This morning, Ed Hubbard, one of the candidates seeking to unseat Mr. Woodfill, fired a missile at the Woodfill campaign.
Because a scheduled speaker had canceled on the Clear Lake Republican Club at the last minute, it attempted to invite each of the candidates for the Chair of the HCRP to speak to the club about the meaning of the November, 2009 elections. Paul Simpson and I responded and agreed to attend; the club’s program director was not aware that Don Large had entered the race, so he did not receive an invitation (though he did attend the meeting after he learned of the event); and the incumbent, as usual, did not respond.
Then, just hours before the meeting, and after emails had been sent to the members about the meeting, the Executive Director of the HCRP contacted the President of the CLRC and tried to get him to cancel the program. As a compromise, and to help the club (even though its bylaws did not prohibit the program that had been planned), Paul and I agreed to limit our remarks to avoid saying anything about the local Republican Party, or our race—and we honored that agreement.
Turns out that missile was a direct hit. I have confirmed the charge against Mr. Woodfill and Mr. Yates with the Clear Lake Republicans Club. They also recognized the inappropriateness of having a paid staff member of the HCRP working for the Woodfill campaign. This is what Larry Tobin, Past President of the club, had to say:
I felt it was inappropriate for an employee of the Harris County Republican Party to be involved in Jared’s campaign and I have told Jared that directly.
As I noted last week, the Woodfill campaign has also accessed the HCRP email database. I cannot understand why his opponents have not been beating on the door of the Richmond Ave. headquarters demanding the same access. I don’t know if it is illegal or not but it sure smells bad. Perhaps one of them will file an ethics complaint and get the ball rolling.
And in another twist surrounding the use of that email database, the email that was sent out contained a list of endorsements. After a quick glance, I knew from talking with a few of the names on it that there was something not right about it. Turns out my instincts were correct.
Mike Wolfe is on that list and is clearly a supporter of Mr. Woodfill’s, no news there. Mr. Wolfe is on the Board of Trustees for Harris County Department of Education. Mr. Wolfe put this note on his Facebook account:
Elect Chris Daniel as our next District Clerk and stop the Obamanation of Harris County.
For those that do not know of him, Chris is an up and coming conservative with a bright future, I think. He is a member of the Lone Star College Board of Trustees. He is on the list of people endorsing Mr. Woodfill. I wrote this in response to Mr. Wolfe’s Facebook note about Mr. Daniel.
The good news is that there is a better alternative that isn’t on Jared Woodfill’s endorsement list. Paul Dwight is out there working his tail off and has tons more experience.
Chris needs more experience if he cannot comprehend the internal problems of the HCRP and endorses the current chair for more of the same. I have no doubt that he is a smart young man with a bright conservative future but his lack of understanding about the current situation of the party bespeaks of his youth.
The same can be said about you, Mike. You really need to step back and take a look at the current position of the party. You are a Reagan conservative by your own words. Think about that and contrast it to where we are today in Harris County.
Dave
Then Chris sent me a message about my comment, to which I asked “Are you not listed on his campaign flyer?”. This was his response:
I have not seen his flyer. News to me! I have endorsed him in the past for sure. But have not yet done so in this race.
Just like ***name redacted*** recycling old endorsements, I bet Jared has done the same. I’ll talk to him monday when I meet with him on outreach.
So, Mr. Daniel, although listed on the flyer as endorsing Mr. Woodfill, has not “yet” endorsed him.
Later, Mr. Wolfe also said this:
David also needs to realize that the wife of the candidate he is promoting is supporting Jared Woodfill for reelection.
Interpretation: I need to understand that Donna Detamore, who is the spouse of Paul Dwight, who is Mr. Daniel’s opponent in the primary, is also supporting Mr. Woodfill. I’m guessing that Mr. Wolfe said that because her name is also on that list. But…no, she isn’t.
When Paul (my husband) and I discussed running I told him I would not endorse anyone but him and myself. I stayed with that promise with the exception that I got involved and did what I could for Roy Morales when it appeared that Conservatives and Republicans were not doing enough to recognize that he was the only conservative and the only Republican in the Race….You can not imagine the shock when Paul brought to me on Tuesday morning a print out of Jared’s Campaign kick-off with me listed. I thought it was evident that as a Judicial Candidate I would not be endorsing any campaign.
I have informed Jared’s campaign to correct the error.
I learned long ago not to try to determine another person’s motives for their actions because I have not walked in their shoes. I really have no idea why Jared Woodfill would go to these extremes to be re-elected to an unpaid position that is clearly beyond his abilities. By all accounts, he is a decent person and committed to conservative causes.
But the motives really do not matter. What matters is that the Harris County Republican Party continues to shrink because of the divisive policies of Mr. Woodfill. After being handed the reigns to a powerful force in Harris County in 2002, the party is hanging on by its fingernails in 2009. If a change isn’t made in the primary next year, those fingernails will likely give way.
(note: Mr. Yates and Mr. Woodfill were offered an opportunity to comment but I have not received a response. Regardless of where they respond, the voters deserve answers.)