men that aren’t afraid to stand in the gap.
Like I mentioned, most people left after Michael’s speech – hey, it was after 10 pm! So the dance didn’t really happen, which means that I now have to take my girl out again because I promised. Heck, I’m at these functions by myself so much that Gail Stanart, wife of County Clerk candidate Stan Stanart, told her she had no idea I was married! Many thanks also to Joe and Felicia Cravens, Natalie Arceneaux, Marvin Martin, Suzanne Feather, and yes, Leo Vasquez, for making our table the most fun of the night.
All in all, it was a fun night and a successful fundraiser for the Clear Lake Area Republicans club.
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