Roger Owen Goes Nuts
By Vince Leibowitz on Feb 22, 2006 in 2006 Texas Elections
This (which was mentioned by Pink Dome yesterday) comes as no surprise to me:
A candidates forum at the Gregg County Democratic headquarters became a shouting match and ended with one candidate renouncing his affiliation with the Gregg County Executive Democratic Committee.
The meeting, organized by Gregg County Democratic United, erupted after former group president Donna Rosenblum criticized Congressional candidate Roger Owen for saying that state House candidate Patrick Franklin is “hurting the Democratic Party.”
Owen made that comment Monday about Franklin, who is openly gay.
“That was so wrong, Roger, that you would attack another Democratic candidate,” Rosenblum said.
Owen and Duane Shaw are running for the Democratic nomination in Congressional District 1. The winner will face U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, who is running unopposed in his March 7 primary.
Franklin is seeking the Democratic nomination for state House District 7 and will face the winner of the Republican primary between Mark Williams and incumbent Rep. Tommy Merritt.
Owen told Rosenblum to give him a moment to explain, but that she shouldn’t expect an apology.
“He hurts our party,” Owen said.
“How dare you. You have no right,” Rosenblum said.
“You are the piece of dirt as far as I’m concerned,” Owen said to Rosenblum.
She stormed out the the Democratic headquarters in the 200 block of Tyler Street in downtown Longview.
Patrick Franklin mentions the incident in his blog, as well.
[...] By now, you are no doubt familar with some of the controversy surrounding Democratic Candidate for U.S. Congress in CD-01, Roger Owen. [...]