The Harris County Republican Party primary is going to be very interesting. Not only is Gov. Greg Abbott trying to take out popular Republican State Rep. Sarah Davis in House District 134, HCRP Chair Paul Simpson is probably going to have an opponent.
I say probably because tonight I talked to potential challenger Chris Carmona. Chris has filed a treasurer appointment to challenge Simpson. When I asked him tonight why, he said that it was so that he could ‘explore’ the possibility of challenging Simpson. He did not want to commit to running against Simpson at this time, saying only that he was ‘exploring’ the possibility.
When I asked Carmona if he could publicly identify one reason to run against Simpson, he responded that he doesn’t think that Simpson listens to the grassroots and that in his opinion, the little guy isn’t being listened to.
So there you have it. Chris could be a formidable challenger to Paul, no question about it. Should he run, he will have the endorsement of the ‘slates’ of Hotze/Lowry/Polland. And Paul will have the money of the business community.
Some of the people I talked to say that Hotze/Lowry/Polland are ‘playing’ Chris and that they have someone else in mind. Chris said if that is true, he didn’t know anything about it.
It ain’t gonna be purty, folks.
It ain’t purdy now David.
Paul Simpson is the champion of the grassroots activists so I don’t know why Chris Carmona said that to you. People have always said, “Follow the money”, so if he is the ‘chosen one’ of the slates, then his answer about the grassroots was just an answer to a question that he didn’t want to answer.
Folks, Team Paul is in total denial. After Paul whined and complained for years about Jared Woodfill’s Obama year 2008 and 2012 losses, Paul captained the HCRP ship onto the rocks with a total and complete defeat in every single solitary party label race on the 2016 ballot, surpassing Jared’s Obama year losses. At least, Jared’s losses still produced key victories in a few non-judicial AND judicial countywide races, but Paul’s 2016 was a total ballot wipeout. This past Monday night, we precinct chairs heard Paul tell us that it was mainly the large Trump loss that caused the wipeout. Really? I thought for sure it must have been Jared Woodfill’s fault, even though Paul was now Chairman. Seriously, after 10 years of Paul’s blame shifting, HCRP is ready for anyone with more energy and a better plan for success. Interestingly, several HCRP Advisory Board members are now confirming rumors that Paul actually told the Advisory Board last Thursday night that he would not sign the new office lease, if several of them moved forward with the Sarah Davis censure resolution on Monday night. He then walked out while two of his appointees emotionally (yes, tears were shed) exclaimed at the members, did they want Paul to quit? Another one said many of the party’s larger donations come from Sarah’s liberal donors and that some had called Paul and told him they would stop donating to the party if the censure resolution passed. Just ask the SD Chairs what they heard, as I have done. If Paul was telling the Advisory Board he would not sign a lease to replace the expiring party HQ lease, and his board appointees then delivering the coordinated Team Paul message of he’ll probably quit if you succeed, should we not expect better leadership, that doesn’t threaten well-meaning sincere hardworking SD Chairs, elected by their many dozens of precinct chairs? After this, and especially the 2016 blowout, we need new County Party Chair leadership. Republicans need to also question the wisdom of having a county party so dependent on Sarah Davis donors. Sarah was the House calendars committee bill killer for family conservative legislation, and is actually a bit worse for family conservatives than a Democrat, because Straus gave her so much power to kill most family legislation on both calendars AND appropriations committees. In addition, ff you look at the HCRP financial balance sheet and cash flow statements Paul handed out Monday night, we’re not going in the right direction with recent losses. It’s too bad he raised and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on his re-election in March 2016 from a similar donor base, when he could sure use that money now for the HCRP. Some donors may now have buyers remorse too now for having spent thousands on Paul in the spring primary elections as the purported savior, and then they spent thousands more on the massive November loss. Remember, Paul was going to stop Jared’s era losses, and now he simply blames Trump after the 2016 wipeout. No admission of any mistakes on his part as chair. After all, he’s perfect, right? For decades, the pro-abort monied establishment has battled the big wave of family and liberty conservatives in the party, and Simpson like Sarah Davis are tools of that establishment. Trump and many of us want to move ahead with new more effective leadership, but the establishment and their money will have none of it. For them, leaders should be like Sarah who said in a 2013 Chronicle headline article that abortion opposition has no place in the party. How sad that Life should not be a issue to fight for anymore in Sarah and her donor’s immoral party. Whether he threatened to quit last Thursday or not, we need better leadership than he’s delivering. And p.s., can please we do better than Emmett’s moronic “Harris County Works” slogan in 2016. That failed miserably. “Make America Great Again”, copying Reagan in 1984, was great for Trump. We’re so blue Democrat in HC now thanks to 2016, maybe a derivative of “Make Harris County Great Again” might be more successful. May God bless us all, and a better leader arise from the grassroots.
Chris Carmona isn’t a challenge, in fact if Simpson never mentions him no one will know who is is. What has he done? Where has he been, what meetings has he participated in? Who has he helped, other than himself? One more joke to add to the follies? You decide, but sorry, no one’s home.