Friday, August 18, 2006
How Sweet!
Mayor David Wallace of Sugar Land, Tx., had already filed as a write-in candidate for disgraced former Majority Leader Tom DeLay's old seat and was all set to go, picking up endorsements along the way.
But...hold the press, local party fat cats got together and decided, nope, Tom DeLay's initial 'hand-picked candidate' would not be the one selected. Too much political baggage, no doubt.
The Houston Chronicle reports today that Republican precinct chairs gave Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs the nod.
[P]recinct chairs, who met behind closed doors, chose Sekula-Gibbs over a handful of opponents, including Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace and former state Republican Party executive committee member Tim Turner.
But that's the end of the story, right? Well, not so fast...
It looks like some GOPers ain't too happy about the process and who got picked to run as a write-in candidate against Democratic candidate Nick Lampson and Libertarian Bob Smither. It could get U-G-L-Y!
Fort Bend County GOP Chairman Gary Gillen boycotted the meeting; and Wallace has already said he will continue his write-in campaign, no matter who the party bosses endorsed and what they spout about the need for party unity. A local community blog had earlier reported that party leaders insisted, "[o]nce [a] single candidate [was] chosen...other write-in hopefuls from the Republican Party" would withdraw.
Sekula-Gibbs had earlier said she only wanted to be a candidate with the "blessing of local Republican leaders." Obviously, her strategy was the winning one.
In the meantime, the 22nd District in Texas has moved for "toss-up" to "leans Democratic."
How sweet is that! Even sweeter when the day after election Dems pick up the House by one seat, Tom DeLay's old district.
// posted by Howling Latina @ 3:03 PM 
