Dewhurst endorsement: Is this his idea of conservatism?

Once again I find myself shaking my head at the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde nature of Harris County Republicans. Only this time, I get to include Texas Lt. Gov David Dewhurst in the rocks rolling around inside my head.

Here’s the deal. Lt. Gov. Dewhurst joined Harris County Republican Party Chairman Jared Woodfill and other Republican leaders in endorsing Oliver Pennington for a second term on the Houston City Council even though there is a perfectly acceptable businessman, Clyde Bryan, running against him. Mr. Woodfill goes so far as to describe him as a “conservative”, a term that grows more meaningless by the day because of its indiscriminate use. Let’s take a look at Mr. Pennington’s “conservative” record in his one term.

1. Supported and pushed for the passage of Prop 1. Prop 1, for those outside of Houston, was also called “ReNew Houston” and it is the biggest money grab in the history of the city. It makes sense that Mr. Pennington, a former municipal bond lawyer, supported it – lots of money to be made from taxpayers.

   Mr. Pennington used taxpayer money in the form of a District G newsletter to say this about the huge pile of money he supported grabbing:

   Renew Houston is a citizen lead grass roots campaign

   That, my friends, is a load of bovine processed hay! Grass roots effort my arse. This was a move by big money engineering firms that wanted to grab big money from the pockets of taxpayers. The campaign finance reports clearly show this – Mr. Pennington, former municipal bond lawyer, apparently confuses big lobby money with grass. Both are green, don’t you know?

   He also touts the “dedicated” use and “lock box” “features” of the money grab:

   The money will be strictly limited to drainage and streets and can be used for no other purpose.

   Please. This is a government fund we are talking about. Don’t believe me? Go read about the hike and bike trails to be built with money from this “dedicated fund”. Lies, lies, and more lies.

2. He voted for a massive fee increase for Houstonians. Over 150 increased fees will hit Houstonians straight in the pocketbook to the tune of millions of dollars.

3. He was conveniently absent from City Council votes on the controversial red light camera issue. Any conservative in their right mind would have crawled through glass to get rid of that menace. Not Mr. Pennington.

Having followed Harris County Republicans for some time, I’m used to this. The group that controls it cares far more about social issues than they do fiscal. But Lt. Gov. Dewhurst? Seriously? I suppose that I could write it off as him being out of touch with Houston and just supporting an old friend. But even that is unacceptable in this day and age. We NEED conservative LEADERS. We don’t need followers or get-along-ers, we don’t need good old boy politics, we NEED LEADERS.

I happen to like Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and I’m one of the few conservatives willing to say that he has done a good job as Lt. Gov. Sure, he could have done some things better, as we all could, but all in all he has helped guide Texas through some pretty tough economic situations and we are better off for his leadership. I guess that is why his “enthusiastic” support of Pennington grates on me so much – it doesn’t show leadership.

The LAST thing we need in Washington, D.C., is someone that puts friendship above the fiscally conservative leadership that this nation sorely needs. I hope that is not what Lt. Gov. Dewhurst intends to do should he prevail over Tom Leppert and Ted Cruz.