In response to my last email giving the 2018 Republican Primary candidates for Bastrop County, Jeanne Raley, Chairman of the Bastrop County Republican Party, has demanded a retraction. Lest I be accused of mis-stating her position, and to give full play to her point of view, her demand in its entirety can be read here.
She takes issue with my following statement: "Chairman Jeanne Raley seeks to strengthen her position in Bastrop County Republican politics by seeking election to a second term, by fielding allied candidates for seven positions (up from the 3 she has held this last term), and through ally Don Louck's run for County Judge." I will address three of her points, each in turn.
First, Chairman Raley claims that she personally recruited no one. If accurate, point well taken. But that does not negate my opinion that seven precinct chair races have the potential to strengthen her position depending on how they go. Mrs. Raley's leadership remains the central issue of those races, even if she left the recruiting to her friends. Given that Chairman Raley's husband James is running for one of those positions, it strains my ability to give her the benefit of the doubt to believe she had no conversations with him about his run.
Second, Chairman Raley disavows any alliance with Don Loucks, who seeks a rematch election with County Judge Paul Pape. But that contradicts Mr. Louck's published remarks. Mr. Loucks ran for precinct chair last election in support of Jeanne Raley's challenge against me for the County Chairman position. He printed in his column at that time (and I paraphrase) that he would be running for precinct chair to support the new chairman [Chairman Raley] in electing true Republicans [apparently speaking of himself]. By printing that statement, he announced an alliance with Jeanne to help her get elected as chairman for the purpose of changing who gets elected locally in the future. So the two leave us with conflicting statements of alliance and wondering who to believe? Given that Mr. Loucks almost always voted in favor of every position of Chairman Raley's in the last term (I recall no exceptions), given that Chairman Raley appointed Mr. Loucks chairman of the party's candidate committee, and given that Chairman Raley instructed one precinct chair candidate up for consideration before the executive committee to hide their friendship to avoid political repercussion ("Now just keep it our little secret that we are friends. Life will be much easier for you, believe me."), I'm guessing Mr. Loucks has been the most forthright about their relationship.
The interesting thing to me in this is Chairman Raley's desire to hide and/or deny where her alliances exist. It suggests to me that she views association with herself as a net negative before the electorate. In my view, it is best to state what you stand for, identify those who will stand with you, and leave it to the voters to decide whether your position is best. But that's just me.
Third, Chairman Raley, who considers herself a Constitutional Conservative, objects to me asserting my opinions in my emails and on my blog. Umm, no comment.
Bastrop County Republican News was born as my response to Chairman Raley's significant curbing of communication to the Republican family. You can complain fruitlessly at the chair, or you can step up and make a positive difference. I chose the latter path. In my communications through this email list and my blog, I have not before now uttered a word of criticism concerning Chairman Raley. All that while, I was taking slander and/or abuse from Chairman Raley and Don Loucks in multiple forums. Now that campaign season has arrived, we the Republican family have a choice as to our local party leadership, and I will be expressing my views, and basis for them, in future emails on that subject. I will endeavor to be factual and reasoned. I will endeavor to keep my discussion on issues of policy. But I will most definitely be opinionated. And you are free to consider what I say, dig deeper, assess for yourself, and come to your own conclusions.
For now, it is enough to state that I support Dianna Greenwood for Bastrop County Chairman, and I support the re-election of County Judge Paul Pape.
Albert L. Ellison, Founder
Bastrop County Republican News
bcrnews.blogspot.com
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