By Ronnie Lewis
I’ve read Dawn Tucker’s opinion piece and I have observations.
First of all, after months of trying to find out who my precinct chair is, I was able to finally determine Tucker does represent me in Precinct 203. (hallelujah) A voter should not have to dig, plead and beg to find out their precinct chair.
I have family members that live on her block and they had no idea she was our precinct chair. My neighbors were not aware she was our precinct chair. According to the Texas GOP, the #1 duty of a precinct chair “is to maximize the Republican vote in your precinct”. Including “get to know Republicans in your precinct”.
But instead Dawn Tucker only surfaced to attack. Attack a prominent, life long Odessa Republican.
Mrs. Tucker goes on to desperately try to defend our unqualified city manager as “overqualified” because of a mishmash of political activism that John Beckmeyer has been involved in statewide. Now I ask regarding John Beckmeyer’s political activism, how many vehicles did he maintain? Were there a fleet of expensive trash trucks, fire trucks, heavy equipment, traffic lights running 24/7, water being dispersed 24/7 to thousands of homes and businesses, parks and recreation duties. 800 hardworking dedicated full time employees including police, fire and rescue…and on and on. To compare political activism to running a city the size of Odessa is laughable, especially comparing our city’s annual budget of $240 million dollars compared to the annual budget of the RPT. If our water system fails, Odessans don’t care how many politicians John Beckmeyer has rubbed shoulders with.
Mrs. Tucker downplays getting information from Facebook. Yet, our Mayor has a Public Relations assistant that makes over $150,000 a year, basically making Facebook posts. And there are two Facebook media accounts that are nothing more than propaganda machines for the cabal which consists of the precinct chairs and members of the city council. So which is it Mrs. Tucker?
Furthermore, Mrs Tucker parroted precinct chair Ned Luscombe’s cry that people aren’t informed because they do not attend City Council meetings when the meetings can be seen online. And because of intimidation and bullying tactics from Tisha Crow’s Executive board members, it’s wise to watch online.
And lastly, Precinct Chair Dawn Tucker who has never been elected by her constituents, pleads for voters not to pay attention to letters to the editor (in a letter to the editor). That tells me we’ve touched a nerve and exposed their vulnerability.
Voters are catching up and catching on. Let’s Take Our Town Back and vote these people out. Make Odessa Nice Again.
Ronnie Lewis is a longtime Odessa businessman who founded Dos Amigos.
