A Final Primer For the District 108 Primary
The polls have been open for nearly three hours, but they’ll stay open for about nine more. If you haven’t decided who to vote for in the Republican primary for Texas House District 108, let’s review.
The three men seeking to replace Dan Branch — Highland Park High School graduate Court Alley, University Park resident Morgan Meyer, and Park Cities native Chart Westcott — don’t differ much in terms of policy. When they’re asked to detail their positions on a particular issue during forums, the first guy to speak does so, and the other two basically say, “I agree.” So voters will have to base their decision on the candidates’ biographies and resumes.
Each man has at least one “I’m the only candidate in this race who …” statement he can make. Alley, 34, says he’s the only one who owns a small business; he runs Caruth Marketing largely from his home. Meyer, 39, says he’s the only one who won’t need on-the-job training, due to his 15 years of experience as a litigator. He also says he’s the only one with “skin in the game” when it comes to education, because his daughters are enrolled in public school. And Westcott, 28, says he’s the only one who has experience “getting things done in Austin,” because he lobbied legislators on behalf of the National Association to Protect Children and he was appointed to the Texas Real Estate Commission.
I profiled all three in our March edition, and you can download a PDF of that issue on the right side of this page. That edition also includes a page of graphics devoted to the campaigns’ finances. Some people — including some within my company — thought it was a mistake to not include money raised and spent in the first half of 2013 in those graphics. I did it that way because none of these guys officially declared his candidacy until the second half of last year, and Meyer reported zero donations in the first half. But, for the sake of argument, let’s look at the overall totals.
Westcott leads the pack by a mile, with $1.3 million raised, 17 percent of which came from his parents, his brother, or companies his family owns. He’s also spent more than anyone else: $1.2 million when you add up his reports filed to the Texas Ethics Commission on July 15, Jan. 15, Feb. 3, and Feb. 24.
Meyer has raised $383,000, and 8 percent of that came from his law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, and its attorneys. Meyer has spent $368,000, and 39 percent of that went to Allyn Media.
Alley brings up the rear on both fronts. He’s raised $134,000, 10 percent of which came from residents of his wife’s hometown, Conroe. He’s spent $79,000.
Now, it’s up to the voters to decide who will best represent them in the general election, when the winner of today’s primary will face another University Park resident, Democrat Leigh Bailey. I don’t have any idea who will have the most votes when the polls close tonight. I just hope one of these guys somehow secures more than 50 percent of the votes. That means we’ll avoid a runoff, and nothing would make me more happy.
We voted at 10am at HP middle school. Democratic side, although the Republican lines weren’t any longer. At 10am, we were #s 12 and 13. Not a very big turnout so far.
All three were standing in the freezing cold in front of UP Elementary this morning waving at traffic – Morgan Meyer is my candidate but it’s nice to see that all three are dedicated enough to brave the elements.
Would Chart Westcott have been appointed to the TREC if his last name were Johnson and his Daddy hadn’t donated $75,000 to Rick Perry?
Also it’s pretty easy to find time to push a bill in Austin when you don’t have to work a real job or worry about supporting a family back in Dallas.
Hopefully this race goes to a runoff so we can further expose this fraud
Dear Real McCoy
You are a troll and we all hope your life isn’t as sad as it seems.
I was #21 to vote at Hyer at 8:45. Shook hands with Huffines and voted for Morgan and Carona. I like Morgan because he’s built something of his own. He rose up the ranks to be a partner at B&G and appears involved with his church. I like Carona because he will “reach across the aisle” to get things done.
Real McCoy, I don’t get the hate. Did he do something to you personally?
Fake McCoy, name calling doesn’t help.
I voted early and sailed right through, no line at all.
@UP Resident, While Morgan’s career is to be lauded, only one candidate actually built something of his own. That would be Court who started, owns, and operates a small business. Nothing against Morgan, appears to be a decent guy and anyone other than Chart is a win.
I didn’t hear much about Court’s business. Has he been at it for a long time? Does he have any other employees?
I’m going to miss this. We haven’t seen this much action in the PCP comment section since that autism activist woman went psycho on Drip Coffee a few years ago.
@UP Resident, Plenty of info on the interwebs if you were so inclined to research multiple candidates backgrounds.
@Neal, The Drip episode was epic.
Notice how Chart’s paid minions can never refute any of the accusations against him, and instead attack the messenger? It’s because they know he is unfit to serve- No amount of Carl Westcott’s money can change that.
Both Court or Morgan would make a fine representative for District 108 in my opinion