Bitter Fruits

Alan Bernstein points our attention to a post-election review by former Harris County GOP Chairman Gary Polland.

Polland attacks the local Republican leadership to the point of absurdity. While several of his criticisms are valid, hilarity ensues when Polland mentions some mysterious alternate “plan,” implying that everything would have been better if only he were running the party. This is funny because we remember how much damage he did to the image and credibility of the party when he was chairman. Murky financing, pressured court appointments and boomerang attempts at influence filled the storyline of Polland’s tenure.

But Polland’s imperiousness has now declined into a sad state of dementia. His apparent naivety is only outmatched by his ego when he asserts that long term voting trends, changing demographics and an atomic explosion of the traditional turnout model all could have been overcome by his masterful communication skills if only he was controlling the campaign budget.

The punchline occurs when Polland assails Allen Blakemore for his political ineptitude. We are certainly not fans of Blakemore. However, the last time Polland matched his campaign skills with Blakemore head to head in 2002, Blakemore broke him like a shotgun.

We hate to sound so old and grumpy, but the level of partisanship injected into the local judiciary during Polland’s tenure really came home to roost this week when some good people lost their jobs to straight-ticket voting. A lot of good post-election discussions are taking place at sites like Lone Star Times, Lose an Eye, Life at the Harris County CJC, and Greg’s Opinion. We’ll try to further that kind of productive conversation here. Unfortunately Polland is too obsessed with his imagined former glory to be that helpful.