More Kubosh v Morales mailer madness

Warning: inside baseball stuff here on Harris County Republicans – you’ve been advised.

So I get this email last Friday from a Republican activist that I like and admire, Carmen Cuneo.

Dear Friends of Liberty,

So we have a run-off election. Today I received a mailer from the Michael Kubosh campaign. It is attached for your viewing pleasure (or disgust). It appears to me he is very proud of his democrat roots. I am willing to bet nobody in a conservative precinct received this mailer. My precinct is over 95{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} black and democrat. This piece only serves to criticize Roy Morales for being a conservative.

I always watch candidates to see if they talk the same way to different groups. Apparently Michael will say whatever he thinks he needs to say changing the message accordingly to appease those present . This is dishonest and it stinks! In my opinion. How could you ever trust what this man says?

Anyway, interested in your thoughts on this race. Needless to say, I voted for Roy Morales for At Large Position 3.

Carmen Evelyn Cuneo
Harris County Republican Party
Precinct 0210

So I look at the mailer and think, what? Nothing Carmen says makes sense to me. So I email her and ask about it:

Hi, Carmen,

I’m going to write about this because I respect your opinion. I don’t see the problem with it but that could be because I support Mike and perhaps I’m blind to it.

Why do you think this criticizes Roy for being conservative? The way I see it, it criticizes Roy for saying that Republicans and conservatives should not reach out to various groups of voters.

This is an interesting race because it pits two Republicans against each other in a supposedly non-partisan race. Are you saying that Republicans and conservatives should only reach out to groups that are traditionally Republican even in this situation?

David

To which she replies:

Hi David,

I absolutely believe we should reach out to minority communities. But, when I speak to Republicans, I will tell them I am a Republican. When I speak to Democrats, I tell them I’m a Republican. Same story. I believe in honesty.

I know this is a nonpartisan race but Mr. Kubbosh appears to be very proud of his Democrat affiliation otherwise he would not have mailed this piece. I’d say he is bragging rather than complaining. He certainly does not dispute his Democrat roots because he wants to capitalise on them.

I also believe he only participated in the Republican party for political expedience.

Yours in Party Service, Carmen

When Carmen says “yours in party service”, she backs that up with action. I first met her in 2010 when she was helping Ed Hubbard try to defeat Jared Woodfill. Since then, I’ve seen her at dozens and dozens of events, plus poll watching, party outreach, etc.

And she closes with this:

I have lived in my predominately black community for 7 years, I have been active here in community service projects. If I were going to run for office and reach out to the black community. Quanell X would be the last person I would go to for support. There are wonderful honest people of good moral character in this community. Now, if you like Quannell X and his tactics you might not be offended by the Kubosh mailer. If, like me, you know others who you believe of good moral character and great people to reach out to, you might be deeply insulted and offended by this flyer. I would not want people to think that we, Republicans, find QX to be the role model to seek for outreach in the black community. I am embarrassed by this.

And then former mayoral candidate Jack O’Connor jumped into the conversation with this comment on BJP:

I just received an email with a cc of the mailer from the Kubosh campaign. It indicated that it was sent to David Jennings as well. I remain neutral in this race, but it appears that Big Jolly is cleary in the Kubosh camp. Up until now I understand why. The Kubosh mailer will make it much more difficult for Republicans and conservatives to gain support in the city and county. Wittingly or unwittingly, the Kubosh campaign is unfairly creating problems for Republicans in the Black, Hispanic, and Asian Communities within the city and county.

If the Kubosh mailer that Mr. Jennings has in his possession does not make it clear to him and others that the mailer hurts the Republicans then the Party is in trouble. Mr. Kubosh has great success in building up support among Republicans while gaining the support of unions and other more liberal groups. That maybe acceptable to some but it should not be at the expense of the Republican Party. More minorities are moving right and we would like to see that continue. It is also not irregular or racist to be concerned by the courtship of Quannell X and the concern is diverse.

As usual with anything Jack says, it is hard to comprehend. But I suppose we can recap it by saying he doesn’t like me much and thinks I’m helping bring down the HCRP. Such is life. It took me a while to determine that Jack was talking about the same email because the email I rec’d from Carmen was blind and didn’t have my name on it anywhere.

Okay, now that you have Carmen and Jack’s views, let’s take a look at the mailer that started this:

You can click on those two images to get a better look. In a nutshell, Mike Kubosh took a Roy Morales mailer that Roy sent to Republicans, added some text to it that says this is not the way to campaign, and mailed it out to Democrats. Although Carmen said in her email that Kubosh only mailed it to her “black” precinct, the truth is that he mailed it to other demographic groups, including Latinos. But, I’ll accept Carmen’s point that he didn’t send it to predominately Republican areas because Mike told me he didn’t. Roy did that for him.

The thing is, so what? I’m having a hard time understanding why this mailer, in Jack O’Connor’s words, “is unfairly creating problems for Republicans in the Black, Hispanic, and Asian Communities within the city and county.” Every single attack in that mailer was generated by Roy Morales, not Mike Kubosh. Let’s take a look:

• Roy attacked J. Brad Batteau for his criminal record.
• Roy attacked Michael Kubosh for running as a Democrat in 2006 and listing Quannel X as a supporter.
• Roy attacked Jenifer Rene Poole for being president of a LGBT group and receiving their endorsement. Notice how he made sure to spell out “Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, and Bisexual” in this mailer to conservative Republicans.
• Roy attacked Roland Chavez for being a former union president and receiving the endorsement of Tejano Democrats.
• Roy attacked Rogene Calvert for being president of 80/20 Asian American PAC, being endorsed by Sheila Jackson Lee, and being endorsed by the LGBT group The Houston Stonewall Young Democrats.

Those attacks, according to Roy in the mailer, “prove” he is the “only conservative” in the race.

Mike Kubosh simply said that is not the way he is going to run a campaign. He then listed a bunch of Democratic groups that he has reached out to and received their endorsement.

And for that he is admonished for being a Democrat? And ruining Republican chances in the future?

Like I said, I respect Carmen a whole bunch but I don’t understand her line of thinking. Mike reached out to many black leaders, not only Quannel X. And most of those leaders meet her requirement of being “wonderful honest people of good moral character in this community”. As I told her upfront, I am a Kubosh supporter and perhaps am blinded to understanding what she is saying. But I wanted to let you know her thoughts on this race because she is a great Republican activist.

As for Jack’s line of reasoning, well, he’s Jack. I’ll leave it to you to decipher.

What is even more perplexing to me is that Roy has received the endorsement of Noel Freeman, President of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, after Roy attacked Jenifer Rene Poole for in essence being a transgendered person and Rogene Calvert for accepting the endorsement of a gay group.  In his endorsement of Roy, he states:

As the president of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, the oldest GLBT civil rights organization in the South, it is my job to strongly represent the interests of Houston’s LGBT community on issues of great importance to us that affect our daily lives.

…

Aside from the fact that I think Roy Morales will be a more reasonable and tempered Council member than Kubosh, I have to consider where they stand on LGBT issues.

…

Kubosh has also declared his staunch opposition to implementation of an inclusive non-discrimination ordinance that would keep people from being fired or denied housing or public accommodation just because they are LGBT. I’ve been fired for being gay and I’ve tried to rent at apartment complexes that don’t rent to gay people, so that’s kind of a big issue for me.

…

Morales isn’t where I would like him to be on our issues, but two days after the November election he called me to talk specifically about LGBT issues. He expressed his willingness to work with Mayor Parker and the Caucus on a non-discrimination ordinance that meets the needs of the community but balances them with other city and community needs he feels deserve consideration. We chalk that up in politics as a “soft yes.” His support of even the most minimal of protections is better than the “hard no” we get from Kubosh.

…

The best choice for the LGBT community for Houston City Council At-Large Position 3 isRoy Morales.

Noel’s endorsement is long and worth a read. I agree with him that Roy would most likely be friendly to GLBT causes. But as one of the very few people actively encouraging GLBT participation in Harris County Republican politics, I would much rather have a solid “no” from someone like Kubosh than the answers Roy has given about a NDO – vague, hinting that he’s against, hinting that he’s for – just tell us what you think. At least with Kubosh I know I need to focus on someone else’s vote – with Roy, he’ll switch at the very end. But I suppose a fat, old, redneck from Pasadena can’t understand the nuances of being gay in today’s society. The worst thing I can imagine is having to hide who you really are from the society you live in. I’ll keep pushing the HCRP for inclusion and try to learn from Noel in hopes that it will help me.

If you search this website, you’ll find more positive information on Roy than negative. I supported him in his run for mayor. I supported him in his run for Congress. I defended him time and time again. But the best indicator of future performance is past performance. And after watching Roy’s performance in his only successful election, which was for the Harris County Department of Education, I would never vote for or support him again. His attendance at board meetings was horrible, making roughly 50{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the meetings. He mostly ran for other offices during his six year term. He voted to sue a fellow Republican to try and force him off the board. And I’ll never forget him pushing for a tax increase, holding up those crackers to “prove” it was a very small amount, and then voting against his own proposal when it became clear that I and other conservatives in the room would talk about it.

Give me a person with true convictions any day of the week.

I urge all Republicans and Democrats to vote for Mike Kubosh.