Averitt Not Truly Gone - He Still Holds The Cards

Sole nominee in Dist. 22, he could be elected by default

Check the logic.

Senator Kip Averitt is a sick man. He's too sick to serve
in the Texas Senate. He said so - after he filed for the
nomination. He resigned his seat in the Senate - for the
current term.

But, according to Dr. Tom Bratcher, Bosque County Republican
Chairman, he's not too sick to hold the cards as to who will
succeed him after his unexpired term has expired.

He has not resigned, not really. He is still the only
candidate for election to the next term, an event that will
take place on Nov. 2 in the General Election.

True, Governor Rick Perry called a Special Election to fill
that seat until the present term expires. It will take
place on June 22. Early voting began yesterday.

Your choice is between former Senator David Sibley and Lt.
Col. Brian Birdwell, a retired Army officer who was horribly
burned in the attack on the Pentagon on 9/11. He holds the
Legion of Merit, a Bronze Star for his service in Desert
Storm, and a Purple Heart.

Senator Sibley is a lobbyist who has represented 11 power
companies, one of the largest insurance carriers in the
state and numerous trade associations associated with
communications, insurance, electrical power and medical and
dental matters - as well as trial lawyers. Let's not forget
the trial lawyers.

Now, Senator Averitt faces a deadline to either resign his
nomination and allow the Democratic and Republican County
Chairmen to name candidates to be placed on the ballot.

If he allows that deadline, which is on a fast approaching day
in August, to pass, he will be elected by default, according
to Dr. Bratcher, a math professor at Baylor University who
supervises doctoral candidates specializing in statistics.

One is tempted to ask him to calculate the odds of that
happening.

Strange. But there it is.

His words are almost unbelievable. Just about the time you
think you have this one figured out, you find a new twist.

"Averitt has not resigned, so Averitt is on the ticket and
may run in November," says Dr. Bratcher.

"He is the only candidate."

Ergo...

Let's not go there.

"If he resigns before the date in August, then we County
Chairmen will be called on to name alternative candidates
for another Special Election."

Is it any wonder that the Senate District 22 Caucus bowed up
to the party establishment - such luminaries as McLennan
County Chairman Joe B. Hinton and former Texas
Representative and County Chairman M.A. Taylor, and elected
a committeeman and committeewoman of their own choosing in
Janet Jackson of Clifton and Jimmie Kerr of Waco?

Said Dr. Bratcher, "We revolted. What we're doing is we're
trying to make this process more responsive to the
people, from the grass roots up - and not the top down.

"Obama and the liberals have brought in a new paradigm with
their socialist government. We need to be more responsive
to the people.

"The people of the hierarchy need to be more responsive to
the people, and not just trying to stay in power...We
rejected the old way and we're embracing a new approach to
doing things."

He and the county's full complement of 9 delegates
took a full crew of alternate delegates to Dallas for the
State Convention last week and made sure, through various
committees, including the Rules Committee, that they
understand where they are going with all this.

Knowledgeable sources say the reason the wheels from Waco
didn't show up on the convention floor or in the caucus room
is that they knew they'd been beat.

Bosque County wasn't alone. They were joined by delegates
from the other 9 counties in the district.

Said Jimmie Kerr, "I talked to the new State Chairman. He
told me whatever I need, he will help me get it."

Governor Perry gave him the high sign, too, he said.

His first order of business will to be arrange a sit-down
with Joe B. Hinton to discover the true facts and figures of
which precincts are represented by the Republican Party and
which are not.

"He needs to work with me," said Mr. Kerr. "I was elected
by the people of 10 counties, not just one."

He defeated Waco attorney Chris DeCluitt by a resounding 20
votes in the caucus fight.

Still, knowledgeable sources insist that the strategy of the
Republican establishment is to place severe limits on the
numbers of convention delegates available in order to have a
greater element of control over what will happen when it
comes time to make nominations and get out the vote.

It's not so much a matter of numbers, but of which numbers
are more desirable. The question is not so much if - as it
is on the golf course in getting the ball up and down - but
how.

The new regime doesn't see it that way.

They think they're in an all-out fight with the liberal
elements of American politics to control what happens next
in the U.S.

Stay tuned.