Article submitted by Diana Olvedo-Karau
August 4th, 2024
Where was Uvalde County Republican Chair, Charlie Downing on Monday, July 29th when the Uvalde County Commissioners held a special meeting to push through approving to apply to be part of the Countywide Polling Program (CPP)?
The previous week at the Commissioners regular meeting, the motion by Commissioner Bates to approve the application failed, due to lack of a second on the motion. Commissioners Yeackle and Garza were not in attendance and Commissioner Pargas chose not to second the motion. So, County Judge Bill Mitchell decided to call a special meeting to force the issue to get the action approved.
The special meeting drew a number of citizen voters, with the majority of those in attendance and who spoke, opposed to the CPP. Absent from this meeting was Republican Party Chair, Charlie Downing. Why?
Downing had a responsibility, as the County Chair, to his fellow Republicans who spoke against the CPP. The individuals who spoke against the action are conservatives, some Precinct Chairs in the Republican Party; that by majority, oppose this action. It is commendable that so many citizen voters showed up and spoke out, that was very important. However, their opposition to the CPP would have borne more weight if Downing would have been there to make the public comment, as the position of the Uvalde County Republican Party (Party).
Individuals in the Party can have their personal opinion, but the power of the Party is in the majority of the opinion of the Executive Committee, which opposes the CPP. The Executive Committee is the authority of the Party, not the Chair. But the Chair should be the voice of the Party, and Downing appears to not be willing to be that voice. This does not require the Chair to bend to the will of any one individual. But it does require the Chair to be the leader that was elected to represent the will of the Party.
Less than two months as Uvalde County Republican Party Chair, Downing has already dropped the ball! What can the Uvalde County Republican Party expect from Downing moving forward?
