If you are a Republican in Harris County, you need to mark your calendars and be on hand this Thursday for three candidate forums to be held by the Clear Lake Area Republicans.
The Clear Lake Area Republicans are hosting a candidate forum for the Republican primary races for the Harris County District Attorney, Tax Assessor, and Republican Party Chairman on Thursday evening, March 1, 2012 at the Bay Oaks Country Club (14545 Bay Oaks Blvd., Houston, 77059) . The event will start at 6:30 p.m., and the forums will start promptly at 7:00 p.m.
I really don’t care much about the Tax Assessor/Collector race. I mean, by all accounts, incumbent Don Sumners has done a decent job and hasn’t done anything that would typically warrant a primary challenge. I don’t like the fact that Houston City Councilman Mike Sullivan ran for reelection this past November knowing full well he didn’t want that job – and will have to resign early if he defeats Mr. Sumners. This just plays into the charge in recent years that R’s run not to govern but to move to other offices. A charge that unfortunately rings with some truth. Regardless, either man would do a decent job as Tax Assessor/Collector.
And then we have the race generating the most headlines, with incumbent District Attorney Pat Lykos being challenged by Mike Anderson. Once again, we find that DA Lykos hasn’t done anything would typically warrant a primary challenge unless you count being mean or not being a debutante, choosing instead to work in a man’s world. But there is a challenger and he does have a different vision for that office, a vision that many Republicans have traditionally preferred, so come on out and let the chips fall where they may.
And last but not least, we have what could be the most important race on the ballot, the one for party chair. I’m finding it hard to be too enthused about it this year after the disappointment of failing in an all out effort in 2010 but perhaps a forum is just the thing to get me pumped up about the possibility of replacing decade long officeholder Jared Woodfill. Jared is a very nice person and is a devoted spokesperson for the party – but he isn’t chairman material, no matter how many times he gets elected. The party is broke, not only financially but it is void of new ideas and energy. Committees have zero input, there is no outreach to the middle or to minorities, candidates are shaken down for money, and precinct chair positions remain unfilled with no effort to fill them because the ones applying might not be the “right kind” of Republicans. Can Paul Simpson address all or some of these issues? Frankly, I don’t know. That is why I need to be there to listen and try to figure it out. I do know that he has put in a lot of time as a volunteer trying to recruit precinct chairs and setting up precinct information databases, stuff that the party should have been doing.
So come on out and together we’ll figure out who is best to carry the Republican banner in November.
Click here for a map and directions.
