Harris County Republican Party Run-Off Analysis & Endorsements

I am writing today as the newly elected Harris County Republican Precinct Chair 0682. I want to thank everyone who supported and voted for me in the March 2, 2010 Election. We now have much work to do to ensure that “true conservative” values are on the ballot for November. The first way we can do this is by voting in the upcoming Run-off Election being held on April 13, 2010. Early Voting begins on April 5, 2010 and ends on April 9, 2010. It is very important to go out to vote in this Run-off Election.

I also want to call to your attention to a publication called The Link Letter. The Link Letter is a publication who endorses candidates in the Primary Elections, however there is one thing you as a voter need to understand about The Link Letter, it is a paid for endorsement publication, and is edited by Terry Lowry the host of the "What's Up Radio Program". What this means is that The Link Letter sells campaign advertising in exchange for an endorsement, you can also read more about this issue at Big Jolly Politics where you will find great analysis and detail regarding this situation. There are other publications in Harris County that do the same such as Conservative Republicans of Harris County by Dr. Steven F. Hotze, but the most noted is The Link Letter. So beware that when you use these publications in the voting booth you are supporting this type behavior.

It is my opinion that the best way to ensure you are voting for the best candidate is to do your own research and rely on your Precinct Chair to give their opinion as to who the best candidates are. Your Precinct Chair in most cases will have already performed the research about each candidate and should be able to provide you with answers about candidates. I myself have promised to educate the voters of Precinct 0682 and I am certainly living up to that promise. I have performed the research and will be provided my analysis and endorsements in this blog posting as well as I have sent out letters to voice my opinion. The remainder of this blog posting will focus on the analysis and endorsements of each candidate for the Run-off Election on April 13, 2010.

Analysis & Endorsements:

Justice Supreme Court Place 3 - This race is simply a race of experience versus non-experience. If you look at the pure qualifications of the two candidates that will sit on the highest court in Texas you will find that one stands-out above the other. Rick Green is currently a motivational speaker and former Texas State Representative, he does not have any Judicial or Courtroom Experience, he claims to be an author but I am not able to find any publications with his name associated, he is being endorsed by only one former Supreme Court Justice, his Judicial Philosophy is unknown, and the biggest question mark for me is that he has multiple ethics complaints. I am not even sure if Rick Green is practicing law at this time, as search on the State Bar of Texas website produced one Ricky Green, but it says this Rick Green graduate with a law degree from SMU, but candidate Rick Green graducated from UT law school according to his website. In a nutshell Rick Green is not qualified to run for Supreme Court of Texas. Judge Debra Lehrmann on the other hand is extremely qualified, she is currently a District Judge with 22 years of Juidical experience and is a former prosecutor and courtroom attorney, she is an award winning author of legal books and treatises. Judge Lehrmann is endorsed by 5 former Supreme Court Justices including former Chief Justice Tom Philips, she has also proven herself as a conservative judge who is a strict constructionist and never legislates from the bench. She has no ethical complaints and has an exceptional appellate record. You can clearly see the clear choice here is Judge Debra Lehrmann.

District Judge 180th District Court - Again this race is simply experience vs. non-experience. Danny Dexter is relying on pay for play endorsements to ensure he gets elected. He has contributed to The Link Letter, and other publications for an endorsement in their publication. You can easily see this behavior by researching the Texas Ethics Commission website to view the Campaign Finance Reports to see the contributions and then you will see the endorsements within the publications. Mr. Dexter has not had a case in 6 years. Mr. Dexter talks about his record at the DA's office but when you really analyze the data he is mis-representing his successes. Do you really want someone who has not practiced in 6 years the next judge of this court?? Big question mark for me. On the other hand Marc Brown has been at the DA's office for 22 years and was hired by Johnny Holmes. Marc has received many awards and assigned to many very important and high profile cases over the last 22 years. He currently has been appointed by DA Pat Lykos to oversee Prosecutors in the Grand Jury Division. As you can see the clear choice is Marc Brown.

Family District Judge 308th - In this race the experience level is roughly the same, and both candidates are qualified to perform the job, however for me I am endorsing the candidate who has ran the cleanest race and who has not had to go out and pay for endorsements to win this race. My opinion is that if you have to pay to get and endorsement then what are you hiding that you need these endorsements to get elected. The two candidates who are running in this race are Alice J. O'Neill and James Lombardino. As I said my endorsement is going to the person who has run the cleanest race, and that would be Judge Alice J. O'Neill. If a candidate for judge runs a clean race they would point out clear facts about their opponent, however there have been some false accusations thrown out about Judge O'Neill, therefore if a candidate for judge is not stating facts will they really sit on the bench and judge a case based on facts. This is a huge question for me, in any situation facts are the key to the truth. Therefore, I respect Judge O'Neill for sticking to the facts and making the facts known in this race. Vote Judge Alice J. O'Neill in this race.

Harris County Republican Party Chairman - This race is simply a race for Leadership. The current Party Chairman Jared Woodfill has not provided the kind of Leadership we need in the Harris County Republican Party. Over the last 8 years Mr. Woodfill has allowed our Republican base dwindle which has resulted in huge losses to Democrats in the last 8 years. He has all but admitted this by appointed a new team to lead an effort in 2010 to put a plan together to stop the bleeding in the November elections. Over the last few months we have seen Mr. Woodfill react to situations that he would not have normally reacted to in the past, but it is an election year and he is in a tough run-off with Ed Hubbard. Ed Hubbard on the other hand has a true plan and leadership to take the party to the next level. Mr. Hubbard's plan can be found on his website click here and is ready for implementation. Mr. Hubbard doesn't need a special team to help candidates get elected in November, he understands that the team was there the whole time, and that is the Precinct Chairs. Mr. Hubbard understands the value of the Precinct Chairs and how important they are in getting candidates elected to office. As a result of this understanding of Leadership and he is the only candidate with a true plan for the future, I support and endorse Ed Hubbard for Harris County Republican Party Chair.

I hope this analysis adds value to your choice when you get out to vote. Just remember we want the best and "true conservatives" to win in November. Feel free to email me at ead1125@sbcglobal.net or call me at 832-969-3047.

Eric Dumatrait, Newly Elected Precinct Chair 0682

Dumatrait Enters Republican Precinct Chair 682 Race

Today I have announced that I am officially running for the Republican Precinct Chair 0682 Race. After, thoughtful consideration and research I feel it is best for our precinct that we elect people with true conservative values. One of the best ways to do this is to create a strong grassroots effort that will make a difference in the county, Texas and across the nation. My main goals and objectives for the Precinct are as follows:

1. Turn out the vote for true conservative candidates, including local elections such as city and school board elections.

2. Re-connect the voter to the Republican Party.

3. Recruit a volunteer base that will be strong and solid for years to come that drives the grassroots effort.

How to achieve the above objectives?:

In order to turn out the vote for true conservatives and re-connect voters with the party we need to provide adequate communications to all voters in the precinct.

A. The technological communication methods that should be used are the common social networking sites today such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Rebuild the Party to name a few.

B. Create a Precinct Newsletter that will give voters guidance of who are the true conservatives.

C. The newsletter can also be the forum for the periodic status reports required to be communicated to the electorate as one of the functions of precinct chairman set out in the document Precinct Chair Mission and Responsibilities of Precinct Chairman.

In order to recruit a volunteer base that will be strong and solid for years to come, we will need to begin a campaign to inform the voters.

A. People in the precinct are willing to volunteer but they need to understand how they can get involved.

B. Create a volunteer communication that will allow the voters to understand how they can get involved.

C. Canvass the precinct to communicate to voters the need to get involved. We need to put a personal touch on how important it is that they be involved.

D. I am not opposed to the old fashion phone calling.

E. Use the social networking sites, blogs, wiki’s, etc. to provide guidance to the voters as to the importance of the grassroots involvement.

We currently have 4,217 voters in the precinct as of the 2008 elections, this is a decrease from 2006. Voter turnout in non-presidential election years stays between 29 to 30 percent, which means only 1,220 of the 4,217 voters are voting in the precinct. We need to increase voter turnout for every election including the Constitutional Amendments. So you might ask, how can we get the voters to turnout. In my opinion the voter only votes if they are informed about the issues and how it impacts them personally. Thus, as precinct chair one of my main goals is to upgrade our communication process to ensure that the voters of the precinct will be informed and can vote with confidence as knowledge is power. I want to take this power of the voter and turn it into the strongest precinct in Harris County, and with the support of the voters I can make that happen. I will build a strong team within the precinct that will provide a strong grassroots effort to protect our county, state, and nation from the threat of a soft tyranny takeover.

Please join me in this effort by electing me Precinct Chair 0682, together we will be the true conservative voice we need.

Thank you and have a blessed day.

Eric Dumatrait