If you will recall, I noted in this post that Chuck Maricle, Harris County Republican Party candidate for County Commissioner Precinct 1 told me that he was going to put effort into getting votes in all of the communities in the precinct, not just the typically Republican friendly ones. I was particularly interested in his outreach to the GLBT community for a variety of reasons, so I followed up with him to see if he was keeping that commitment.

And indeed, he is. He told me that he had participated in the screening process trying to get the endorsement of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, was actively seeking their endorsement, would be attending the September 8th endorsement meeting – Pecore Hall at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, and was planning a campaign meet/greet in Montrose. Now, between you and me, I do trust people but I have found that I need to verify claims like this – you recall what Ronald Reagan said about trust but verify, right?

So I had Mr. Maricle share some of the email traffic between him and the caucus. In addition, I contacted the HGLBTPC (whew, that is a long acronym!) media contact, former Republican Noel Freeman, to confirm that Mr. Maricle participated in the actual screening, which he did.

Why is this so important to me and why do I care that someone from our Party is finally reaching out to this group?

Because I like to win elections. And not just Mr. Maricle’s specific election, although I do think that the county would be better off if he wins. No, I want small government fiscal conservatives to win ALL elections in Harris County and am and have been appalled that the Harris County Republican Party has been willing to write off this group of citizens. We somehow have this homogenized view of the gay community when in fact that community is just as diverse in opinion and thought as any other. We CAN win some of their votes but only if we ASK FOR THEIR VOTE! Do you seriously think that a person wants to pay higher taxes and get terrible service from government just because they are gay? Of course they don’t.

And that is why I’m so happy that Mr. Maricle is daring to reach out to them. I say daring because I’m certain that the Taliban faction of the HCRP will castigate him for it, just as they will me for writing about it and being supportive of  it. Whatever – get over it. It doesn’t bother me a bit and it won’t bother Mr. Maricle. You should join with us to reach out to all voters – you might even find out that you have more in common than you thought.  I got a kick out of this from one of the emails that Mr. Maricle shared with me:

You have to give the man his due for positive thinking. And, he obviously wants our endorsement.

On a personal level, I think he’s an interesting guy and I would love to know where he’s coming from as he does not seem to be typical Tea Party issue.

Lol, pot meet kettle! This emailer apparently thinks that all Tea Party people wear tin foil hats, are racists, and homophobes. If we don’t talk to each other, how will we ever break down those stereotypes?

And I absolutely love this snippet from one of Mr. Maricle’s responses to the group:

Harris County PCT 1 is geographically very complicated. I won’t delve into the reasons why but it seems political forces are more interested in electability of party members rather than setting up logical, cohesive communities. The end result is normally politicians who have little to do other than to pander towards their “core” voting bloc ignoring the rest of the community.  Jimmy Wales said it best, “Most people assume the fights are going to be the left versus the right, but it always is the reasonable versus the jerks.” I think he would agree that each side consists of both elements.

The end result is what we have, lack of community building. I want to change that. Diversity is always a strength, never a burden. The trick is to get everyone at the community table to understand that.

Therefore how could any reasonable person ignore the needs of this community? There are historically many reasons but none of them valid, people will generally ignore the uncomfortable versus taking risk. Ronald Reagan would remind us “Don’t be afraid to see what you see.” What I see is a very important member of the Precinct 1 community with valid issues that need to be addressed. You are taxpayers and contributors to the common good which is all any reasonable person needs to understand.

I would also remind you that governments first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives. I am indeed a Republican because I believe in creating opportunity, not dependency and the principle of self-reliance and individual responsibility for ones actions.  As a Christian it is a basic tenet that we are not to judge lest we be judged. Patience, tolerance and service to fellow people. What a concept. The 10 commandments are pretty good rules for living event if one is not predisposed to the religious element of them.

I am sorry that sometimes the more radical elements of society get the media attention. For every person that you would call “typical Tea Party” issue I believe that I could counterpoise with individuals who are just fed up with governments intervention into peoples’ lives. The 10 core beliefs can be found at Tea Party Platform – The Platform of the Tea Party Movement. A specific excerpt  is “The Tea Party movement is seen as a threat to the entrenched political parties and thus is the continual target of smear campaigns and misrepresentation of its ideals. We choose not to respond to these attacks except to strongly and explicitly disavow any and all hate speech, any and all violence as well as insinuations of violence, and any and all extreme and fringe elements that bring discredit to the Tea Party Movement.”

Past experiences you may have had aside, unsavory elements will always exist and be recognized for what they are. Better to lead by example. In my civilian and military world, I like to live by “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.”

I will close this message as only John Kennedy could say. Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Sometimes it takes a whole lot of strength.

That was awesome.

Look, I don’t hold any illusions about Mr. Maricle getting this endorsement – but he might. He positively would not get it if he didn’t ask but he did ask – he was the only Republican to ask this cycle. Harris County Republicans have a long, long way to go before we aren’t looked askance at by the GLBT community. Both groups understand that we will not agree about gay marriage and other issues that are important to many members of the GLBT community. But there are hundreds of issues that WE DO AGREE ON. If we are able to make inroads in all communities in Harris County, perhaps a strong fiscal conservative can be elected mayor of Houston one day.

I applaud Mr. Maricle for the steps he is taking to further our larger cause and wish him the best of luck in his own race.

Campaign Website: ChuckMaricle.com

Facebook: facebook.com/ChuckMaricle