Here, in PDF format, you will find a copy of the mailer that Harris County GOP Chair Jared Woodfill sent out to his flock before the election. In it you will find three things of interest. One is all the ads several candidates reported spending $5000 on. Another is the official endorsement that Roy Morales got from them; he’s the only one whom they endorsed, at least at that time. They may not have trumpeted it on the internets, but they did make their feelings known the old-fashioned way. Finally, there’s the 16-question “How much do you agree with our positions?” test, which some candidates answered but quite a few did not. For the runoff elections, here’s how many questions the candidates got “right” from the GOP’s perspective:
Annise Parker – 8 out of 16
Gene Locke – Did not respond
(For comparison, Roy got all 16 “right”. Peter Brown did not respond.)
MJ Khan – 16 out of 16
Ronald Green – Did not respond
(Pam Holm got all 16 “right”.)
Stephen Costello – 4 out of 16
Karen Derr – Did not respond
Andrew Burks – 14 out of 16
Sue Lovell – Did not respond
(Griff Griffin got 14 out of 16. Keep that in mind the next time he’s on the ballot.)
Jack Christie – 12 out of 16
Jolanda Jones – Did not respond
For the two district races (A and F), only Al Hoang (16 out of 16) responded.
You can make of this whatever you want, I’m just presenting it. From my perspective, some of the questions are inconsequential, while others are very much not. Read through the questions and answers and see for yourself what you think.
Interesting that Gene Locke didn’t respond – some have commented in the past couple of days that he seems almost intent on losing the election. He does seem to feel that he has all the endorsements he needs and that the endorsements are all that matter. He will find that the endorsements mean about as much as the silly televison ads. He has no “grassroots” behind him and that conveys an attitude that will cost him the election. He needs to take off his business suit and get off his throne and start mingling with the masses he claims to want to represent.
Interesting that the HCRP went right to “OMG she’s a big ol’ lesbian” on Parker. (And got Barney Frank’s name wrong doing it.) Stay Klassy, Jared.
Well the Republicans have pulled the “lesbian card” in concert with Stephen Hotze whose endorsement of Gene Locke no doubt will follow and what disturbs quite a few is Gene Locke seeking the endorsement. We went there, did this with Barack Obama and Rick Warren. And had we gone there, did it before the election, Barack Obama might not have won the election. Which is probably what will happen to Gene Locke. For every religious bigot in this city there are probably two rational human beings who will go out to vote not for Annise Parker but against Stephen Hotze and his ilk.
What’s odd about this is that Annise Parker has stated very clearly that she doesn’t believe the mayor’s office should be used to further equality for gays and lesbians while Gene Locke has stated very clearly that he does. Something everyone has overlooked but then everyone is merely looking at the lesbian and the African-American. That comes next with the Repubilcans. Can’t have a lesbian, can’t have an African-American. They shouldn’t have wasted their votes on Roy Morales and voted for Peter Brown instead. Which is what most probably will wish they had done by the time December 12th rolls around