Katy Tea Party Patriots Candidate Forum and Debate

I’ll go through it in order. There were a couple of “celebrity” hosts, Kevin Price and Sam Malone. Mr. Price is the host of a daily radio show on the local CNN affiliate, AM650, called the “Price of Business“.  Mr. Malone, of course, is a retired FM DJ that has been in the Houston market for many years. I should say “formerly retired” because he announced at the meeting that he is joining KSEV full time in the afternoons starting today.

Major bummer – I’m sure Mr. Malone is a nice enough guy but Dan Patrick had the opportunity to do something really fun and entertaining by hiring David Benzion full time. Instead he plays it safe by going with Mr. Malone, who might bring in a few listeners out of curiosity but I doubt he’ll be able to shore up the ratings drop they’ve seen. Sure, Benzion comes with a few risks but the upside is huge – someone needs to put him on the air.

The moderator for the two debates and the “interviews” with CD-10 candidates was Christopher Telschow. I don’t know much about him but he did a respectable job, for the most part keeping in the background and letting the candidates have the spotlight. He couldn’t resist interjecting his point of view several times, which I find irritating. It is bad form for a moderator that is not asking follow-up questions to interject and tell a candidate that he disagrees with his answer. Moderators need to remember that no one is there to hear their opinion.

Harris County Republican Party Chair Candidates Debate

The three major candidates were there. I think that Don Large has packed it in, which is too bad because he added a lot to the debates that he participated in. I repeat my hope that whomever wins the race is willing to allow Mr. Large to help the party. That will be almost impossible if Mr. Woodfill is re-elected, given the fear his base seems to have of being around a homosexual but my hope remains. He has great ideas for expanding the party while maintaining fiscal conservative principles. Which are sorely lacking among some Republicans in Harris County.

There were several questions about Tea Parties and their role with respect to the Republican party. The three men answered about the same as they have before, all recognizing the sometimes unspoken fact that the vast majority of Tea Party participants are traditional Republican voters.

On a more general note, Paul Simpson has become proficient with one-liners, getting laughter or applause on each answer. He looks far more comfortable than he did way back in September at the first debate. Ed Hubbard remains the introspective, philosophical candidate, striving to teach people core conservative principles. Jared Woodfill must play the role of cheerleader because it is his record that is being analyzed, dissected, and in general, torn apart.

As many know, fund-raising and management of funds has been a recurring theme throughout this race. On the one hand, you have people like me criticizing office closings and unpaid bills. On the other hand, you have Mr. Woodfill’s supporters maintaining that no one in the history has been able to raise as much money. Truth is, both hands are factual. For the first time in a debate, however, Mr. Woodfill admitted that much of this money is not under the control of the party – it is pass-through money from judicial candidates. Mr. Hubbard has been saying this for a year and a half, Mr. Simpson since he entered the race late summer.

Here is the question as asked of the candidates:

Some have expressed lingering concerns regarding the “coordinated judicial race” that the HCRP undertook in 2008. A lot of money was spent and the electoral results were significantly below expectations.

1. Was that an effective use of county party funds, and
2. Would you try it again?

And here are the answers:

For the first time in the entire race, we get a bit of clarity on this issue, from several fronts. Both Mr. Hubbard and Mr. Simpson noted the ineffectiveness of the campaign and offered different solutions for more effectiveness in the future. They also brought up the point that this isn’t county party money, and should not be used, as it has, as an example of Mr. Woodfill’s fund-raising prowess.

To which, Mr. Woodfill admitted that $1.6 million of the funds he counts as raising are not, in fact, funds for the party. In actuality, it is higher than that, but at least he put it on the table. But, he was able to effectively defend the campaign, and thereby his leadership of it, by noting that the campaign was effective in that the judicial candidates ran two percent higher county wide than did John McCain at the top of the ticket. I haven’t had time to verify that but suspect that Mr. Woodfill is correct and if so, that mitigates much of the criticism leveled against him.

I think that regardless of which candidate you support, you received your money’s worth from that debate.

Republican Candidates for CD-14

Here is where the real fun started! I’ll say this for Dr. Ron Paul – his supporters and detractors bring a lot of energy and passion to the debate. I heard Sen. Dan Patrick on the radio this morning bemoaning that Dr. Paul’s supporters had booed and hissed at the other candidates – he got this first hand from Sam Malone. Balderdash! Dr. Paul’s detractors got their licks in as well, this wasn’t a one-sided hissyfit!. And it was fun! When Tim Graney said that we should support Israel and someone yelled out “NEOCON”, that was great! And when Dr. Paul said that we were starting wars of aggression and people BOOED him, that was great! Stay home, boring Dan! We’ve got a race in CD-14!

There was tension throughout. Although Dr. Paul had the most supporters, Gerald Wall consistently received the loudest cheers. The guy is a quote machine. And both John Gay and Graney got a lot of laughs when they said that it was time for Dr. Paul to work full time on the Campaign for Liberty. Even Dr. Paul got a lot of laughs when he noted that he was a stickler for the constitution and voted no a lot. Here are a few video clips:

I think that if you take time to watch a few of those, you’ll see a bit of the feistiness that was on display.

Note: Bryan Thome has Much better footage of this debate up on YouTube. Here are the links:

Katy Tea Party – Congressional District 14 Debate – Part 1

Katy Tea Party – Congressional District 14 Debate – Part 2

Katy Tea Party – Congressional District 14 Debate – Part 3

Katy Tea Party – Congressional District 14 Debate – Part 4

Katy Tea Party – Congressional District 14 Debate – Part 5

Katy Tea Party – Congressional District 14 Debate – Part 6

Question and Answer Session for CD-10

I didn’t get to see much of this but the part I did see told me two things. First, that Joe Petronis will play a role in Republican politics for years to come. He is young but poised, aggressive, and knowledgeable. Second, that Michael McCaul is still the arrogant guy with a ton of money to spend for re-election.

Candidates Galore!

This was a primary candidate’s golden opportunity and there were a lot of them there. A partial list from memory: Anthony Magdeleno, Donna Detamore, Meca Walker, Leo Vasquez, Don Sumner, Alice O’neil, Rachel Palmer, Stan Stanart, Chris Daniel, Medina reps Joel and Bill Tofte, Rep. Allen Fletcher, HCDE Board Member Michael Wolfe, Cary Hart (with daughter in tow), Don Smyth’s wife, Sheri Dean’s husband, Rick Ramos, Daniel Lemkuil, Marc Brown, Virginia Pittman – I’m sure I missed someone. Suffice to say, there were a lot there.

A few pictures: