Conservative anti-gay activist Dave Wilson will be on the March 2 primary ballot for Harris County Precinct 4 commissioner as a Democrat.
Wilson — who once hosted a fund-raiser for Republican incumbent Jerry Eversole — believes Eversole will resign his seat as a result of a corruption investigation by the FBI, and he wants voters, not the county Republican Party or county judge, to pick his successor.
County election records indicate that Wilson, 63, has voted in eight GOP primary and runoff elections since 1995, but never in a Democratic election.
Dude actually sent a ringer to sign in and file for him. Since most candidates -- such as myself -- fill out the form and have it notarized at party headquarters, Wilson would have had to prepare and notarize his form elsewhere and have his impersonator provide it.
Harris County Democratic Party Gerry Birnberg accused Wilson and the Republican Party of fraud. Not only is Wilson not a Democrat, Birnberg said, but the candidate sent a representative who signed in as Wilson and allowed himself to be introduced as Wilson to a roomful of applauding Democrats.
Birnberg said he did not realize when Wilson's representative filed his candidacy papers that it was the same Wilson who sent out 35,000 fliers in November opposing Annise Parker for mayor, in part, because of her sexual orientation.
“We would have recruited a placeholder so we could keep this charlatan out of the race,” Birnberg said.
He said local Republicans should be ashamed to “stoop to such fraudulent chicanery.”
Harris County Republican Party Chairman Jared Woodfill said, “We had absolutely nothing to do with it.”
But that's not what Wilson says, Jared, so one of you is lying.
Wilson said he did not decide until minutes before Monday's 6 p.m. filing deadline which primary to enter. He reported to the Republican headquarters, where he found Koenning and former City Council member Toni Lawrence, both of whom said last year they would run for the seat if Eversole retired.
If Lawrence or Koenning had filed in the Republican primary, Wilson said, he would have joined the race to prevent a scenario in which Eversole resigned to move aside for Koenning or Lawrence.
Meanwhile, Wilson dispatched his treasurer to Democratic Party headquarters. Just minutes before the deadline, after determining that no one else was filing as a Republican, Wilson instructed his treasurer to enter him in the Democratic primary.
So this isn't the only louse on the ballot -- and I don't refer just to the legal, Republican ones either.
Birnberg said he also asked two state agencies whether he could prevent lawyer Lloyd Oliver from running as a Democratic candidate for judge. Oliver is under indictment for illegal solicitation of clients by a lawyer. He is running for judge of Harris County Criminal Court No. 3, the bench vacated by Republican Judge Don Jackson, who was convicted last month of a misdemeanor charge of official oppression. Lawyer Judith Snively also has filed for the Democratic nomination.
Having been informed by the secretary of state's office and the Commission on Judicial Conduct that the indictment did not disqualify Oliver's candidacy, Birnberg said he will seek a resolution from the county party's executive committee authorizing him to inform voters of Oliver's “criminal circumstances.”
That meeting is Thursday evening, and I'll be in attendance.
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