Sometimes I think I’m beating my head against the wall but I’m going to keep trying. The Harris County Republican Party (HCRP) under the “leadership” of Jared Woodfill continues to be a shining example of what Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal calls the “stupid party”.
The most recent example is a huge biennial event called the Harris County GOP Judicial Signing Party. The party spends a huge amount of money that they have a hard time raising to host an event that allows judicial candidates to get signatures for their petitions in order to avoid paying the filing fee to get on the ballot for the primary. I want to point out three problems with the event that is being held this year.
Held in the middle of Rosh Hashanah
The event is being held on Thursday evening, September 5th, smack dab in the middle of Rosh Hashanah, celebrating the Jewish New Year. Which means the party is shutting out the Jewish population in Harris County. Why is that important? Seriously?
Incumbents only
The signing party is for incumbents only. Want to know why we have some judges that suck? The HCRP has become the Incumbent Protection Society.
Party of the Rich
The IPS signing party is being held at the Westin Galleria, and “Complimentary heavy hors d’oeuvres will be served”. Awesome. I suppose that’s better than “light” hors but you know what this does? Um hmm. It just reinforces the perception that Republicans are the party of the rich.
Perception is reality these days
I was at a meeting with Rep. John Culberson last week and he mentioned that his district included the three largest synagogues in the area and that he had begun a dialogue with the Rabbis to reach out to the Jewish community. I don’t think he knew how high the hill was that he was going to have to climb.
Paul Simpson, who is running to replace Jared, told me that this was just another example of how out of touch the party is with the diversity of the county. He doesn’t think that this one single event will prevent the party from engaging the Jewish community but the three things listed above hurt us in the effort to expand the party in general.
I had a long conversation with Jared about the way the date was picked. He told me that he appointed a seven member committee that includes a representative from each of the judiciary levels on the ballot. They picked the date and location and had already signed the contract when someone pointed out the date problem and asked them to move it. Jared conceded that had this been Easter or Christmas, someone on the committee would have known not to schedule it on that date. He did promise that the party would host “many” signing parties around the county before the filing date.
Hey, we’ll give you seconds! Vote for us but don’t for a minute expect to be a part of the team!
I guess I can’t blast Jared too much about this one as it is just another in a long string of examples of why the party is shrinking under his leadership. A strong leader would have recognized the problem, cancelled the contract, and moved the date. But Jared isn’t exactly a strong leader – an excellent, if not great, spokesperson for the party but not a strong leader.
And that is just the way the pay to play slates like it.
No Jews, blacks, browns, Asians, or gays allowed. Women can do the behind the scenes work but let’s not have them run things. But at election time, let’s go out and ask everyone to vote for our candidates! Awesome strategy.
and two years ago it was the same night that Herman Cain was speaking at a Tea Party event in Clear Lake. But they got enough signatures to get the incumbents back on the ballot. Scheduling events is difficult, but sometimes you just have to go with the date that works for the most people.
btw, did you notice the county civil court judge event in Katy conflicted with the Texans game today?
But my suggestion would not be to “cancel a contract” unless you have a lot more money than what the Harris County GOP has in the bank.
David is correct that Rosh Ha Shanah is one of the absolute Holiest of Holy Days on the Jewish Calendar which means it is the same as scheduling this on Christmas or Easter and I do know many folks who otherwise would be there but no won't or can't.
See Tom, this is exactly the problem. Like Jared acknowledged, they would not have held the signing party on a Christian holiday, period. But you, rather than simply accept the fact that the HCRP screwed up, chase rabbits into the weeds, comparing a major religious holiday to Herman Cain speaking at a Tea Party rally or a Texans football game.
As hard as you work to build up the party, it seems odd that you would do that.
Ok, first of all, I don’t equate Rosh Hoshanah with a Texans game. But I do recognize that going to political events are optional, and that if people have something more important to them than going to a political event, they will do so. I went to a fundraiser for a popular (among attorneys) judge in 1994 that had about 30 people show up. Attendance had been over 1000 the year before. The difference? The Rockets were in the playoffs that night.
Second, you continue to blame Jared for everything that goes wrong, but do not give him credit for things that go right. But this is something where Jared delegated the task of picking a date to the folks who are paying for it (the incumbents). If it was a screw-up, it was their screw-up, not his. You fault Jared for not being a strong leader, saying that he should have canceled the contract and moved the date. Who would have paid the charges for canceling the contract, re-printing invitations, etc?
Third, Jews make up about 3{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the population. And not all of them will refuse to go anywhere other than the synagogue on the high holy days. I would venture a guess that even though the event will take place as the first day of Tishrei ends and the second begins, more than 3 percent of the attendees will be Jewish. I know over three percent of the incumbent judges getting signatures will be.
As for it only including incumbents, that is the way it has been for as long as I have been going to these. But remember, the incumbents are the ones who pony up the money, and they aren’t going to pay to provide a forum for their challengers to get signatures as well. I have always skipped some spots on the table if I thought an incumbent wasn’t up to snuff. (In 1998, the coordinator for one of the guys who came in via the ‘94 sweep was offering free candy to anyone who signed his boss’s petition. Boss came in third in the primary and has run as a dem ever since). But there are some excellent incumbents, and I will definitely be signing their petitions.
And if it’s too hoity toity to go to the Galleria and have free food, I remember going to one back when I was a dem at the River Oaks Country Club. Doesn’t get much more exclusive than that!
New leadership needed?
Here are the dates until 2017. http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/671869/jewish/When-is-Rosh-Hashanah-in-2013-2014-2015-2016-and-2017.htm
Any chance that something like this could be held for non-judicial races? Might really help some of the down-ballot shoestring operations.
Heavy hors d’oeuvres optional, of course.
Jeff-Judicial candidates are required by state law in large counties to turn in a certain number (500) of signatures to get on the ballot and more to avoid paying a fee. That is not the case for non-judicials.
The signing party is only for incumbents? I'm not bothering to go. I also thought the location and the food was ridiculous. But the goal of keeping the R's in Harris Co. exclusive was reached.
Dave – One minor point of clarification. You wrote:
“I was at a meeting with Rep. John Culberson last week and he mentioned that his district included the three largest synagogues in the area and that he had begun a dialogue with the Rabbis to reach out to the Jewish community.”
You may not have been able to hear the his entire statement in context. What Congressman Culberson said was that he has met regularly with rabbis of those synagogues over the years and “needed to reach out to them” to catch up on things as it has been a while since his last meetings. Congressman Culberson has a long history of grassroots activism and connecting with diverse communities in his district, the kind of leadership we need more of in Harris County.
Doesn't the "Outreach Committee" keep track of any of these events, and or advises 'leadership' about no-nos? I mean they all work together, correct?
I would speculate that the reason it’s an incumbents-only affair is because of complaints from candidates with primary opponents last cycle. The fee was the same for everyone who showed up whether that candidate got four booths or one. That means that some candidates paid the same $750 for only 1/4 of the signatures that other candidates got. I had to split booths with John Wittenmyer, meaning that each of us got only 1/2 of the signatures that a candidate who was (at that point) unopposed received — and the party got the same $750 from each of us. The easiest way to eliminate those complaints and to simultaneously be sure that voters aren’t giving ineligible signatures to several candidates is to limit the event to incumbents.
I haven’t checked the TEC lately, so I don’t know if there are incumbents with primary opponents. If so, I can see that being a problem. I assume, though, that “incumbents only” is shorthand for “unopposed candidates only,” as that is typically how the races shake out.
Good piece. Jennings is usually hard on Jared Woodfill and he, Jennings, has a point that the HCRP seems to be a rich people's party.
Lauro Garza being hard on Jared is a given….. Holding all accountable is also important.He named groups/blocs at the bottom so if we have an "outreach" committee with 'leadership' titles they have duties as well. One would be to 'advise' Jared, right? Include all, right? Not keep making faux pas, right? "No Jews, blacks, browns, Asians, or gays allowed. Women can do the behind the scenes work but let’s not have them run things." I'm just curious why DJ didn't mention them (the committee) as being responsible at all, since I mean we do have one. Jared, given. I mean hello…disaster. But if the "outreach" committee is there to help turn things around, well then…???
Melissa Salas Blair I have no idea what your question/complaint is Perhaps you can help me understand.