Posted on 11/05/2009 12:48:05 PM PST by Bearshouse
Seven Democratic Hardin County elected officials announced Wednesday they will become Republicans.
Sheriff Ed Cain, who confirmed his switch earlier this week, was joined at Wednesday’s formal announcement by County Judge Billy Caraway, Precinct 4 Commissioner Bobby Franklin, County Attorney Rebecca Walton, Precinct 5 Constable Wayne McDaniel, Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Kent Walker and Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace Butch Cummings.
As each of the officials spoke, they repeated the same theme — their beliefs and values have stayed the same, but are no longer reflected by the Democratic Party.
In addition, several said that when they first ran for office, they knew they would not be elected if they didn’t run as a Democrat.
Walton said she had no idea the other six were thinking about switching parties as she was considering the move.
The following is a list of Hardin County officials who announced today they were switching their political party affiliations.
All of the officials changed from Democrat to Republican.
County Judge Billy Carraway
Precinct 4 Commissioner Bobby Franklin
County attorney Rebecca Walton
Sheriff Ed Cain
Justice of the Peace Butch Cummings
Constable Wayne McDaniel
Justice of the Peace Kent Walker
This is Hardin County in SE Texas
That handwriting on the wall is HUGE to anyone in the Democrat Party not a progressive.
Running scared?
The leftward shift of the GOP continues.....
What STATE???
Texas.
More people bringing their Democrat thinking to the Republican Party. Stay, and clean up the mess you made of the Democrat Party.
NONSENSE!
The House Republicans are more conservative, NOW, than at any other time in HISTORY!
Nowhere did I mention House Republicans....it was Hardin, Co., TX where this occurred.
Drain the sewer that is the RAT party.
Drain the sewer that is the RAT party come 2010 and 2012.
"I thought this was sort of funny. Do you think they see the writing on the wall?"
Be nice to think they did, OTOH they could be Trojan Horses too.
For those old enough to remember the Republican tsunami in '94? Many 'Rats switched to the GOP. IIRC all our troubles began not long after. Lots & lots of "leaks" from the proverbial 'unnamed sources'. Failure to learn from history only guarantees repeated heartache(s).
These people are welcome, of course.
But they should not be privy to anything of import until they make valid, viable contributionS to the cause they claim to now embrace, too. "Trust, but verify.". Words to retain wins by.
Aside from the obvious reasoning, it'd only be fair to the party faithful who persevered while they danced in the streets. ;^)
Actually, I look at it as a panicked rightward shift of the democrat party.
Would save some bandwagon types.
No kidding...why isn't the media talking about the huge rift in the D Party between the socialist/progressives and the pro-American democrats? Guess we know the answer to that, after all...
You are so right. That rift is a lot larger then any in the GOP they LOVE to discuss.
Have a hunch that this group is not going to be the last to switch from Dem to GOP.
Yep, more RINOs to purge.
As each of the officials spoke, they repeated the same theme — their beliefs and values have stayed the same, but are no longer reflected by the Democratic Party.
Boy does that sound familiar.
There may be some truth in your comments, but that’s not necessarily true.
George Putnam was a Democrat his whole life. He was about as Conservative as they come. His family had been long term Democrats, and he himself came from an era where Democrats were not the blithering idiots they are today.
I can guarantee you he didn’t vote along current Democrat lines.
I would wager there are plenty of Democrats out there who are wondering what the hell happened to their party.
It sounds as if these men may thing they are now in jeopardy, since at least some of them state they could not have been elected as a Republican in that district.
I see this as a stand on principle, and that in and of itself is nothing like a Democrat in this day and age.
And it begs the question—when will they consider it advantageous to switch back? They didn’t change parties LAST YEAR, did they! I have trouble trusting this sort. Here’s hoping they are sincere, honest and not at all like Arlen Specter.
“As each of the officials spoke, they repeated the same theme — their beliefs and values have stayed the same, but are no longer reflected by the Democratic Party.”
If the GOP had half a brain they’d be collecting these stories from all over the country. Starting from Lieberman and Miller and going down through state office holders and local leaders. They could add in some famous Hollywood types and business leaders. They should have a camera crew on these guys’ front porch and the radio/tv campaign should be running non-stop until NOV 2010.
WhooHoo! This fits nicely in my grand plan of disenfranchising the socialist dems and revolutionizing the two party system to begin anew with the Republicans as the more “liberal” party versus the Conservatives as the well, more fiscally and constitutionally conservative party.
Solution: Put it in the Headline. I saw it was Beaumont, and I supposed it was TX., but not sure. We need rules.
There are RULES for pictures.
Unfortunately, you have many folks down there voting for RATS because that's what daddy done, grandaddy, and so on...
I think being a part of ACORN and the DNC’s gang election activists wasn’t sitting well with law enforcement. Not to mention the Felon vote and the illegal alien vote.
Good people in what way?
Pro Life, Pro 2nd Amendment, Piney-woods conservatives. There are many democrats like that down there.
So sorry, I did post on #2 as soon as I realized it wasn't in the article.
This could turn into a tsunami in some areas.
The republican party just picked up 7 more Rhino’s.
Thanks, I am so sorry that I sounded so grouchy. Please forgive.
They just didn’t notice what their Democrat Party was doing with their support?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.