Jerry Eversole, HCRP Ethics – Question 2

David Jennings

17 years ago

The question asked:

How should the chair of the party treat this situation? With silence? With condemnation? Support?

The candidates answers (click on their name or picture to go to their campaign website):

Ed Hubbard – The primary obligation of the Chair is to promote and protect the party: its principles, policies, office holders and candidates. Sometimes that obligation requires the Chair to come to the defense of individuals, and sometimes it requires the Chair to defend the party from individuals. Silence is not an option; but patience and prudence are options that must be used when handling these types of cases.

The Chair must be prepared to respond in every situation, but each situation must be handled on a case-by-case basis. If I become Chair, I will apply the following process to these situations:

As soon as a situation involving an elected official or candidate arises it will be assessed, and I will address it privately with that individual while publicly providing a measured response that protects the party and provides the individual involved with the proper support to help him or her address the situation;
If the situation begins to involve official investigations, I will cooperate with the individual publicly to protect his or her right to the presumption of innocence and to provide him or her with time to address the issue, while privately working with that person to continually assess the situation to determine if and when the situation may require intervention to protect the party;
If the situation evolves in a way that the individual is vindicated, or the authorities and the individual resolve the matter without implicating the individual’s ability to continue to serve in office, or run for office, I will publicly support that resolution; and
If the situation evolves in a way that the individual’s ability to continue to represent the party is compromised beyond repair, and that individual will not step aside voluntarily, I will take the steps legally and politically necessary to protect the party from harm.

Again, these are guidelines for a process to follow, but it must be applied with judgment on a case-by-case basis, with the mission always focused on protecting the party.

Don Large – The Chairman of the Harris County Republican Party cannot make any public comment on a pending administrative, civil, or criminal matter regarding any Republican candidate or elected official. Such public comment could be viewed as improperly interfering with the due process rights of an accused candidate or elected official that are guaranteed by both the United States Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Texas.

Having said that, had I been Chairman of the Harris County Republican Party, I would have first asked Commissioner Eversole, both privately and then publicly to disclose his actions and/or omissions to the public. If the actions and/or omissions were inadvertent, Commissioner Eversole would have had to have acted promptly to rectify those problems. That did not appear to happen in this case. At the time of the Order and Agreed Resolution, I would have called on Commissioner Eversole to immediately resign his position as Commissioner, Precinct Four, Harris County.

Jared Woodfill – No Response

Paul Simpson – The County Chair’s main concern should be the success of the entire Party and its candidates chosen by Republican primary voters. We will need to take steps to protect any Republican candidates from being unfairly or unjustly smeared by our opposition because of this matter. While the Party cannot take responsibility for officeholders’ filings, we could devise a program to offer assistance to candidates and officeholders who need help with their filings.

I thank each of the gentlemen that responded. I must admit that I learned a lot more about the issue and about each individual.