Now such a statement could have been made at any time during the DeLay saga -- after all, we chairs were told it was our process to direct, right up until the point that the state GOP leadership and the local county chairs realized that there was a substantial bloc that actually wanted to go a direction other than the hierarchy wanted. Now it appears that the plan is to select a write-in candidate without the involvement of the real grass-roots of the party, and then tell us that we must support the candidate or face the wrath of that leadership for our disloyalty.

State and local Republican Party officials were scheduled to meet at 11 a.m. today in an attempt to find a write-in candidate to serve as the partyÂ’s last-ditch hope to hang on to Congressional District 22.

Party insiders named Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs and Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace as the two candidates whose names most likely will be discussed at todayÂ’s meeting.

* * *

Local party officials said Texas GOP Chairman Tina Benkiser has called a meeting of local party leaders – presumably State Republican Executive Committee members – at an undisclosed area location at 11 a.m.

Late Tuesday afternoon Benkiser issued a statement saying “Republicans are working together with grassroots leadership in the district to get behind and vigorously support one candidate, whether he or she is on the ballot or not.”

“We need to have a meeting of the leadership and get people together and come out with who we’re willing to support,” Kathy Haigler, a Harris County GOP precinct chair and SREC member. “You keep the door locked until you come out with one name.”

* * *

Haigler said party leaders may discuss potential write-in candidates this morning, then quickly call a meeting of precinct chairs within CD-22 – which encompasses portions of Fort Bend, Harris, Galveston and Brazoria counties.

It’s possible the precinct chairs would be asked to vote for one candidate, “and you tell anyone else if they run” as a write-in, “they’ll be blackballed forever” in future races by the Republican Party, Haigler said. “They’re only going to hurt the party by spitting in the wind.”

I'll say it right now -- any individual involved in making such a selection or offering such an ultimatum had better be prepared to be blackballed forever by the grass-roots. I've spoken to a number of folks this evening who are deeply offended at being cut out of the process by the leadership while being expected to act as a rubber-stamp for their selection.

And I say this especially because of the very wise observation of Sheryl Berg.

Sheryl Berg, Harris County GOP Senate District 11 chair, said she believes the choice for a potential write-in candidate is between Wallace and Sekula-Gibbs.

However, she added, GOP Chairman Benkiser may not “advocate for either one of them” because neither was likely to have been chosen by the four-person District Executive Committee that would have selected DeLay’s replacement had the courts allowed it. That committee’s members were to have been chosen by CD-22 precinct chairs in each of the four counties.

“At the end of the day,” Berg said of the Republican leadership, “I think they’re going to choose not to come up with one person.”

Let me make it clear -- it is not Tina Benkiser's place to advocate for anyone in this process. And as for the fact that neither Wallace nor Sekula-Gibbs (or Tim Turner, who has also indicated he would consider a write-in bid) were unlikely to be selected by the CD22 District Executive Committee, let me point out that the leading candidate has indicated his disinterest in giving up his seat in the legislature to make this long-shot bid, as have several other individuals. Only two have been willing to stand up and offer themselves as sacrificial lambs -- and it seems that the same folks who will not consider candidates who actually stepped-up to the plate earlier in the process appear to be out recruiting others to run, despite the fact they also would not have been selected by the DEC.

I'll state my position again for those who have not heard my words before -- absent the sudden emergence of a candidate who would overwhelm Lampson as a write-in -- which I believe would require selecting someone of the stature of former president George H. W. Bush, given the obstacles to winning such a race -- I believe the only reasonable choice is to discourage write-in candidates and throw our support behind Libertarian Bob Smither, whose name will at least appear on the ballot.

UPDATE -- Bob Dunn offers an additional revelation on today's meeting.

Texas Republican Party Chairman Tina Benkiser, resigned congressman Tom DeLay and local members of the state GOP executive committee met Wednesday to lay plans for bringing the party behind a single write-in candidate to run for the congressional seat DeLay just vacated.

What the hell is the supposedly-a-Virginian former congressman doing in the meeting to select my party's candidate here in Texas after he abandoned the job? I'm sorry -- any involvement by Tom DeLay inescapably corrupts the process and the resulting candidate. Anyone who stayed in that room once DeLay arrived is so tainted by his presence that they need to resign whatever position they currently hold and retire from politics due to a profound lack of judgement. And as for DeLay himself, he just needs to take his happy ass back to Virginia and stay there. We've seen what his help has done for us.

Then there is this little gem from Tina Benkiser.

Attendees at the Wednesday meeting with DeLay, Benkiser and members of the SREC said DeLay did not mention any specific candidate for his former seat in Congress.

“He’s expecting there to be a write-in candidate, but he wants the party to make that decision,” one attendee said. “He’s going to stand behind the party.”

* * *

“Obviously, I have talked with Congressman DeLay,” Benkiser said. “This race is not about him. This race is about giving voters a choice.”

She was not specific about how a single candidate will gain the party’s favor in serving as the write-in challenger to Lampson and Smither. She said holding a meeting with the precinct chairs from within CD-22 “is certainly an option.”

Listen, bitch you arrogant fool, you have just shown how far you will go to corrupt the process in order to get the candidate of your choice. That meeting with the elected representatives of the grass-roots is merely "an option" is a sign that you lack the integrity to hold your office. I regret having ever supported you for your position. Resign. Now.

And let me also say that I have difficulty imagining any situation which would allow me to support the candidate produced by this process.

Posted by: Greg at 12:47 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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