This may end the suspense for the June 25 precinct convention.
Sen. Rodney Ellis
Senator Rodney Ellis has won the public support of 65 of the 125 Precinct One precinct chairs eligible to vote in the June 25 selection process for the Democratic nominee for Harris County Commissioner, Precinct One.
Today’s announcement followed the endorsement of Ellis last week by Kaye Lee, the widow of the late Commissioner El Franco Lee, and the endorsements of many community leaders and a super-majority of Democratic elected officials representing Harris County.
Senator Ellis made the following statement:
“I am very grateful and very honored to have the support of these leaders who are tasked with the responsibility of selecting the Democratic Party’s nominee for Precinct One Commissioner.
“To the these 65 precinct chairs, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support. And to those who have yet to make a decision, I will continue to work hard to earn your vote.
“The next elected commissioner will stand on the shoulders of the late, great Commissioner El Franco Lee and must honor and build on his legacy. If selected, I look forward to working in partnership with our precinct chairs to do just that and to make Harris County a better place for all of us. Roads and bridges are important, but our increasingly urbanized county needs a Democratic commissioner who will fight for so much more.
“Going along to get along won’t stop people from dying in our jail, won’t increase the local minimum wage, won’t fix our roads or prevent flooding, won’t deliver mental health care services or bring new economic opportunity to those who have been left behind.
“If we want to make those things happen, we need to fight for them – that’s what I’ve done in the State Senate and that’s the kind of Democratic spirit I’ll bring to the Commissioner’s Court.”
This was posted to Sen. Ellis’ Facebook page yesterday morning; interestingly, the first comment was an expression of doubt from Dwight Boykins, who of course is also seeking the Commissioner nomination. The chairs who have endorsed Ellis are listed in both places, which as Campos notes means that Boykins and serving Commissioner Gene Locke now know which chairs they need to target. It is also possible that some people may just change their minds, but if their experience has been anything like mine then I can say that Team Ellis has been pretty diligent about checking with them to see if anything has changed in their status. A more pressing concern may be that for whatever the reason, some of these folks may not show up on June 25. If there was ever an election in which turnout was paramount, it would be this one. Beyond that, we’ll know soon enough how accurate this count is. The Chron has more.
UPDATE: Here’s Commissioner Locke’s response to Sen. Ellis’ statement.
I received a nice, pretty, four color, glossy paper mailer from the Gene Locke campaign yesterday. I live around the corner from Our Glorious Blog Leader, but it was addressed to me personally (with my voter ID name, not what friends call me). It looked like a primary election sort of piece to the party faithful rather than a reach to The Deeply Involved. Considering that the last time I held any sort of Democratic Party office was during the Carter administration (and that was in Greene County, Missouri), it’s pretty hard to figure out why I got this – unless Locke’s got some sort of consultant who’s confused about just who this particular electorate is.
FWIW, if I were a precinct chair or otherwise in the selecting mix, I’d go for Rodney Ellis instead of the guy that Cactus Jack Cagle, Steve Radack, and Jack Morman wanted to sit next to – if for no other reason than general principle.