Tea party whisper campaign bests Demo candidate

Incumbent Joe Mashek, Tokio Store owner Al Cinek, and
Will Jones work Precinct 3 polling place in West 

West – After months of a quiet campaign by supporters of a Republican Tea Party candidate who insisted a Democratic native of West had not been paying his child support, voters reversed by nearly 2 to 1 a historical preference for the Party of Jefferson.

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Will Jones, who ran an unsuccessful race for McLennan County Republican Chairman in 2010, bested Brian Scott by the typical 60/40 split conservatives deliver to vote against President Obama in local races where the president is not on the ballot.

Mr. Scott is a former staff member of 10-term District 17 Democratic Representative Chet Edwards and a native of West whose family has been in the car business for many decades.

When early in October he finally spoke out against a rumor that he has not been making child support payments ordered by an area court, the idea had taken a firm hold in the minds of voters in the precinct that encompasses the Czech community of West, Gholson, and Ross.(click here for an interview about the matter)

His opponent, a millionaire named Will Jones, a co-founder of the Waco Tea Party who won the Texas Lottery and manages his wealth full time after graduating from Baylor University's school of business, denied he ever propagated the false rumor about Mr. Scott's arrangements with the Court.

The truth is, Mr. Scott has made his payments all along, but at a reduced rate negotiated in arduous court proceedings due to a drastic reduction of his income. Somehow, his detractors got the message distorted, and reported by rumor and innuendo that he had not made his payments.

Mr. Scott supplied numerous court documents to refute the falsehood, but to no avail. The negative rumor had cost him a lot of votes in his home town, and the conservative vote from inside the Loop 340 in west Waco neighborhoods and along Lakeshore Dr. carried the day.

By 3 p.m., said incumbent Precinct 3 County Commissioner Joe Mashek, who first changed to the Republican Party, then abruptly announced he would not seek re-election late in 2011, some 800 persons had cast ballots in Box 3 at the West Library. By 5:30, according to election officials, nearly 300 more had voted, bringing the total to a high number, “but not by old standards,” said Mr. Mashek. These young kids today just don't vote.”