And I’m not talking about the C-Club of Houston folks. I’m talking about the C-Club! As in the hundred grand club! As in $100,000 dollars to the Paul Simpson Campaign for Harris County Republican Party Chairman!

How about ‘dem apples, boy!
Of course, it is a bit easier to give a hundred grand away when it isn’t your own money but the money of people that supported you. And when you don’t have an opponent in the primary, and you’ve told people this would be your last race, what the heck? Right?
Pay to play much?
No, of course not, this is Hunker Down! He wouldn’t be trying to buy the HCRP Chairman’s seat, now would he? Hmm.
Let’s get real for a minute, okay? This race is between the conservative wing of the HCRP and the moderate/liberal wing, even though Simpson does have some conservative support such as Ed Hubbard. Make no mistake about this: Jared Woodfill isn’t running against Paul Simpson. Paul Simpson is an afterthought to Ed Emmett and the business establishment that depends upon government contracts (read TAXPAYERS) to stay afloat.
I’ve been a big fan of Ed’s for a long time but have to admit he likes spending taxpayer money if HE thinks it is a good idea. I had to question his wisdom in trying to “save” the relic that we call the Astrodome and then his strange statement after the voters defeated that proposal that he had more important things to do than worry about taxpayers spending millions a year in maintenance on the old building. It should have been dust by now. Long ago. But what’s a couple hundred million of taxpayer money to keep it standing? No money out of Ed’s pocket. Sort of like this situation.
If elections were won with money, Paul Simpson would be the hands down favorite today and it wouldn’t even be close. He’s raised $309,392 to Jared Woodfill’s $63,950. Simpson has outspent Jared $222,549 to $98,433.
So I suppose we should call it a day and let Simpson buy the election, right?
Not so fast. Let’s think about strategy. Like I said, Woodfill is running against Emmett, not Simpson. One of the things that all of us Emmett supporters were worried about was having a primary challenger like Paul Bettencourt file against him because Bettencourt would have been the next county judge. It didn’t happen, so now Ed is free to spend his campaign money defeating Woodfill – but not really. For all practical purposes, Ed is really running against the conservative base of the party, the primary voters.
So for Ed’s proxy Paul Simpson, to win, he has to draw November voters to the polls. Hey, it’s something I’ve been begging Ed, Jared, and every other Republican to do for years. They haven’t done it, choosing to try to win the base. Now Ed is free to try and bring more liberal voters into the primary. It is a nice experiment but frankly, I don’t think it will work. I was listening to sports talk radio and up pops Ed Emmett imploring these guys to vote all the way to the bottom of the ticket for Paul Simpson. Talk about a low information audience. Probably a traditional strategy of appealing to the base would have been a better use of resources but that’s just my two cents. We’ll see next Tuesday if it works.
Which brings us back to the argument that Simpson is going to throw social conservatives under the bus. Folks, you can get mad at me all you want but people don’t spend this kind of money to not have their say when their candidate wins. And certainly the more liberal November voters are going to have their say.
Just to throw a wrench in the works, what happens if Ed’s strategy works perfectly but Simpson still can’t get to 50{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} + 1 (that was for you Colon). Remember, there is a third candidate on the ballot. And she happens to have a female name since she is a female. In the 2010 four way race, Don Large, an openly gay man that didn’t mount much of a campaign, got 6{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the vote – random low information voters? What percentage is a female going to get at random? I talked to one of the experts in this stuff today and this person thinks she might get 10-15{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the vote on her name alone – remember, as much as we like to talk about these down ballot races, the general public doesn’t give a hoot. What then? Does Emmett have more money to give to prop up Simpson? Yep – according to his last filing and subtracting his latest $90,000 gift, he’d have another $300,000 to sink into buying the chair. Can you imagine how nasty a runoff is going to be? Best I can tell, the Simpson campaign has yet to run on what he is going to do, sans his response to my original post about that.
Fun times ahead folks. Oh, and keep the flames coming. I think I’m going to do a post featuring the best you got – it won’t be family friendly what with the curse words and insults from all the good Christians out there, but it will be enlightening. And all this time I thought it was okay to have an independent opinion about politics.
Just think about what a half million dollars would have done for Republican candidates in November if this race had been run on issues.
Emmett would have beaten Bettencourt handily. You overestimate the strength of all your bosses – Jared, Dannie, Paul and Allen. And by the way, “a couple hundred million” to keep the Astrodome standing? With the bonds now entirely paid off (which they are), it costs between $3-5 million a year to keep the ol’ girl standing. Too much in my personal opinion, but let’s try not to play TOO loose with our facts, shall we?
Barrie, I see that the smartest cookie in the jar is back for more. Yes, my bosses are Jared, Dannie, Paul, and Allen. Of course they are! Everyone knows that! You’re so smart.
Since you’re so smart, I think that you should have been able to draw the distinction between Ed’s support for the $204 million bond issue that voters rejected and the yearly maintenance costs, which you list as $3-5 million per year.
Facts, my smart little cookie, facts.
Jared Woodfill is a proxy for personal injury trial lawyer Mark Lanier, who together with mega Democrat donors is pumping unprecented funds into this Republican primary. Follow the money and it’s all about putting activist judges on the bench who will ignore the Texas tort reform laws , where the have failed to enact their desired policies in the state legislature, and legislate from the bench. This puts hundreds of millions of dollars in the pockets of the trial lawyers and a few lucky “loterry winners” at the expense of businesses and jobs in Texas. You can argue all day about degrees of tort reform, but in the end tort reform benefits everyone in Texas who pays insurance premiums or needs to find a physcian who can afford to practice in Texas, where frivilous lawsuits and excessive jury awards only enrich a powerful elite of mega millionaire personal injury trial lawyers (thugs). Are these Obama mega Democrat donors so heavily invested in the Republican primary (along with personal injury trial lawyer social conservatives like Lanier) because all of the sudden they have decided they are conservative? Why is the same pocket that funded Democrat John Edwards mistress and love child coverup (while his wife had cancer), also funding Texas PACs with conservative sounding names that promote candidacies of Woodfill’s law associates. Sounds like a deal with the devil made in the name of Christian values – there is probably a good Bible verse for that but I don’t have it handy.
Dave:
Love your writing, but I suggest you go back and look at the results two years ago. Woodfill beat Simpson by only 6,409 votes, but 41,989 voters skipped the race (i.e. the undervotes). If Simpson can move undervotes and people who don’t normally vote that far down the ballot to his column he can win without moving general election voters into the primary.
Back in the 2010 primary, Woodfill only got 45{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the vote and there were 42,000 undervotes. He won in the run-off. A lot of this has to do with name ID. With that kind of money Simpson ought to win.
We’ll know next Tuesday!
“This race is between the conservative wing of the HCRP and the moderate/liberal wing” — yep, all those card-carrying “moderates/liberals” like the Houston Tea Party Society’s Felicia Cravens, Houston Eagle Forum’s Maria Espinoza, John O’Neill (Co-Founder of Swift Boat Veteran’s for Truth), George W. Strake, Jr. (Frmr. State Chair Republican Party of Texas), Jack Rains (Frmr Texas Secretary of State), the Clear Lake Tea Party’s Executive Board, the Katy Tea Party, the Kingwood Tea Party, and over 150 endorsing Precinct Chairs! Unbelievable. Meanwhile, “conservative” Woodfill supporters such as Dr. Hotze are pushing for “immigration reform” aka amnesty. The new reality, where right is left and up is down.
I say try something new, innovative, and vote for me for Harris County Republican Party Chair. Wendy McPherson Berry
Have you ever been to an HCRP meeting? I have no idea who you are.
So… Jared raised $63,950 and spent $98,433, or more than one and a half times the amount he raised.
And here I thought that fiscal responsibility is supposed to be one of those conservative values that Jared claims (at jaredwoodfill.com) to “consistently stand for.” Who knew?
David,
I respectfully disagree with you on the HCRP Chairman’s race. This is a race between two views on the Republican Party, not liberal versus conservative in the narrow sense of those words as we have come to know them. Both sides are politically conservative, both socially and fiscally. On the one hand are those that want to see the party grow and be in a position to still win elections ten plus years from now. They see where the party is heading and the looming demographic bomb that is heading towards us. On the other hand are those that are quite happy to have the party stay at the size they currently enjoy. They either receive some direct or perceived benefit from the party staying stagnant and aging, or buy into this liberal vs. conservative factional red herring.
It’s been said many times but can always use repeating. If Texas turns dependably Dem,the electoral college will be a lock for them for the next generation. Harris County supplies 15{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}, over one-seventh, of all the voters in the state. If Dem’s start to win Harris with dependable and sizable margins, the future of Republican success in state elections, and therefore national elections is in jeopardy.
That’s just how I see it. I want continued electoral success for our party not just in 2014 and 2016, but into the 2020’s. That will not be possible as long as people are driven away from the party because they don’t look like you or agree with you on 99.8{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of all issues. It also requires a focus on organization and strategic outreach to all areas and populations in the county.
Have you considered the fact the ability to raise money might be considered a positive attribute for a Party chair?
“So for Ed’s proxy Paul Simpson, to win, he has to draw November voters to the polls.”
This just might happen. I’m a Democrat, crossing over to vote in the GOP primary, just to ensure that some of the more right wing, conservative candidates don’t make it to the general election. I know a lot of other people that will be doing the same thing as well. Simpson will get my vote.
Knowing Simpson,I truly have a hard time understanding the label of “moderate” attached to him, but from my perspective, he is the better choice in that he might bring the Republican Party back to a point where I might consider voting for a Republican on merit.
Who needs money when you have the official HCRP social media as your own personal publicist? In spite of claims when challenged after 2008’s debacle that he was ready to “embrace social media”, the Harris County Democrats are far more effective… still, 6 years later. Look at Twitter: HCRP used their Twitter to publicize Woodfill appearances, while the HC Dems (who have 3 times more followers) use theirs to Get Out The Vote.
Woodfill’s first priority is promoting Jared Woodfill, not positioning the party for expansion and success.