While disgraced former Majority Leader Tom DeLay has set an official date for his resignation from Congress,
DeLay to bow out on June 9, it is unclear what will happen. In general, if things work for the Republicans, they will be able to replace DeLay on the general election ballot and there will be a special election at the same time as the general to elect someone to fill out the rest of DeLay's unexpired term,
Procedure For Replacing A Texas Congressman. However, it may be that DeLay's name will have to remain on the ballot. Regardless, the Republicans are proceeding full speed ahead on the assumption they will get to replace DeLay's name. In the process, they seem to be ripping their party apart.
The first problem TX-22 Republicans have run into is the selection process.
DeLay Replacement Process Shines Light On Precinct Chair Vacancies
According to the Texas Election Code, chairmen in CD-22 precincts in Fort Bend, Harris, Galveston and Brazoria counties each will meet after DeLay officially resigns. Each set of precinct chairmen will elect one person from among themselves to serve on a four-person committee that will be charged with selecting a Republican candidate to run for DeLay's seat in the general election.
However, like most counties there are large numbers of precincts that have no chairs. This has created the first of many controversies.
In Fort Bend County, there are 99 precincts within CD-22, but only 61 of them have chairmen. If the other 38 precincts remain vacant, then the 61 sitting precinct chairs will vote among themselves to choose one representative to the nominating committee.
But at least 10 prominent Fort Bend County Republicans, including past and present political candidates and office holders, have privately expressed concern over rumors that the 38 precinct chair vacancies soon will be filled - with people intent on voting as a bloc to see that one particular congressional candidate is nominated.
The issue of vacant precinct chairs has become sensitive enough in Harris County that Republican Party officials don't intend to allow those vacancies to be filled until after DeLay's ballot replacement has been chosen, said Bill Borden.
A past county GOP parliamentarian and state GOP executive committee member, Borden said he has "strongly advised" Harris County party officials against filling their CD-22 vacancies, and they have listened. Harris County appears to have 31 vacancies out of 76 precincts in the district.
Another part of this selection process is the equal weight it gives to each of the counties despite the large population disparity. As one Republican comments:
voterwiseguy - May 9, 03:11 pm
Ms. Haigler seems to be explaining to Thode that under state election law, the Republican Party acts as a representative democracy and not a straight up democracy. Now that's all fine and dandy, but my question would be, what about the principle of proportionate representation? Why does Brazoria and Galveston Counties get 1/4th of the vote each when their portion of CD22 has less than 1/8th of the poulation each? I as a Fort Bend resident am being under represented by my precinct chair.
This is a complete sham.
In the article the above is commenting on,
Lampson Campaign Slams Harris County Forum As 'Backroom Politics', we see one county's process to pick DeLay's replacement. Harris County sent out a survey to potential candidates and invited them to a candidate forum that would be closed to the press and public in order to protect the eventual nominee from the release of his answers to the survey. The complete survey can be seen
here as a pdf file. Some of the questions:
Do you attend a place of worship?
Will you vote to support a ban on all human embryonic stem cell research?
Will you vote for a Human Life Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and for other legislation limiting or outlawing abortion?
Regarding the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, does the Constitution require the separation of church and state?
Do you think local communities should be allowed to display religious symbols on public property?
Will you vote to support a federal marriage amendment to define marriage as between only one man and one woman?
Will you vote to ban federal recognition of same-sex civil unions?
Will you vote to eliminate the IRS as part of comprehensive tax reform?
Will you vote to support a national tax health care system (commonly referred to as a single-payer system?)
Will you vote to support a bill that requires Congress to have a 2/3 super-majority vote of its membership to impose any tax increase?
Will you vote to evict the United Nations from the United States and eliminate any further participation?
I have trouble imagining that the Republicans can expect the survey of their choice won't be released. The press should demand that the Republican picked release their answers to the survey questions. I would imagine that the answers to some of these questions will turn off some Independents from the candidate.
Another county has chosen to go a different route and that has exploded.
Gillen Fends Off Attempt To Dump Candidates' Poll
Incoming Fort Bend County Republican Party Chairman Gary Gillen staved off an attempt Thursday night to destroy results of a mail-in poll of candidates to replace resigning Congressman Tom DeLay.
Created by Gillen's predecessor, Eric Thode, the poll is said to have been mailed out to 18,000 Republican-voting households. It asked that voters choose their favorite among 12 candidates to replace DeLay on the November ballot, in a race for the CD-22 seat against Democrat Nick Lampson and independent Steve Stockman.
But questions have been raised over who authorized creation and payment for the poll, its methodology and the fact that only about half the listed names still are considered candidates.
Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers, who recently announced his intent to run for DeLay's ballot spot and whose name was not on Thode's poll, said CD-22 candidates he's talked to from Harris, Brazoria and Galveston counties view the poll as "grossly unfair to them. Obviously I agree with their assessment."
The comments by Republicans in response to the story show just how bitter the fight is in Fort Bend County among Republican factions.
Brad Moon - May 20, 09:56 am
I'm a pct chair and attended the Executive Committee meeting last Thursday. The new bylaws may be fine but I was appalled that so many people voted for them that have never read them. We should be a group of inependent thinkers not bobble-heads. It does seem like there is a power struggle going. This is not the time fellow Republicans. We have a strong Dumbocrat to defeat and we are eating our own.
Several of the canidates for CD22 need to drop out.
rubikees - May 21, 08:32 am ....One thing, who ever the pick is for the Repblican candidate will have a very big uphill battle. This person will have to bring together a very split Republican party in CD22, minimize the Perot effect from Steve Stockman, and overcome very poor poll numbers to bring in independent voters to win CD22 in the gerneral election. All of that in a short period of time and taking pot shots from the Lampson group. A very tough job.
The controversy created by the poll resulted in the overthrow of the Fort Bend County Republican bylaws.
GOP Faction Plays By New Rules, Puts Party Control In Hands Of Precinct Chairs
The first Fort Bend County GOP meeting of the new term turned into a power struggle, as a faction of precinct chairs led by Dean Hrbacek used a new set of party bylaws to limit the power of the party chair's position.
In a Thursday meeting observed by Texas Republican Party Executive Director Jeff Fisher and interrupted numerous times while new party Chairman Gary Gillen consulted with state GOP Parliamentarian Butch Davis, the Hrbacek faction used procedural tactics to win two narrow votes putting the new bylaws in place immediately.
Some other nasty business at the meeting:
Gillen rejected as out of order a motion from the floor that the Fort Bend party follow Harris County's lead and not allow precinct chairs within CD-22 who are newly appointed to participate in choosing the DeLay replacement committee member.
"You know, this is Fort Bend County," Gillen said. "Harris County can do what they want to do."
Gotta love those Republican comments.
rubikees - May 20, 01:23 pm
Susan, actually you have not answered my question about a statement in the first para. in post #5.
Now BG and Susan, no Republican candidate will win if the Republican party does not get it together. Think of the smaller Republican voters in CD22 since DeLay redrew the lines. Now remove a some of the Republican voters that are going for Steve Stockman, the Perot effect. Then think of other Republican voters that voted against DeLay and are upset about this picking process. Then look at the 27% Approval rating for Congress and the President which means possibly very little votes from independents. This adds up to a potentially very bad outcome for a Republican canadate for CD22 in November.
Earl - May 20, 01:45 pm
What's the difference between Fort Bend County Democrats and Republicans? Both form circular firing squads, but the Democrats have sense enough to point their guns out instead of in.
And the results of the survey that has created such a fuss in Fort Bend county?
Fort Bend GOP Releases Survey; Disclaimer Calls Results 'Inconclusive'
The county GOP statement said 18,000 surveys were mailed out to households with Republican Party voters. There were 1,325 votes counted, which would represent a 7.36% participation rate.
David Wallace...640
Charlie Howard..292
Tom Campbell...216
All the rest........177
I have seen the results of nasty intra-party battles among Republicans in Republican areas. It resulted in a lot of bitterness and the election of a majority of Democrats for the first time in more than 60 years in one county in WA. There is a lot of potential thing to keep these Republicans from coming together behind one candidate. The 2nd place finisher in the Republican primary insists he is the legitimate choice since he was the only one who had the guts to challenge DeLay. The four county parties may fail to get behind a single candidate because of regional rivalries. Some may decide that a Lampson victory would only be for two years then their candidate could run and unseat him.
Right now, things look very good in TX-22. Lampson has the cash, he has been campaigning while Republicans have been bickering. He doesn't need 50% of the vote to win since there will be a Libertarian and a former Republican Congressman running as an Independent on the ballot. There may even be additional chaos when the special election to finish DeLay's term is thrown in the mix. Anyone can file and since the Governor is holding the special election the same day as the general election it may be that candidates not chosen by the Republicans to replace DeLay may run in order to show that they should have been chosen, or they may just run to advocate their fringe issues.
Nick Lampson Website