By Ronnie Lewis
Everyone remember getting those letters in the mail from precinct chairs they had never heard from before? In the letter they embarrassingly introduced themselves and explained the duties of a precinct chair. They also bragged about how they will keep you informed and begged for your vote, but tried desperately to deny you your right to vote for County Chair.
Well, last week those same precinct chairs and Tisha Crow met to vote on endorsing candidates. And they voted on endorsing each other! A room full of precinct chairs that were appointed by each other, voted to endorse each other. Let me say that again. The same precinct chairs that appointed each other, voted to endorse each other.
“Endorsed by the Ector County Republican Party” is a scam. And it’s totally misleading. The only precinct chair that voted against this was Richard Pierce, the only…the only precinct chair elected by the voters. They denied Pierce the endorsement and endorsed Mayor Joven. Joven is running against Richard in precinct 204 (Permian High School area). Mayor Joven lost to Pierce in 2022 election. After his loss, Tisha appointed Joven as executive director of the ECRP. Voters said no, but Mayor gets a seat at the table anyway. Tisha and her precinct chairs don’t care about the voters!
Guys, I’ve been telling you for a year that the current Ector County Republican Party is made up of about 20 or 30 people that all vote for each other and endorse each other. Back in the fall, Precinct Chair 207 Ned Luscombe told a voter that he wouldn’t sign for Donna Kelm because with Tisha as County Chair, “we can get the candidates we want elected”. Ned didn’t care that he was denying Gardendale their right to vote. He only cared about getting their candidates elected. Don’t fall for the “endorsed by the Ector County Republican Party”.
On Facebook, candidates and voters cannot voice their opinion without being immediately attacked by cyber bully Josiah Vargas and other ECRP fake accounts. Tisha Crow’s Ector County Republican Party clearly supports and encourages cyber bullying and fake Facebook profiles. Josiah Vargas’ friend list includes current County Chair Tisha Crow, candidates Mayor Javier Joven, Denise Swanner, Jeff Russell, Samantha Russell, Freda Daniels and several others. The ECRP Board members allow a nasty fake profile to do their bidding, as they wear their faith on their sleeve and insinuate they are somehow more religious than any one else. My pastor would have something to say about that. Don’t allow cyber bullying to influence our local elections. Ector County we are better than this!
Tisha Crow and her Ector County Republican Party know how to attack. We’ve seen this before, remember how they went after Brooks Landgraf in possibly the most vicious and downright dirty election in Ector County history. Be prepared folks, this might get worse. Put absolutely nothing past this group. They fight dirty. Let’s take a page out of the Landgraf playbook and totally ignore their mudslinging antics. If you voted for Landgraf, vote for Donna Kelm! Hopefully, Donna Kelm will get that Landgraf Landslide! Anyone else feeling a 80%-20% win! Kaboom!
Vote Donna Kelm Republican County Chair March 5th. Early voting starts February 20th. Let’s do this! We feel the momentum! We feel the excitement! Follow Ector County Politics on Facebook for campaign updates.
Ronnie Lewis is a longtime Odessa businessman and founder of Dos Amigos.
