I thought I’d seen everything in Harris County Republican Party politics. And in truth, I’ve probably seen something similar to this and just forgotten about it, hoping beyond hope that we were beyond it. Sadly, we aren’t and for those of you wondering, it has nothing to do with Jared Woodfill, Paul Simpson, or the party chair race or structure. This is a sad, sad tale of an open judicial bench, two females of African descent trying to win it in a Republican primary, and the supporters of the lone white male in the race doing everything they can to see him win.

John Schmude is a candidate for the 247th Family District Court. His two opponents are Judge M. L. Walker and Melanie Flowers. Here is an email I received from John Schmude supporter Dr. Steve Hotze:

Dear Fellow Conservative:John Schmude, in his race for Family Court Judge, District 247, has received the enthusiastic endorsement of Conservative Republicans of Harris County. I have known and worked for conservative causes with John Schmude and his parents, Dick and Wendy Schmude, since 1978. John comes from solid conservative stock.John is the only lifelong Republican in the race. His two opponents voted in the Democrat primary in 2008 and both have admitted to voting for Barack Obama. Both of his opponents promote in their campaign material that they are members of Alpha Kappa Alpha, an African American sorority that is rabidly pro-abortion, pro-lesbian, and radical left in its ideology. John Schmude’s opponents are liberal Democrats who are running as Republicans because they know that only Republicans have been elected to the family courts in Harris County over the past 22 years.John Schmude has served on the Board of Directors of Right to Life Advocates (“Life Advocates”), and is a member of the National Rifle Association, Houston Young Republicans, Gun Owners of America and Cherry Tree Republicans.  John Schmude is the only conservative in the race, demonstrated by three decades of service to conservative causes and an unwavering conservative Republican voting record.John Schmude is uniquely qualified for this judicial position.  In addition to handling hundreds of cases in Harris County and surrounding counties as a solo practitioner, primarily in family courts, John has extensive private business experience.  Before starting his law practice, John served as Vice President of a Houston based bank and credit union consultant company.  In this capacity, he worked as a problem solver with the executive management of dozens of banks and credit unions throughout the country ranging in asset size from 100 million dollars to well over one billion dollars.  This experience is directly relevant and valuable for a family court in which identification and division of complex estates are among the most complex matters addressed in family law cases.  John Schmude also has a proven record of service to children and to families, serving as a local high school teacher and also spending a year in rural South Dakota working with Native American families who faced drug abuse, alcoholism and tremendous poverty.Besides the endorsement of Conservative Republicans of Harris County, John Schmude has received the endorsement of Texas Right to Life, Cathie Adams, President of the Texas Eagle Forum and former Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, Terry Lowry, Founder of The Linkletter, The Texas Home School Coalition, Steve Radack, County Commissioner Pct. 3, Valoree Swanson, State Republican Executive Committeewomen SD 7,  Norma Brady Jeter, Dave Welch, Executive Director of the Houston Area Pastors’ Council,  Josh Flynn, Dr. Robin Armstrong, Republican National Committeeman for Texas, Rick Green, Founder of the Patriot Academy, the Katy Christian Magazine, Michelle Smith, State Director of Concerned Women of America, and many others.Please be sure to vote for John Schmude for Family Court Judge, District 247. Please forward this letter to your distribution list. Committed to advancing our conservative principles, I remain, as always, Sincerely yours for Constitutional liberty, Steven  F. Hotze, M.D. President, Conservative Republicans of Harris County P.S. Please consider donating $25, $50, $100 or more to the Conservative Republicans of Harris County effort to help carry on the fight to keep Texas conservative. pd pol ad • Conservative Republicans of Harris County

For a real treat, click on the video and watch Dr. Hotze read the script.

What are the facts? Did the two women vote for Barack Obama in 2008? Yes, they did. I discussed that here. But why does Dr. Hotze insist on telling his viewers/readers that the two women were part of an “African American” sorority? Hmm. Truth? Yep, I suppose it is. But truth is often more than facts. Why did he identify it as “African American”? You tell me.

Next, he says that the women belong to a sorority is rabidly pro-abortion. Really? Dr. Hotze provides no evidence, he simply asserts it. I have met both women multiple times, and have sat over coffee with each of them for a couple of hours and neither woman expressed anything close to being pro-choice, much less “rabidly pro-abortion”. But hey, they are alumni and Dr. Hotze decided that the sorority was pro-abortion, so obviously two plus two equals fifteen! Gotta love that new math of his.

Then he moves on to say the sorority is pro-lesbian. Again, he provides no evidence, Dr. Hotze just says it is so, so therefore it is. And by inference, these women obviously support the homosexual agenda, right? What exactly is the homosexual agenda, anyway? Equal rights for people made in the image of the Creator? Oh no!

And radical left, don’t forget that. Again, no evidence.

With influential leaders like this, is there any doubt about why the Republican Party is shrinking?

I texted this to Dr. Hotze, copying John Schmude:

The email you sent in support of  Schmude is a classic example of why we are going to cease to exist as a party. It is racist, homophobic, and the attempt to portray both women as pro-abortion using the verbiage about the sorority is despicable and is no different than lying about them. I realize that you’ve known John a long time but winning by smearing people is not moral, ethical, or something that will make Jesus smile. David Jennings, BigJollyPolitics.com

To his credit, Dr. Hotze called me back. The first question he asked was, “Are you a homosexual?” You might say it went downhill from there. I found it interesting that during the very, shall we say loud, call, he didn’t bother with the racism or false attacks on abortion but almost entirely on homosexuality.

I also asked Schmude about it – he claimed to have no knowledge of the email. I sent him a copy of it and I told him he could disavow it. I received this response:

David,

I strongly believe that a candidate has an obligation to convey to voters why they should vote FOR the candidate and not merely why they should vote AGAINST another candidate.  As such, I do not like negative campaigning, and I believe that my campaign has steered clear of personal attacks that denigrate the political process.  I certainly respect both of my worthy opponents who are two very accomplished women that I have had the privilege of getting to know both personally and professionally.  The source of the email is self-evident by the disclaimer:  “pd pol ad Conservative Republicans of Harris County“.    It did not come from my campaign; nor was the content of this email approved in advance by my campaign.  Despite the fact that I certainly consider Dr. Hotze to be a friend – and I admire him for the work he has done in standing up for our constitutional liberties and in fighting for so many conservative principles and values – he is not on my payroll, and he does not work for my campaign.  I’m sure you are aware that he is quite independent, and he has never had a problem speaking his mind.

That’s not quite disavowing the content of what Hotze sent. More like, well, you know, I can’t control what others do on my behalf. Wink, wink.

Sometimes it is tough being a Republican. But it is never tough standing up for what is right. I believe that all people are made in the image of the Creator. As such, I believe that all people should be able to participate in the public arena, and that we should make our judgements based not on the color of someone’s skin, not on their sexual orientation, not on false accusations of their positions, but on the content of their character, their qualifications for the job, and on their true positions on the issues.

Folks, I’m not fooling myself. I do this as a hobby and take no money from anyone, nor do I have the personal resources to send out hundreds of thousands of ballots listing my choice on them so that voters don’t have to think about who they are voting for. I don’t know if Hotze will be able to get his candidate that comes from good conservative stock elected but I know that he has more influence than I do. I also know that if he gets his candidate elected, it will not be with my vote. I’m voting for Judge M.L. Walker because she is the most qualified person for the job, despite the fact that Dr. Hotze doesn’t think she comes from good conservative stock.

Near the end of my conversation with Dr. Hotze, he told me that I didn’t have big enough balls to stand up to the secular homosexual agenda. I told him that I had balls big enough to stand up to him. I didn’t tell him this but I’m also strong enough to love him as my brother despite our differences because we are both created in the image of God.

In the hotly contested race to replace retiring Judge Bonnie Hellums in the 247th Family Court, I’ll be voting for Judge M. L. Walker in the Republican primary.

I first met Judge Walker in 2009 when she was running in her first campaign. She seemed quiet and unassuming, relying upon her experience to carry her to the top. Obviously she was naive about Republican primary politics. My wife was especially impressed with her after they had an hour long discussion about the family courts and her vision of how she wanted to run a court.

She is supremely qualified for the job – reviewing her credentials and educational experience shows that. The other two candidates in the race simply can’t compete on that basis. Nor can they compete on her experience behind the bench as an Associate Judge. The results of the Houston Bar Poll certainly bear that out, as summarized by my friend (and future Supreme Court Justice) Leif Olson:

– In the HBA’s 2014 qualification poll, Walker’s Well Qualified/Qualified/Not Qualified numbers were 218/74/54. She received more “well qualified” votes than any other non-incumbent candidate for any of the family-court races. I have to qualify that with “non-incumbent” because the only family-court candidate who outpaced her at all was District Judge Lynn Bradshaw-Hull. Similarly, her “not-qualified” numbers are lower than any other candidate save for Charley Prine, who had 53 such votes—only one fewer than Walker.

– The results for the 2013 Evaluation Poll for Walker were similar, as shown by her Outstanding/Acceptable/Poor results in each category. Follows the law? 68/22/10. Rules decisively and timely? 67/24/9. Courteous and attentive in the courtroom? 73/17/10. Impartial? 68/21/10. Efficient use of lawyers’ time? 61/27/12. Works hard and is prepared? 69/22/9. And the overall analysis, by percentages? Excellent – 58, Above Average – 20, Average 12, Below Average – 4, Needs Improvement – 6. That overall “Excellent” rating, by the way, is higher than all but one of the associate judges and higher than all but three of the district judges: Judy Warne, David Farr, and Roy Moore (who is ahead of her by less than a percentage point).

– 2010 was an election year and so had a qualifications poll. Walker’s well/qualified/not split was 238/108/104. That was almost twice the “well” votes of the next-highest candidate and roughly 40 fewer “not” votes than the next-lowest candidate. (For comparison, the candidate who won was at 57/120/242, but received some—ahem—endorsements.) That was a busy year; there were 40 candidates rated across all family-court races. Only 11 of them received more “well” votes (most of them current or former district judges); only three received fewer “not” votes than she did.

Being an Associate Judge in a Family Court is arguably the hardest of all judicial positions. You must follow the policies set by the elected judge even when you disagree with them and have other ideas. Most importantly, you have to be consistent and follow the law. Judge Walker’s bar poll results indicate that the lawyers that practice in front of her hold her in high esteem.

The biggest “charge” against Judge Walker is the fact that she has stated publicly that she voted for Barack Obama in 2008. That is also one of the charges levied against another candidate in the race, Melanie Flowers. I sat down with both candidates and asked them about their vote. Neither of them took the easy road – they could have said, as many other candidates have (think Rep. Sarah Davis) that they voted for Obama as part of the Rush Limbaugh fun that year. Both ladies were very open and said that they believed that Obama offered the best hope for the future of their communities and the country as a whole. As well, both ladies said that they had learned from that mistake. Indeed, Walker told me that “fool me once shame one you…fool me twice shame on me” is very applicable”.

I think that if we, as a party, hold a single vote for Barack Obama as a litmus test of who we vote for while ignoring the life achievements and overall quality of the candidates that are on the ballot, we deserve the caricature of being small minded that our opponents paint us as. If we overlook the cultural significance of that vote, we do ourselves and our party no favor.

I’ll be voting for Judge M.L. Walker because I think that she is by far the most qualified person for the job in this race. I encourage you to learn about each of the candidates and think that if you do, you will join me and Judge Walker’s broad list of supporters in that vote.

Candidate websites:

Judge M.L. Walker

Melanie Flowers

John Schmude