And no, this event wasn’t part of the vaunted “Victory 2010” initiative that we were introduced to with much fanfare. You remember that don’t you? The Three Old Amigos – Bettencourt, Eckels and Polland – riding back in to save the day? Um, yeah, sure you do. 63 days until the start of early voting and what have they done? Yeah, I’ll be criticized for pointing that out because I’m sure they have some super secret can’t fail strategy going on. Right.
No, this event was held by one of the many “Latino” Republican groups, the Latino National Republican Coalition – Houston chapter. They called it the R.E.D. Rally and tried to get neighborhood Latinos to come out and visit with Republican candidates. R.E.D., btw, is their acronym for “Republicans Embrace Diversity”. LNRC-Houston Treasurer Elizabeth Perez was on hand to coordinate the activities.
I’m certain that the turnout was below their expectations but the LNRC-Houston members need to understand that they and the candidates that purchased booths/tables are pioneers in a sense because of the poor outreach to these communities by Republicans in the past. It reminds me of the early days in the Republican effort to reach southern Democrats. You have to start somewhere and while Pat Robertson gets the majority of the credit, it was Jerry Falwell that laid the groundwork. I have no doubt that Latinos will one day vote majority Republican because the untold truth is that they share our common conservative values.
Here are the candidates that stood in the sweltering 112 degree heat index, made hotter by the fact that we were on a black asphalt parking lot:
- John Faulk
- Sheri Y. Dean
- Loyd Wright
- Chris Daniel
- Don Smyth
- Judge Dan Hinde
- Judge Lynn Bradshaw-Hull
- James Lombardino
- Fernando Herrera
- Jack O’Connor
- Justin Jordan representing Judge Jay Karahan
- Representative for Glenn Devlin
It should be noted that the voting lines for the positions that John Faulk (CD-18), Fernando Herrera (TX HD-148) and Jack O’Connor (TX HD-149) are vying for do not include the HCRP East Side office – they were basically goodwill ambassadors for the party. Also present were HCRP volunteers Richard Dillon and Bill Kneer – volunteers that spend a lot of time being “goodwill ambassadors”. I won’t mention those from the party that were not present, you know who they are.
The Houston Young Republicans were represented, as was a pro-life group.
Kudos to all of these pioneers and a note to new Texas GOP Chair Steve Munisteri – presuming a win in Harris County to be inevitable is a mistake.
