An Effort to Circumvent a Tarrant County Election?

An Effort to Circumvent a Tarrant County Election?

By

James Scott Trimm

One of the most decisive countywide victories in the Tarrant County Primary was the election of Tim O’Hare for Tarrant County GOP Chair.  Tim won 67% of the vote, a much greater margin than most other winners in our 2016 primary.  David Wylie, Tim’s opponent, was a class act in calling Tim that night to graciously congratulate him on his win.  But not everyone that opposed Tim’s election would be so gracious.

Tim was endorsed and supported by a wide range of key conservative party leaders, far to numerous to list here.  They included leaders of the local Tea Party and 912 groups, Republican Elected Officials, Conservative Talk Radio Hosts, Home School and Religious liberty groups etc.  You can click here to see the list on Tim’s website. (In full disclosure, I myself endorsed Tim O’Hare.)

Some individuals who opposed Tim have now attempted to cast Tim’s victory as a fluke, comparable to the strange election ofRobert Morrow as County Chair of the Travis County GOP.  This is a completely unfair comparison.  Unlike Morrow, Tim had the support of many party leaders and very wide margin. The people knew who Tim was because he was substitute Conservative Talk Show host in the area.  Tim’s victory was no fluke, it was a very decisive, conscious decision of the voters.

A Conspiracy?

While most of the party was behind Tim, a small group within the inner circle of the Executive Committee of the Tarrant County Republican Party were not so happy with the prospect of Tim O’Hare as a leader. 

Two months ago (back in January) information was leaked to me that "the people who normally make the rules" in the TC GOP EC had a plan that if Tim O'Hare was elected, to change the rules to "strip the county chair of any real power". Now as a blogger I do not want to reveal my source, and I have kept names out of it, so lets just call this a rumor.

Now, since the election Aaron Harris of Direct Action Texas (who was not my source back in January) has dropped a bomb posting:

It's unfortunate how the Ron Paulers in Tarrant County, the very ones who claim to not like central control and bureaucracy, are now working to create an "executive committee within the executive committee" to centrally control everything - and of course name themselves to said committee. They believe they and they alone have the definition of what the party should be and therefore should protect it from the incoming chair, who was elected with 67% of the republican vote.

It is offensive to me, and should be to everyone who voted for Tim O'Hare, that Bill Eastland and Jeremy Blosser, think they know what is best and want to name themselves rulers of the party. Oh how times have changed with these folks and the hypocrisy is very telling.

Jeremy Blosser responded to this allegation saying:

I appreciate those of you that have contacted me directly to ask what, if any, of this is true. As I said at the meeting Saturday, we will handle the rules recommendations for next cycle the same way we always do, with the *elected* Rules Committee meetings you all are welcome to attend and testify at and view the votes of, and with chair-elect Tim O'Hare letting us know what he'd like to see. Ultimately, the recommendations he makes to the EC for rule changes will be whatever he chooses.

By the grace of God, I remain as committed to transparency and fairness as I always have been. If you have questions, please just call, or attend the meetings and participate once they are scheduled.

Yesterday I spoke for two and a half hours with Bill Eastland who was very honest and upfront about his intentions, denying that it was ever a “secret” or a “conspiracy”.  Bill expressed to me that he had his concerns about Tim O’Hare and admitted openly that in his “ideal world” he would like try to push through rules changes that would transfer all of the non-statutory powers of the County Chair to a Steering Committee and to make the County Chair nothing more than a figure head and spokesperson for the party.  Bill and I debated this for hours and agreed to disagree. 

Circumventing an Election?

Tim O’Hare was supported by a large number of conservative leaders and won the election by a very wide margin, getting 67% of the vote.  This wide of a margin with this kind of endorsement support is what is commonly known as a “mandate”.  The voters have spoken loudly and clearly.  It would be just plain wrong for an inner circle of the Tarrant County Executive Committee to now rewrite the rules so as to circumvent the results of this election by radically redefining the office of Tarrant County Chair and attempt to strip it of powers after the election is over!  To strip the office of County Chair of its powers and transfer those powers to an elite inner circle within the Executive Committee is wrong!

The best possible way for someone to prove this rumor was true, would be for the inner circle to try to move forward with this plan.  Lets let Tim O'Hare do the job he was elected by the people to do!