Thursday, August 17, 2006
Republican Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson urges Republicans to vote for Libertarian Smithers in CD 22 race if no GOP consensus on write -in
The latest update on the CD 22 saga is as follows:
There is an unofficial "gathering" in Pearland tonight among Republican party leaders, party activists, and the county chairs in CD 22. The Ft. Bend County Chair is urging people to boycott the event because it is closed to the public.
Sugarland Mayor David Wallace has declared that he is running for the seat as a write-in, Houston City Councilwoman Shelly Sekula-Gibbs has said she is interested in being the Republican consensus candidate, and Harris County Tax Assessor Paul Bettancourt has said he'll consider running if he is drafted.
Because the only two candidates on the ballot are D-Lampson, and L-Smithers, many Republicans, including myself, are saying the write-in strategy has a small chance of success with one consensus candidate and no chance of success if there are two or more Republican candidates.
As a result, there is a support Smithers movement among a growing number of Republicans because he is a fiscal conservative, has pledged to caucus with Republicans and has indicated that he will not vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.
Today, Jerry Patterson weighed in with the following statement, as reported by Guidry News:
There is an unofficial "gathering" in Pearland tonight among Republican party leaders, party activists, and the county chairs in CD 22. The Ft. Bend County Chair is urging people to boycott the event because it is closed to the public.
Sugarland Mayor David Wallace has declared that he is running for the seat as a write-in, Houston City Councilwoman Shelly Sekula-Gibbs has said she is interested in being the Republican consensus candidate, and Harris County Tax Assessor Paul Bettancourt has said he'll consider running if he is drafted.
Because the only two candidates on the ballot are D-Lampson, and L-Smithers, many Republicans, including myself, are saying the write-in strategy has a small chance of success with one consensus candidate and no chance of success if there are two or more Republican candidates.
As a result, there is a support Smithers movement among a growing number of Republicans because he is a fiscal conservative, has pledged to caucus with Republicans and has indicated that he will not vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.
Today, Jerry Patterson weighed in with the following statement, as reported by Guidry News:
Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson addressed the decision facing the Republicans, concluding that backing Smither is the best alternative if a write-in campaign is unlikely to succeed:
"Republicans must focus solely on one issue. Does a write in campaign have a chance of success? If the consensus is it does not, we should seriously consider supporting Bob Smither. Nick Lampson could be the one vote that elects Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives. Bob Smither will vote for a Republican Speaker."
