I've been trying to ID some of the thugs that went down on Thursday to intimidate the Nick Lampson press conference.
McJoan,
mini mum, and Susan's pictures over at
Juanita's got me interested in the story, which I have been adding to McJoan's entry, but I think it's important enough (and more concise) to summarize here. I won't rehash the Lampson story, it's diaried enough.
Many of us have felt a similarity towards what happened on Thursday to the fake Florida riots of 2000, where a bunch of Republican staffers went down to Florida to discourage the election recount. And what's more, it's a Delay signature tactic, since his office arranged both incidents.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the Miami incident, this picture says it all:
Details are also in the Robert Greenwald documentary Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election. And it's the same thing: Republicans trying to intimidate people by threat of violence into doing their will.
The best evidence I could find were these emails obtained by KHOU in houston. As I've said on another thread, you have to register to read the article and I think it too much of a hassle. I'll paste the emails here:
----- Original Message -----
From: Cress Ann Posten
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 7:26 PM
Subject: Attention All Who Support Tom DeLay....
Attention all who support Tom DeLay...
Tomorrow morning (Thursday, April 6), Nick Lampson is holding a press conference to demand that Governor Perry immediately schedule a special election to replace Tom DeLay.
Hmmm. Exactly who is Nick Lampson to demand that Governor Perry circumvent the law?
Chris Homan is organizing a rally to show support for Tom tomorrow morning, (Thursday, April 6).
Meet tomorrow morning (Thursday, April 6) at 9:45am on the first floor of the parking garage attached to the Marriott Town Center, in Sugar Land.
**IMPORTANT NOTE**--Please call the campaign office at 281-343-1333 and let them know if you can attend, or email Leonard Cash (click on link to his name below) so that they can get a head count.
----- Original Message -----
From: chris homan
To: `Cress Ann Posten'
Cc: `Leonard Cash'
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 6:10 PM
Subject: FW: LAMPSON CALLS FOR MAY 13 SPECIAL ELECTION
We would meet tomorrow morning at 9:45 am on the first floor of the parking garage attached to the Marriott. Please get folks to call our campaign office 281.343.1333 and let us know they can do it - or e-mail Leonard Cash (in the cc field above) so that we can get some head count. Let's give Lampson a parting shot that wrecks his press conference.
My first thug catch was Leonard Cash, who I found to be on the
Tom Delay's Congressional Committee payroll. Another hat tip to play jury for this CNN
video. If you watch the end, you will see a "Delay supporter" named...Leonard Cash. I'm surprised to see he used his real name.
Next, I searched for Cress Ann Posten. She's on the State Republican Executive Committee, Senate District #18, if you want to contact her and tell her how you feel about Republicans assaulting the elderly. I didn't see her in the videos or pictures, but a photo of her is here. Use the dropdown menu below the seal to #28, she's the last woman in the picture. Might come in handy when Susan puts more pictures up of the thuggery.
Susan had emailed me this:
The guy in the white tee-shirt in picture #3 on my site (looks like he just left a COPS taping) is Ken Dexter. He's a defeated GOP candidate for Tax Assessor-Collector here in the county. He's also the current foreman of the Grand Jury.
We have not IDed the guy who pushed Marsha.
By the way, please let the folks know that (1) Juanita is almost-real. I'm her creator and act just like her all the time. AND (2) I just talked to Marsha and other than some soreness she's doing fine--- just a little shook. She is making a decision of whether or not to file a civil suit.
Susan
Fort Bend Democrats is having a Grand Opening on Saturday.
www.fortbenddemocrats.org
Marsha and Nick Lampson will be there.
Susan
Can this really be Ken Dexter here?
I'm going to contact some Texas Democrats later in the morning and see if we can get any more IDs on these bastards. As I've said in the other thread, hopefully some of you can make it to Fort Bend this weekend to show support for Nick Lampson and a brave woman who stood up to a bunch of knuckle draggers. Any other sleuths out there that want to help, it would be appreciated.
Update Bluerevolt photo ID's Ken Dexter in the comments, he's the guy stuck in the 70's in the second picture on Juanita's. I've contacted some Texas democrats for some help on recognition. Delay campaign manager Chris Homan (even though Delay has no campaign) admits to the tactic and shows no remorse. In fact, we have an admission from another State Republican Executive Committee member , Theresa Raia and her husband (District #17), that she was there. The comments section of the Fort Bend Now website reveal something illuminating as well: Republicans complaining that the Delay thugs do not represent their views. As I've diaried earlier, the show of dissent by moderate Republicans towards ugly behavior by the party is a affront to the past rubber stamping of these same ugly behaviors.
There are more pictures here. One shows a guy arguing with Martha, but obviously not the white t-shirt guy. Jolpaj has a diary here that the disruption of the press conference may be illegal. More updates later...
Update 2:I've made a few more identifications, but have decided against naming them because they're don't hold Republican Party positions. Do I condemn what they have done? Yes. But I think it more damning to name the leaders of this stunt than to name the followers.
Over at
Juanita's, she got an email from the Lampson campaign thanking Republicans for being vocal about the disgraceful actions of their peers. Juanita says:
I'm delighted to hear that some local Republicans far classier than the nasties who showed up yesterday. Good on 'um!
I will always support civil discourse about the differences between ideologies—I personally know several great and kind people who are Republicans, and hope that people here would speak out the same if the Sugarland shoe were on the other foot. After all, there are Republicans, and there are, as Juanita has coined, "Repummelcans".