Blunder: DeLay "campaign" organizes anti-Lampson swarm
Yesterday, what probably seemed like a great idea to a frustrated campaign staff that suddenly has nothing to do backfired in a big way.
As KHOU-11 reports, supporters of retiring Rep. Tom DeLay crashed a Nick Lampson campaign rally in Sugar Land, at the urgings of DeLay campaign staff. According to KHOU, the DeLay supporters effectively shut down the Lampson event. KHOU reports that assorted physical thuggery (shoving, even an assault) took place, although KTRK-13 reports that "despite a lot of yelling and verbal sparring, there was no physical violence of any kind." Police were not called.
Here are relevant excerpts from the KHOU report:
Nick Lampson, Democratic nominee for Tom DeLay's soon-to-be-vacated seat in the U.S. House tried to hold a news conference Thursday at 10 a.m. on the steps of Sugar Land's City Hall. But as soon as he stepped to the microphone, he was swarmed by approximately 30 DeLay supporters who all but prevented him from speaking.
"Even in his resignation there is corruption," Lampson said of DeLay.Suddenly, the Lampson camp found itself swarming with DeLay supporters.
"We do not want a Democrat in this area," said DeLay supporter Vera Kuhn.
All the while the Democrat struggled to talk above the roar.
[snip]
Turns out, DeLay's campaign manager is largely responsible. He admits sending an e-mail urging DeLay supporters to give Lampson a parting shot that wrecks his press conference.
When asked if he had written an e-mail that read 'Let's give Lampson a parting shot that wrecks his press conference', "We absolutely were interested in bringing out Republican activists to that press conference and letting Mr. Lampson know they don't appreciate him being a liberal from Beaumont. That is my e-mail where I was contacting Republican activists," said Chris Homa [sic], DeLay Campaign Mgr.
While it was mostly a war of words, several women at the event in support of Lampson said that they were pushed and shoved by male DeLay supporters.
One woman says she was assaulted by two different men, and that she's considering filing charges.
The KTRK report indicates that the Lampson campaign had a permit for its rally, and that the DeLay supporters did not.
Chris Homan and the rest of the DeLay campaign staff should be very thankful that this event didn't turn more violent, and result in arrests. The potential was certainly there, and that would have been an even bigger black eye than the successful effort to shut down political speech (enough of a black eye itself).
That said, there is no excuse for what should be a defunct DeLay campaign to have organized (and I use that term loosely) this chaos in the first place. Undoubtedly, an element of frustration had set in among campaign staff who joined up to help the House Majority Leader increase the Republican majority and move Republican legislation, saw him fall back to a mere member of the House, and then saw him announce plans to step away from the House altogether, all in a short span of time. Nonetheless, in this instance, some grownup should have shot down the idea of a counterprotest as follows: No good can come of this, and it's not befitting the governing party of the United States or the fine people of the district. Period.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE: KPRC-2, KHOU-11 (Homan email to DeLay supporters).
BLOGVERSATION: Texas Safety Forum, Slampo's Place.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/07/06 08:29 AM | Print | Comments (1)
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