I met up with long-time Republican activist and former precinct chair Don Large as he filed his paperwork to officially enter the race for chair of the Harris County Republican Party on Thursday, December 10, 2009. While we were in the HCRP office, current State Rep. Allen Fletcher stopped by to file for re-election.

Mr. Large's press release:

Today, I am filing for the office of Chairman of the Harris County Republican Party.

Over the past two and a half months since I started my campaign, I have travelled across Harris County, speaking with precinct chairs, grass-roots activists, candidates, and elected officials.

Our Harris County Republican Party is at a serious crossroads.  We have lost straight ticket voting in both 2006 and 2008.  Most of our countywide judicial candidates lost in 2008.  The Democrats had 410,000 primary voters compared to our 179,000 primary voters.  We can and we must do better.

The incumbent in this office has said that "Leadership Matters."  However, results and actions matter.  On that basis, the incumbent has failed to lead.

I want a party that serves its precinct chairs, candidates, nominees, and elected officials, not the other way around.

I will be a County Chairman who will be zealously neutral during primary campaigns.  The day after the runoff elections are over in April, I will work tirelessly day and night to lead a better coordinated campaign that will elect our Republican nominees all across the county.  We will have coordinated fundraising, coordinated blockwalking, coordinated paid, earned, and social media, and coordinated volunteers for both early vote and Election Day.

I will provide precinct chairs the resources and training they need to identify new Republican voters, to spread our positive, reform message, and to help identify up and coming Republicans in their precincts.

I will provide more opportunities for both candidates and elected officials to have sustained candidate training, in every aspect of campaigning in the third largest county in the country.

I will make certain that our Party has transparency in its operations and its finances.  Like Greg Meyers at HISD, I believe you should you know, in real time, what our income is, and what our expenditures are.  This is the money that you and our supporters have invested in us and our message; they deserve no less.

Friends, today I file to humbly serve you all as the next Chairman of the Harris County Republican Party.  As you know, I have been active with the party my entire adult life, having served five terms as a precinct chairman in the last thirteen years, having been elected to five state and two national conventions, and having ran for both countywide and in a northside legislative district.  I am the best choice to lead our party forward, spread our positive message to our base voters, independents, and persuadable voters of the other party, in every community and neighborhood and legislative district across Harris County.

I ask for your help in this endeavor.  I ask for your support.  I ask for your vote next March 2, 2010.  Together, we can ensure that the Republican Party of Harris County can be the majority party in this county for years and election cycles to come.

I look forward to speaking with you further.  I look forward to coming out to your precincts to blockwalk.

Warmly yours,

DON LARGE

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A few pictures:

 

Don Large gets assistance from Sharon Hicks.

Don Large smiles as his paperwork is notorized.

He hopes that his name is on one of those plaques.

 

I spoke with Don for about 45 minutes after his filing. He seems to have a good grasp of the current situation with the HCRP and has some interesting ideas for strengthening the party. I will have more on that next week as I present the plans that each of the four candidates have. While I was at the office yesterday, I heard a rumor that a fifth and possibly sixth candidate would enter the fray. I'll certainly include their issues, the more the merrier, as they say.

Just as Don was finishing up his filing, in walked State Rep, Allen Fletcher (R-130) to file for re-election. I was a bit surprised because it was just before 4:00 pm and he was having the grand opening of his office in Tomball at 4:00 pm! Needless to say, we didn't have a chance to chat, although he did show me a picture of his grandkids. He hurriedly paid his filing fee and filled out the paperwork, then zoomed off to his opening.

 

Allen Fletcher files for re-election.