CD 22: Replacement Players Line Up To See Who Measures Up

While the Fort Bend County GOP is having fun with its various and sundry little surveys, the Harris County GOP was actually doing something to try and get a little face time with the men and women who want to take over The Hammer’s fifedom.
The biggest news of the day was that Sugar Land Mayor David Harris was a no-show in spite of the fact that he’s already been sending out mailers to raise money for his candidacy.

The seven who did show up (down from a list of what seemed like a hundred people initially mentioned for the post)  are evidently the ones who have decided to make the race: State Rep. Robert Tarlton (R-Pasadena), Tom Campbell, who came in second to DeLay in the March Primary, State Rep. Charlie Howard (R-Sugar Land), State Sen. Mike Jackson (R-LaPorte) (aka Oyster Man), Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers and businessman Timothy Turner. I’m not sure if Pat Baig and Mike Fjetland are still “in the hunt.” Baig has previously complained about needing a special election to fill DeLay’s seat and Fjetland was whining last week about being left off the Fort Bend GOP survey.

As for Harris, the Chron noted:

The leaders at the meeting did not say whether any candidate had broken out of the pack on Saturday, but several expressed disappointment that Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace, who many considered a leading candidate, did not fill out the questionnaire and failed to show.

Fort Bend GOP insider and blogger Chris Elam seems to think that the wording used by the Chron indicates that Wallace’s stock dropped considerably as a result of his being a no show:

Notice that Wallace is now being discussed in the past tense at the Chronicle – “considered”.

Does anybody know what led Wallace to fail to follow through with his participation in the forum as announced yesterday? He was the last candidate scheduled to speak at the end of the four hour event, and if folks were waiting around to hear from him… eek.

I’d disagree with any notion that Wallace is no longer the front-runner (if, in fact, he is) because he failed to show for this shindig. On the other hand, and given his begging for cash this early, I’d say it’s because Wallace may have realized there was no point in bothering to show up.

Why? Either because he is in fact the pre-ordained nominee or, after he sent out his fund-raising letter, perhaps he got a call telling him someone else was, in fact the pre-ordained nominee.

While it’d be a total disaster for the GOP if Sen. Mike Jackson got the nod, keep in mind he did have that lengthy, closed-door conversation with Perry in which many insiders say CD-22 was the topic de jour more than senate business.

If Wallace is the pre-ordained nominee, showing up at something like this isn’t really necessary. After all, the GOP machine will make some phone calls, line up its votes and boom: it’s done.

If he’s not the pre-ordained nominee (PON), he probably realized there was simply no point wasting a Saturday afternoon—especially if he happens to know who the PON is.

Given that this was also in Harris County, I’m pretty sure it was mostly Sekula-Gibbs Country anyway.

Anyway, Fort Bend Now has more on the controversy surrounding the closed-door process in Harris County, including a few of the questions the potential nominees were asked to answer:

Will you vote to support a ban on all human embryonic stem cell research?

Regarding the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, does the Constitution require the separation of church and state?

Will you vote against benefits to same-sex partners of government employees?

Will you vote to support the creation of Social Security personal savings accounts for younger workers?

Will you vote to request the President to use the military in a national security role to protect our borders?

Will you vote to eliminate automatic citizenship to children born of illegal alien parents?

God Almighty! Someone should slap the Hell out of whoever wrote that question about the separation of church and state, for many, many reasons. For one thing, I’d venture to say that constitutional scholars could argue about that one ’till the cows come home with little or no agreement. And, of course, it’s just not an intraparty GOP event unless there are questions about illegal aliens and gays. I wonder if there was cake and punch, too?

Related posts:

1. Tom DeLay & “The Replacement Players”
2. Farmers Branch Adopts Anti-Immigration Measures
3. The Tooth Fairy Is Holding On Line One
4. 80th Legislature: Some Progress Made On Anti-Discrimination Measures
5. How Will DeLay’s Replacement Be Selected?