Tom Craddick, Susan Hupp and the Republican Party are shameful. The Republican Party of Texas started the 2008 cycle attempting to silence the voice of the voters by asking judges to remove candidates in Midland and Fort Worth.  They failed. Now Craddick has a new tactic—remove a third party option all together.

PDiddle first reported on this story Sunday calling it “Republican Desperation”.

Susan Hupp and Tom Craddick are rightfully concerned.  We have strong Democratic incumbents and challengers like TexBlog PAC endorsed Chris Turner, Diana Maldonado, Sherrie Matula, and others like Robert Miklos, Joel Redmond, Joe Moody, and many many more.

The scary thing is the blatant disregard the Republican Party has toward Texas voters.  Their desire for power and control means they are trying to actively remove third party candidates from the ballot.

On August 5, Laylan Copelin reported that Craddick is meeting with Libertarian’s in the Speaker’s office to ask them to remove their names.  This is tantamount to being called into the principal’s office and being asked to go to a different school or just drop out.

Craddick and Hupp are aggressively asking Libertarians to remove their name and remove options for the voters.

The scary thing is, it has worked in at least one high profile race.

The only Libertarian candidate to drop off the ballot in Central Texas so far is Alan Hultgren, who was running against state Rep. Valinda Bolton, D-Austin, and Republican Donna Keel.

With less than three months to go, it is clear Craddick is afraid of losing his job.  It is obvious we have him against the ropes, and he isn’t going down with out a fight.  To complete the sports metaphor, it is entirely possible Craddick lands a lucky punch and our hopes to win back the House are dashed.

Remember, this is the same Republican party that drew congressional districts that silenced tens of thousands of Hispanic and African American voters.  Congressional districts ruled unconstitutional by the most conservative Supreme Court we have had in decades.  This is the party that will swift boat, TRMPAC, DeLay, their way to victory.

If you aren’t volunteering for your county party or for a candidate do it today.  If you haven’t donated to TexBlog PAC, do it today. Scare the Republican Party of Texas, make your voice heard today.

[You can read more about Sherrie and why TexBlog PAC endorsed her campaign here. You can visit her campaign website here].

TexBlog PAC is proud to announce its endorsement of Sherrie Matula (D-Houston), in the race for Texas House District 129.
Matula is a longtime public school teacher, science education consultant, and two-term member of the Board of Trustees of the Clear Creek Independent School District. She has served as President of the Galveston County Education District and on the board of directors of the Texas State Teachers Association.

TexBlogPAC’s endorsement of Matula comes with a check for $5,000 made up of contributions from the Netroots community across Texas.

“Our endorsement of Sherrie Matula’s campaign represents a significant investment in a race that we believe strongly is one Democrats will win this cycle,” said TexBlog PAC Political Director Matt Glazer of Austin. “It has consistently been our goal to provide early money to campaigns to help them build their infrastructure and outreach mechanisms, and we are pleased to assist Sherrie’s campaign in this way,” Glazer continued.

Matula faces State Rep. John Davis (R-Clear Lake) in the November General Election. TexBlog PAC sees Matula’s race as one of the key competitive races in Harris County this election cycle.

“Sherrie has run an excellent campaign thus far. Her field program is outstanding and she is doing everything right to put HD 129 in our column in November,” said TexBlog PAC Board Member Charles Kuffner of Houston.

TexBlog PAC’s endorsement of Matula is the campaign’s third endorsement this election cycle. The PAC previously endorsed—and supported with $5,000 contributions—the campaigns of challengers Diana Maldonado (D-Round Rock) in House District 52 and Chris Turner (D-Burleson) in House District 96.

TexBlog PAC was formed in 2007 with the goal of supporting Democratic candidates to help build a Democratic majority in the Texas House of Representatives.

From Kuff, we get a report from last night's hugely successful TexBlog PAC event:

The TexBlog PAC fundraiser last night was a big success, drawing in a crowd of over 50 people and raising more than $7000 to help take back the Texas House.…

The other big highlight of the event was the announcement of our third endorsed candidate, Sherrie Matula, right here in Harris County’s HD129. Sherrie ran a great race in 2006 on a shoestring budget, and she’s been running hard for this November ever since….HD129 is in a very strategic location, being completely within CD22, SD11, and SBOE district 7, as well as Harris County, so having a great candidate running a strong race there serves many good purposes.

Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) was the guest of honor last night, and he had this to say (from Kuff’s notes, which were paraphrased):

Rep. Coleman spoke about how the Democratic caucus showed up in 2003 as the minority party for the first time ever, and there was a lot of pressure on them to go along and get along. He noted that since committee assignments are made by the Speaker and the members themselves via seniority privileges, unlike the US House where there’s a Majority Leader and Minority Leader and each side makes its own assignments, there isn’t any leverage for imposing party discipline. Getting support from visible sources like us bloggers, who were very much in line with an agenda of opposing the Perry/Craddick regime, made it easier for them to do so because it demonstrated that this is what Democratic voters wanted.

He also noted that by supporting challengers, the TexBlog PAC made it easier for other groups like the HDCC to protect the gains the Democrats have made in narrowing the gap in the House from 88-62 to 79-71, especially since many of those gains - think State Reps. Juan Garcia and Dan Barrett for two prime examples - came in fairly strong Republican areas.

Overall, a terrific night from Houston. Thanks to everyone across the series of tubes for their support — and feel free to give $5, $10, or $20 to TexBlog PAC to join in on one of the most successful Texas grassroots efforts of the year!