Jared Woodfill's record of cronyism

I literally laughed out loud when I received Jared Woodfill’s latest campaign email in his quest to be named Republican Party of Texas Chair. The email contained a long “endorsement” from Bill Calhoun. Calhoun was a fixture in Jared’s administration of the Harris County Republican Party while serving as the Chair of the Minority Outreach committee. The guy did little to nothing to increase minority participation in the party but he did manage to get money from the party, which is something a select few people were able to do during Jared’s tenure. Click here to read a report about this from Vladimir Davidiuk last summer that includes a brief note about Calhoun but focuses on another recipient of the party’s limited funds.

To understand Calhoun’s funding, you need to first understand the organizations he controls or owns. He is Chairman of the Texas Federation for Republican Outreach (TFRO), formerly named the Texas Federation of Black Republicans, President of the Student Leadership Institute (State Tax ID32052356907), and President of Ilex Consulting (State Tax ID 30113996554).

Over the years under Jared’s leadership, the HCRP paid the TFRO $17, 690 for various reasons, as listed in the table below. You can click on the number in the left hand column to go directly to the relevant campaign finance report.

During this time, the TFRO paid Bill Calhoun, Bill Calhoun’s family members, or one of the two entities he is President of a total of $14,543.12, as listed in the table below. Again, you may click on the number in the left hand column to go directly to the relevant campaign finance report.

As terrible as the HCRP finances were at times under Jared’s leadership, he still managed to find ways to pay those who supported him. I could repeat this type of analysis for many other individuals, as Vlad has done in his report on Mona Lisa Chambers. I want to emphasize that, as with most crony relationships, there is nothing illegal about these arrangements.

I challenge all SREC members that are voting on the interim replacement for Chairman Steve Munisteri to research the inner workings of the HCRP under Jared’s leadership before they make their choice this weekend.

Do you really want your state party to be as dysfunctional as the HCRP was? Do you really want cronyism to replace merit?

As I’ve said many times, I like Jared and he has a lot of great qualities. In fact, I supported him in his last reelection because I thought he was better than his opponent. But in this race, clearly there are better choices for the position of RPT Chair. I think he is at his best doing exactly what he is doing now, going around the state as a private individual and championing his brand of social conservatism. If the party had a position for a cheerleader, he would be my pick. But financial management and organizational leadership is not his forte. Again, I urge you to look at the facts, not at the spin put out by Jared’s supporters.