­­­­­­­­­­­The Curse of the Brady

When I read this article last month in the Sugar Land Sun, where Republican candidate Craig Brady endorsed the Democratic candidate for County Sheriff, I hardly gave it a thought. Sure the Republican primary race for county sheriff was a hard-fought one, and sure Brady blew an astounding 400 grand to gain an office that pays a quarter of that in a year, but the blowback that occurred after the dust had settled, and Troy Nehls was the county sheriff nominee seemed to me to be in the way of sour grapes: Craig Brady endorsed the Democrat, Michael Elllison, who will face Nehls on November 6^th.

Ellison, it should be noted, welcomed the endorsement, but pointed out that he did not solicit it.

It’s all sour grapes, thought I. What self-respecting Republican, especially one in Fort Bend County, where Republicans wear their politics and their religion on their sleeves, would vote for the Democrat.

Then today I got a shock.

Today, driving to my usual market to pick up some viands, I espied an Ellison campaign sign firmly driven into a lawn on a block that, in times past, has been laced with Republican campaign signs.

Laced.

So, OK, you say, how do I know that the sign in question wasn’t placed on the lawn by a Democrat? Easy. Look at the calendar. It is by my count 96 days until the November election yet here is the Ellison sign for all to see. By law, 90 days is the absolute maximum time window for campaign signs to go up, and in some municipalities the limit is 60 days.

The only people I know who violate that ordinance are Republicans.

Now the only thing I am wondering is whether there will be more Brady supporters out there who will follow this neighbor’s lead. Or more pointedly, I am wondering how many Republicans will see, as I see, the gross conflict of interest in having one Nehls brother as County Sheriff, and another as a County Constable. Is there anyone else out there besides me and Karen Pearson that see this conflict?