Too bad that they are choosing to point their guns inward instead of outward. In arguably the most bizarre political attack of a bizarre, very long election season in Harris County, Sen. Dan Patrick and former Tax Assessor Collector Paul Bettencourt are using the raw emotions of a few losing candidates and their supporters to try and hold on to their eroding power over the Harris County Republican Party.
And that’s a shame.
First, let’s try and set the stage for those of you that are unfamiliar with this “controversy” or the inner workings of the Harris County Republican Party. As you do know, the ballot was long this year and filled with Civil District Court judicial races, in addition to the usual county wide races. Because 100% of Republicans didn’t win, the losers are upset. That is a normal reaction after working so hard for so long and investing, in some cases, their life savings. So they are very emotional and open to any excuse for losing except the truth – that being that Harris County has more Democratic Party voters than Republican Party voters. We don’t usually see that or notice it because most of the Democratic Party voters stay home on election day. In this election, enough of both sides voted to basically even that score and for the most part, people that call themselves “independents” or those that are “soft” party voters decided the races on factors other than party affiliation.
As I noted here, it should be considered a very successful election for Harris County Republicans considering that we are outnumbered, but I guess I’m in the minority on that. Oh well, it isn’t the first time people haven’t listened to me and it won’t be the last. Okay, that takes care of the election part.
Okay, so that is the situation that is ripe to be exploited by someone. But you need more than that, you need something concrete to point to. And Harris County Judge Ed Emmett provided more than this particular group could have imagined – the dude went to Academy, bought a shooting target, stapled it to his chest, and said, “Here I am, come and get me!”. It must have felt like Christmas over in the Second Baptist Fellowship Hall! It was like, wow, not only do we have something to exploit, the guy we’re after is the one that gave it to us! Yippee!
What, exactly, did Judge Emmett do to cause this reaction, you ask?
He did what he always does. He acted with integrity. And in the Harris County Republican Party, you can’t expect to do that and get away with it. Lying, cheating, gossiping, deceiving, not paying your bills: all of those are acceptable but by golly, Big Jolly, you damn well better not act with integrity.
You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you? Of course you don’t. Because only about 100 people in a county of 4 million plus saw this report on KRIV 26 news. The report is about a false and misleading mailer that was mailed out from Texas Victory 2012 headquarters in Austin but paid for by local candidate for DA Mike Anderson. Judge Emmett is the Chair of Victory 2012. When that mailer hit 90,000 homes in Harris County, Judge Emmett started receiving phone calls complaining about it. Obviously, he hadn’t seen it, so he asked the office to send him a copy, saw that it was misleading at best, flat out false at worst, and took action. His action consisted of sending a letter via email to a total of 14 people (click here to view the email/letter). In the email, he stated:
As Victory Chair, I find it to be exactly the sort of mail piece that I have detested for years. In some instances, it is misleading and in others it is simply false. Some individuals have tried to justify it by saying that it was modeled after similar attacks launched by the Democrats in 2008. Sooner or later, all of us in politics must tell the consultants “enough is enough“.
Most of us would say “Amen!” to that. Here are a few of the problems with that mailer:
Mailer: The current Democrat County Attorney has refused to act upon any alleged wrongdoing by any public official in Harris County. In fact, he is under actual investigation for refusing to do so.
Fact: That is false, unless we have now decided as a society that when a reporter looks into something, that is classified as an “actual investigation”. Ludicrous.
Mailer: From welcoming the radical media outlet, Al-Jazeera, to tour the Sheriff’s facility
Fact: Sheriff Garcia did not “welcome” the legitimate news organization named Al-Jazeera to Harris County. They filed an application for access to the jail as any other media organization would do. But hey, let’s tie the Harris County Sheriff to the Mooslims!
Mailer: Democrat Judge “harshly questions rape victim…after her attacker was found guilty.”
Fact: Kevin Fine is a “former” Democratic Judge. The Democratic Party purged him. This is a copy of a theme that I came up with in 2010 and that the party used – but he was a judge at the time. You can argue with me on this one about semantics but again, this is misleading.
But like I said, within the Harris County Republican Party, integrity is a negative, not a positive. After all, you can’t win elections on integrity! Well, except for that whole County Judge position, but who cares?
Now to the attack. A day after the election, Sen. Patrick and Paul Bettencourt go on KSEV 700 and start blaming Judge Emmett for the loss. They claim that this mailer affected turnout on election day because were it not for the mailer, Republicans would have won Election day. Sen. Patrick went so far as to say that Judge Emmett is really a RINO and that his real intention is to run for Governor as, get this, a Democrat! That’s right, Judge Emmett has been a Republican for 50 years or so only because he wants to run for Governor of Texas as a Democrat. This attack has now been spread by the losers and their supporters, and gets more bizarre as it matures. Treason! Judge Emmett is a traitor! Seriously, just read Facebook. Normally rational people are spreading this pile of bovine processed hay.
The fact is that Judge Emmett poured a tremendous amount of time and energy into getting Harris County candidates elected. In fact, I received a mailer at my home for Harris County Republican judicial candidates, paid for by…the Texas Victory 2012 office! I was very surprised and complained about it because I thought that we in Harris County should be able to handle our own business and Texas Victory should spend their resources in places that we needed help. Turns out that Judge Emmett knew more than I did, knew that our candidates were in trouble and decided to help. Rather than costing our judicial candidates victory, that mailer could have provided the slim margin of victory in those nineteen races I mentioned above. And he also set up the phone banks that helped Sarah Davis trounce her opponent and helped David Pineda put a good dose of scare into the Democrats in a district drawn to elect a Democrat. The idea that a report on a low rated television station of Judge Emmett’s repudiation of a false and misleading mailer made Republicans stay at home on election day and caused some candidates to lose their race is ludicrous.
Okay, we now have the stage, the controversy, and the attack. But why?
That’s the easy part and there are two reasons. The first is of course Judge Emmett himself. He doesn’t play ball with the Second Baptist crowd (note: I use that term generically meaning the Northwest quadrant of the county; nothing at all to do with the congregation at Second Baptist). When Jerry Eversole finally left the court, this crowd put up a couple of people for him to choose from with the full expectation that he would do so but Judge Emmett didn’t listen to them. He appointed someone that he thought would be a true servant of the people – I don’t know Jack Cagle but from all indications, Judge Emmett was correct. Truth is, the SD7 crowd (again, generically) hasn’t liked Judge Emmett from the beginning because he doesn’t play ball their way and actually tries to govern based upon principle and need rather than consolidating power. Bettencourt attacked him on KSEV three days after the 2010 sweep. I know this because I was listening and objected to it at the time because it was just plain false. As in 2012, Judge Emmett helped all candidates but in 2010, he was on the ballot and carried them over the finish line.
My guess is that Bettencourt is eyeing a primary challenge to Judge Emmett in 2014 (if he doesn’t try for the Houston mayoral position) and is testing the waters with these attacks. If so, we can look forward to another bruising primary that will cost us in November. Exactly what happened this year but that is fodder for another post.
I said there were two reasons for the attack. The second is that the Westside crowd (again, generically) sees their power slipping away. For years, they have refused to let anyone from the other areas of the county have a real voice in party politics. So we have formed other groups, held our own meetings, and worked around the limits of the party to help Republicans win in Harris County. This was blatantly apparent this year -without us, it would have been a complete sweep for the Democrats because while the party was “more supportive”, they remain inept because they neglected to build the infrastructure necessary to win, particularly in the inner city and minority areas. As I mentioned on Mark McCaig’s radio program the Sunday before the election, they can either join us or be left behind because we are not stopping and will eventually lead the party. Apparently they have decided to try for one last gasp at power by creating a controversy where none existed to show that they are the “true” Republicans and the rest of us are just plain old RINOS. Good luck with that.
So there you go. Hey, I like Dan. That is the only reason I pick on him. I’ve been listening to him since he had that chain smoking producer on during his morning sports show long before Rush Limbaugh came along to help him be a success. So I know that Dan is an emotional being and often comments on things about which he isn’t informed on. So I’m going to give him a break and think that he was ranting about Judge Emmett because Paul told him to – you and I both know that Dan jumps on whatever he hears first, then often has to go back and try to fix it. Dan hasn’t spent much time in Harris County this election season. His opponent filed a complaint about the radio show, so Dan was prohibited from working. He used his time to promote candidates around Texas, working tirelessly to help them. The cynic would say that he was also helping himself but so what? The fact is that he worked hard to get Republicans elected, then comes back to Harris County, sees that we didn’t get a sweep, hears from his friend and ally Bettencourt that Emmett is a traitor, and bam! Heck, anyone could have predicted that one.
What we can’t predict is whether or not Dan will come to his senses and figure out that he has been played like violin. Dan might not have had an opportunity to read my recap of Judge Emmett’s speech at the Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club during which Judge Emmett was very congratulatory of Dan’s new post as Education Chair and implored us to support him as he worked through the hard choices ahead. I’m hoping that the growth that Dan has shown since becoming elected will enable him to recognize that he is wrong in this attack and that he will make peace with Judge Emmett.
As for the losing candidates and their supporters, don’t get involved in this power play. As a group, you were the finest ticket Republicans in Harris County have fielded in many years. It is no one’s “fault” that you lost – the other side simply won. After a period of rest and reflection, use your boundless energy wherever God needs you to go next – it may be in politics and it may not. Bitterness will corrode you from the inside out and I pray that you will resist the temptation to harbor it.