This past week, we began a discussion regarding John Edwards' place as a keynote for Democratic fundraisers in the near future. Most in this community understood the political consequences of a troubled Edwards headlining a fundraiser, although some seemed to wish we did not have to act harshly in response to a revelation about his private life.
The good thing is, we don't have to. As reported by the Houston Chronicle:
Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards no longer has an engagement in Houston.
On Monday, he rescinded his pledge to speak in Houston at the annual fundraising gala for the Harris County Democratic Party on Sept. 20.
The party had touted the 2004 vice presidential nominee for months as the keynote speaker for the event, which was expected to raise up to $150,000.
But the speech became a casualty of Edward's 2006 extramarital affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter. Edwards admitted the affair Friday after denying it for months.
Edwards sent word to Houston-area Democrats Monday "that his family and he need some time in private and requested that we replace him as featured speaker," the county party said on its Web site.
"We have advised Senator Edwards that we understand completely his need to remove himself from this event and have expressed our sincere concern for his family and him in these difficult times."
This should be win-win for all parties involved. The JRR dinner should still have a prominent speaker -- he or she will be named later.
I assume most of our readers hear know now of John Edwards' extramarital affair. If not, the National Enquirer broke the story, and Edwards admitted to it on ABC.
The Burnt Orange Report didn't make any significant posts regarding the former senator's love life. We saw no need to -- we are a Texas based website. Carl Whitmarsh posed a good question in one of his email blasts, though:
Since it appears that Senator Obama and staff do not feel John Edwards is now appropriate to speak before the Democratic National Convention in Denver, the question becomes Is Edwards appropriate to speak before the Johnson-Rayburn-Richards Dinner in Houston? Without passing judgment, who is going to fill those $135 seats to hear a self admitted liarand adulterer who cheated on his cancer stricken wife?
The local party's key fundraiser will take place September 20 this year. Every year a top figure in national Democratic politics flies to Houston to help us out. (When I volunteered two years ago, Russ Feingold spoke to us.) Enough GOP scandals exist in the county, and we can't have a guy with Edwards' new stain being our headliner if we want to win big.
Most likely, the Dems in Harris County don't stand alone in this dilemma. Chances are that he was scheduled for other speaking arrangements in the future in Texas. For those explicitly for the Democratic cause, I sincerely hope his spot is replaced.
But with who? I'm sure there are many options out there. In Harris County, at least, we receive the little national press attention dedicated to House seats the Republicans have a chance of taking. Houston also has one of the best Mayors in Bill White, who stays out of specific races but still a strong Democrat. Intersecting in the county are also the two state races where Democrats look to gain in the US House, CD10 and CD07.
It can't be that hard. We should be able to find someone who will want to help us. The main problem is the clock that's ticking. Obama might find it easier replacing Edwards for the Convention because, well, all the possible speakers are scheduled to be there anyways. Unfortunately, us smaller events in Texas have some scrambling to do.
Update 11:35 PM: I just read Elizabeth Edwards' comments. They're a short and good read. It speaks from a point of view other than John's that this was truly a mistake. I'm glad to learn from Elizabeth that it was something handled privately with the family when it happened in 2006. Such inner-family honesty shows true courage. Unfortunately, such courage is not what is coupled with the honesty in most media reports. Hopefully John Edwards can spend any public time dealing on non-partisan issues, such as his championing of poverty, while this passes over. Then, I can only imagine, both Edwards can fully return to the political arena to give their help to the world.
I recently attended a meeting held by some of Harris County’s precinct officials and election judges, most of whom are extremely hard working and deeply committed volunteers. A subset of this group has formed a committee to investigate voter suppression and integrity concerns in Harris County (Houston area). They toil away relentlessly in a tireless attempt to guarantee equal and fair access to the county’s elections in this Tom Delay gerrymandered state. This is no small feat given the GOP is in charge of about everything here. The challenges the volunteers face are significant and difficult. Fortunately for voting Democrats in Harris County, we have such committed and patriotic defenders of both our state and national Constitutional rights. We had better hope and pray they never give up because as it stands now, our democracy here is hanging on by mere shreds.
Our mayor in Houston is supposed to be a Democrat and yet he failed to give this group’s selected committee members the respect, time and appreciation they deserve for their well founded research, data and findings. In fact, he was more deferential to the GOP county clerk’s people present and wasted 30 minutes of the mere 60 minutes allocated by spinning irrelevant yarns about this that and everything except voting issues.
For this appalling reason I decided to write to the mayor and to also post my letter to him as a journal. I think it is high time for Texas Democrats to take the fight to the people who are running and very likely messing with our election outcomes, as well as those officials who chose to do nothing to stop the contemptible and downright illegal shenanigans.
Should Harris County, the most populated in Texas, flip blue, the Texas GOP will be in a big world of hurt. It is for this reason alone that I believe the GOP will do everything it can get away with to purge/scrub/cancel voter rolls, provide inadequate, pre-rigged, and/or mal-functioning voting machines to mostly minority and poor district, and engage in beyond the pale voter intimidation. Indeed in Harris County, the election folks have come up with a “potential felons” list with names that will likely be scrubbed from the rolls. What in heaven’s name is a “potential felon?” That could be anyone now that our Constitutional rights have been flushed down the toilet by the crooked. lying and incompetent Bush Administration.
It is time to hold the elections’ folks feet to the fire, as well as those of their supervisors, and the Secretary of State.
