One of the three forums hosted by BARW, CLAR, and SJRW this past Thursday was the race for Party Chair between incumbent Jared Woodfill and challenger Paul Simpson. Only problem is that you can’t have a forum if one guy doesn’t show up. Mr. Woodfill had other obligations and couldn’t make it, leaving Paul with the opportunity to give a presentation to the crowd and answer a few questions.
I thought Paul did okay, if not great, but you have to remember how biased I am. Anybody but Woodfill is my motto so I doubt Paul could have wowed me no matter what he did. But I do not think that Paul can defeat Woodfill without changing his style. He needs to hit Woodfill over the head with a sledgehammer, not be nice about the current condition of the party. And the current condition of the party is that it is in shambles. No money, no direction, no vision – and that is just the start.
Paul did a great job of outlining the problem but failed to clearly state that the problem is that Jared Woodfill is not qualified to lead the party! As I’ve said a million times, Jared is a nice man and excellent spokesman for the current conservative bullet points but he doesn’t have a clue about organization, management, strategy, vision, minority outreach (a stupid term), and any other facet of getting out the vote. All of Harris County Republican’s hopes are put in the hope of another 2010 anti-Obama wave. Which is looking highly doubtful.
Advice to Paul – get passionate dammit! Throw some bombs! Yell for crying out loud! Mount a horse and ride through the streets naked if you have to! Okay, well, maybe that was a little over the top but you get my drift.
As long as we are talking about the chair position, I might as well throw this out there.
As my readers know, I prefer to avoid writing about rumor and innuendo, instead objectively focusing on the cold hard facts, conducting personal interviews, documenting with photos, attending events and doing the listening rather than talking. Lord knows we’ve got plenty of talkers already. — However, I am going to bend that rule here. I’m going to publish a rumor. It’s only a rumor, people. It hopefully has no basis in reality and is so far-fetched that there’s no way possible anyone would possibly be scheming to implement such a plan. So I’m saying I don’t believe for one moment the following rumor could possibly be true and I’m sure it’s nothing more than a baseless rumor and I can’t believe anyone has the imagination to even have made it up. …Is my disclaimer sufficient yet? I could go on and on here. But let’s get to it:
If the rumors are true, Vladimir Putin would be downright proud of the leadership of the Harris County Republican Party. Comrade Putin has shown exactly how to hand select successors. Democracy be damned, Putin knows best who should be next in line! HCRP may be taking a page out of the Putin playbook and is said to be scheming over selection of the next HCRP Chairman.
It has long been known by Party insiders that HCRP Chairman Jared Woodfill V has been under pressure to move on and give someone else a chance to breathe new life into the Republican efforts in Harris County. Up to now, he has maintained a death grip on the reins, refusing to hand them over. Additionally, there are persistent rumors that he has been having difficulties in his private law practice, perhaps too often being pulled away from work by party obligations. Well the word is that the Republican puppet masters (aka the Second Baptist and SD7 crowd, the better than you’ers) are set to be pulling some strings.
“Reliable sources” (who have absolutely nothing to do with BJP frequent contributor Ed Hubbard) have predicted that Woodfill is out. As my very-informed readers know, due to the redistricting mess being played out in the Federal courts, the filing period for candidates desiring to run for office has been reopened this week and closes on Friday, March 9th. This includes filing for the position of Harris County Republican Party Chairman. Despite Woodfill’s rumored problems and perceived weaknesses, only Paul Simpson had filed to run against Woodfill during the original candidate filing period. Simpson is a solid, good man and dedicated Republican, but, as I said above, he ain’t gonna beat Woodfill without a major overhaul in the program.
Enough with the ground work and back story. Are you ready for the rumor? Are you sure you’re ready? … Well, rumor has it that Paul has indeed been chosen to be the next HCRP Chairman. But not Paul Simpson. Instead, the Chosen One is supposedly to be none other than the right wing’s favorite know-it-all, Paul Bettencourt! Yes, Mr. Absolutely, himself. The scheme is that Bettencourt will quietly show up at HCRP headquarters on Friday late afternoon and file to run for HCRP Chairman. Sometime shortly thereafter, Woodfill will announce that he is pulling out of the race and will endorse Bettencourt.
Under this scheme, all potential competitors will be left flat-footed, asleep in the barn, while Comrade Bettencourt will have free rein to steamroll Simpson without other interference. Great plan, huh? Putin would be proud.
So there you have it. You heard it here first. Pure rumor and conjecture. Probably ain’t gonna happen. No-sir-ee. No how, no way. Can’t believe I even took the time to print this. If Woodfill were going to resign, I’m sure he’d be upfront about it and put out the word to all. No skullduggery. No backroom deals. And, of course, Bettencourt would never be involved with plans involving someone running for office and then…QUITTING! Not Uncle Pablo! No way, no how!
But just in case there is a grain of truth, methinks I’ll hide around the corner from the office on Richmond with my trusty camera this Friday afternoon. Ya just never know, do ya?
I knew it.