Three against one?

Bob Dunn does a little sleuthing to divine who might be in a strong position to become the Chosen One to replace Tom DeLay as the Republican nominee in CD22 by the Gang of Four precinct chair committee. Naturally, he looks to the moneybags to see who they’re supporting:

So if political king-maker Bob Perry’s putting his money on a candidate, you’d have to figure that candidate has better than average odds, right?

Strangely enough, it appears Bob Perry is placing his bet on someone other than [Sugae Land Mayor] David Wallace.

That would be Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who’s been planning an eventual run at DeLay’s seat for years. She says she’s got Bob Perry’s exclusive support in the race.

In a fund-raising letter, Sekula-Gibbs notes Perry among “Republican leaders and pro-business icons” supporting her campaign. The other mentioned icons are retired Reliant Energy board chairman Don Jordan, Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership President Jim Reinhartsen, and some guy named Jim Baker. Ever heard of him?

Sekula-Gibbs has not been considered a household name in Fort Bend County, but she’s been working hard to change that. Saturday, for instance, she took the time to drive through a downpour to Richmond, to pow-wow with Fort Bend County Precinct Chair Pat Hebert.

If her efforts to win over the Gang of Four cause her to miss a few City Council votes, all I can say is that would be a win-win situation.

More interesting to me is this tidbit:

Rumors are running strong that an attempt is afoot to pack those 38 vacant [precinct chair] seats [in Fort Bend County] with new precinct chairs beholden to one or another favored candidate.

Yvonne Dewey, GOP chair in Brazoria County, says if the rest of the counties perceive that’s what’s going on in Fort Bend, unhappiness may ensue, along with a simple strategy that applies to the Committee of Four:

“They have one precinct chair” on the committee, Dewey said of Fort Bend County, “and we have three.”

As for grumbling in some Fort Bend quarters about Brazoria and Galveston counties each getting a 25% say in picking DeLay’s successor despite have far fewer voters in CD-22 than Fort Bend, Dewey offered a Bible lesson:

“The first shall become last and the last shall become first.”

It’s always good to see a little potential disunity percolating. If only DeLay had trusted the democratic process and dropped out before the primary, none of this would be happening. Which, admittedly, would be a lot less fun, but that’s the price you pay for doing the right thing.

Greg in TX22 comments on a different part of this article, on the race to be the FBC Gang of Four representative. I’m going to miss all this when it’s over and done with.

Finally, this Chron article on the eventual passage of HB3 by the Senate on Tuesday contains a relevant tidbit about the motivations of Sen. Mike Jackson for his holdout and eventual sandaling on bringing the bill to the floor.

[Steven] Hotze denied rumors that he got Jackson to change positions by promising him the nomination for the congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land. DeLay has said he plans to resign by June.

“I don’t even live close to that district. I don’t have any influence there,” Hotze said. “There’s no way I could promise anyone that I could help them.”

Jackson said he is interested in running for DeLay’s seat, but he said he and Hotze never discussed it in relation to the tax bill.

A rumor to this effect was noted in the comments here. All I can say is give me a break. Does Steven Hotze, the Harris County GOP kingmaker for the last decade, seriously expect me to believe he carries no clout with these precinct chairs just because he lives outside of CD22? Please.

For what it’s worth, Rhymes with Right thinks that Jackson’s eventual accomodation of HB3 harms his chances of replacing DeLay on the ballot. So who knows?

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