Fort Bend GOP Threatens Legal Action - Against Each Other

To continue where I left off, the Grinch, Fort Bend GOP Chair Gary Gillen, is trying to steal Christmas from the Party. Well, the February Lincoln Day Dinner fundraiser, anyway. Gary, who is an exterminator, secretly formed a PAC in July to take control of the dinner, which the Fort Bend GOP executive committee only found out about recently. There has been a lot of public finger pointing, hollering and all around good old fashioned family holiday time hatefulness over this issue. My gosh, you would think Gillen had hired Nancy Pelosi to run the dinner! They all suited up and met on the field last night at called meeting of the executive committee. Bob Dunn of Fort Bend Now has the color commentary: The Fort Bend County Republican Party Executive Committee acted to assert control of the coveted Lincoln Day fund-raising event on Thursday night, giving the party vice chairman authority to hire a lawyer to protect the party’s interests – possibly from its own chairman.

In a remarkable meeting that began with more than a dozen impassioned speeches and ended only after several votes overruling procedural decisions by Fort Bend County Republican Party Chairman Gary Gillen, the party’s executive committee approved a series of resolutions intended to thwart Gillen’s recently stated intent to operate the Lincoln Day Dinner event through a political action committee.

Gillen was defiant in the face of the actions by the executive committee – which is made up of Fort Bend County’s elected Republican precinct chairs – and said after the meeting the resolutions aren’t legally binding and won’t change his plans to proceed with the event under the control of Fort Bend Republican P.A.C.

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Gillen appeared unshaken by the night’s events.

“We have an excellent speaker in Fred Barnes, and we have an excellent location. A committee is in place, I have signed the contracts, and we are going forward with the event,” Gillen said after the meeting. “This is simply an example of the mean-spiritedness of this group of individuals.”

And, there is this hilarity: Hrbacek then approached the microphone, saying he was seeking clarification. “My understanding is…you executed the contract as Gary Gillen, chairman.” “I don’t believe so,” Gillen said. Hrbacek then unfolded what appeared to be an enlarged copy of a contract document, saying “let me refresh your memory.” A copy of the contract obtained during the meeting, which appeared to be with the Marriott, bore Gillen’s signature and was dated July 10, 2006. Under “title,” Gillen had apparently printed “chairman.” After looking at the paper Hrbacek held in front of him, Gillen then told precinct chairs he had made himself chairman of the fund-raising event, which is why he printed “chairman.” Numerous audience members hooted at the explanation. Gillen just won't stop with the "I'm a little man in charge of a big event" attitude: Gillen began reading an agenda item, when a precinct chairman asked him if we were not going to answer questions other chairman had asked him. “I’ve made my statement just as you all have made yours,” Gillen replied Another precinct chair stood and asked why Gillen wasn’t providing names of the members of the committee he had selected to serve on the PAC. “Two members of the committee asked me not to reveal their names until after Christmas,” Gillen replied, to numerous jeers from the crowd. The final resolution that the executive committee passed is going to provide the Christmas gift that keeps on giving: That Vice Chairman Linda Howell is “authorized and directed to retain special legal counsel to advise the party on measures necessary to protect its name, reputation, rights and property.” And, Howell is authorized to “implement actions” the special counsel deems necessary “to protect the party’s Lincoln Reagan Dinner scheduled for Feb. 17, 2007, at the Sugar Land Marriott.” You'd really think that after this summer, this group would be tired of legal battles. I guess they got a taste of being beat in court and liked it.