If I were Jared Woodfill, I’d be major ticked off at my staff for this fiasco. Mr. Woodfill did his best to put a good face on this event but even he, with his effervescent smile and always upbeat attitude couldn’t save this one. Obviously this series was put forth to bolster his chances at re-election: after all, the bill passed the House last summer, there is currently zero action acticipated and the HCRP held exactly zero townhalls on the bill last year when it was the hot item of the moment. So, in that respect, I suppose it worked because there were 39 citizens that showed up to be educated but got a full dose of Jared. The other 50 people in attendance were either there to support Jared or to campaign for their own race.
Recall what the invitation actually said:
Please mark your calendar to attend one of these informative meetings. At the events you’ll hear from experts in the energy field, receive contact information for targeted Democrats and let your voice be heard.
Let’s compare that to the meeting that was actually held.
Experts in the energy field? Seriously? I’m sorry, but Richard Dillon reading off a series of Powerpoint slides (that didn’t work and were abandoned) DOES NOT QUALIFY! My goodness, Mr. Dillon is a good enough guy I suppose but just as he wasn’t an expert during the health care townhalls, he isn’t an expert on energy!
Targeted Democrats? Fair enough. A handout was available to the attendees and did have a page listing Blue Dog Democrats. If you went to a Health Care Town Hall, you received this list. It is supposed to be uploaded to the Harris County GOP website. I’d like to think that the election of Scott Brown has changed the dynamics but if the HCRP wants to target a few Blue Dogs, that’s fine.
As for letting your voice be heard, the floor was opened up for questioning. Dorothy Olmos, Rick Ramos, and precinct chair Keith Nielson asked questions, along with two other voters. Dorothy asked about widening the ship channel, Rick asked about offshore drilling, Keith asked what the job of congressman meant to each candidate, a citizen asked about airport security, and just before leaving a woman stood up and asked if the topic was about the Port of Houston. Told that it was, she talked about living there since being married in 1949 and it was dirty and polluted. Candidates Young and Morales talked about environmental law, candidate Story offered to meet with her and file a complaint for her, and candidate Mazzapica offered to file her complaint and to buy her an ice cream.
There was also a video montage put together by Richard Dillon that featured several clips talking about global warming and such. Click here should you wish to view it. Lots of Woodfill for Chair video on that link as well if that suits your fancy.
CD-29 Candidate Forum
Also featured for this specific meeting were the four candidates vying for the opportunity to run against Gene Green in CD-29. The meeting ended up being a forum for these guys, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time. Although it probably should be noted that the meeting was inside the boundaries of CD-22. Close to CD-29 but not in CD-29. Same issues, wrong voters. So, how did they do? As I didn’t attend with the intent to grade a debate, I’ll summarize each candidate’s performance.
First up was the mystery candidate, George Young. I say mystery because of all of the events in CD-29 and surrounding areas that I’ve been to, I’ve never found anyone that had met him. He has no web presence and has never returned an email when I’ve sent inquiries to the email address listed on the HCRP website. Here is a photo, the very first one I’ve had of him!
I gathered from his answers to questions that he is a lawyer of some type. I apologize for not getting him on video as I did the other three but the podium completely blocked him from my viewpoint. I did get his opening speech on mp3, however.
{mp3}george_young_hcrp_cap-trade_01252010{/mp3}
(click here to download the podcast)
Next up was Roy Morales. Mr. Morales is late to the race and it showed last night. He doesn’t yet have a grasp of the issues facing the district and with early voting starting in three weeks, doesn’t really have time to learn them. He is obviously trying to capitalize on his high name recognition from the recent Houston mayoral race to get him through the primary and then his team can work with him to master the issues. Here is his opening statement, I think you’ll understand what I’m referring to (remember, he is supposed to be talking about cap and trade).
{vimeo}8990943{/vimeo}
Eric Story followed Mr. Morales. This should have been Eric’s night to shine for several reasons. First off, he’s lived and worked in the district his entire adult life. Second, he’s worked in the oil field business his entire professional career. Third, this is his third time to run against Mr. Green. Unfortunately, this wasn’t his night. These guys are all working hard but I doubt any of them are working as hard as Mr. Story and fatigue will eventually settle in to everyone. Not that he did poorly, he just didn’t seem to have the spark that he usually does and that came through at times, such as when he said that the Himalaya’s accounted for 450{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the world’s water supply.
{vimeo}8989933{/vimeo}
Last up for the opening statements was Frank Mazzapica. I was very curious to see how he did in this setting, one which required knowledge of the issues versus pure campaigning, at which he shines. He did very well, so well that a friend of mine came up at the end and remarked that Mr. Mazzapica had “won” the debate. No doubt about it, on this night, Mr. Mazzapica did shine. His answers were detailed with information that showed he had done his homework since the first time I met him in June of last year and he was able to put that information forth in such a way that he connected with the audience. I thought he did a great job.
{vimeo}8988582{/vimeo}
So there you have it. My advice to Mr. Woodfill’s campaign workers? Get your act together. If you are going to hold these pretend events to make your guy look good, don’t make it look like it was rushed and incomplete. Perhaps Dr. Neil Frank’s presence at the one in Humble Thursday will help you but don’t count on it.
Harris County Republican Party Candidate Committee Endorsement in This Race
One last thing. Two of the candidates are concerned that the Candidate’s Committee will endorse one of these guys over the others because of his party connections. I really hope that they don’t do that for two reasons. First off, each one of these guys, with the exception of Mr. Young, can legitimately claim to be the right person for the job. If the Candidate’s Committee does endorse one, that would be grossly unfair to the other two. Second, an endorsement in this race would fracture the party even further and make the new chairman’s job that much harder for the November elections.