Great State Republicans host runoff candidate forum Monday

Great State Republicans hosted a well-attended forum Monday with candidates who will appear in the May 28 Republican Party primary runoff elections here in Lavaca County.

They include the two candidates for the sheriff’s office, incumbent Sheriff Micah Harmon who has headed the county’s law enforcement and jail divisions for two full decades now, and challenger Steven Greenwell, a retired agent supervisor with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol, a U.S. Marine who served during the Iraq War and most recently, Justice of the Peace for Precinct 1 in Hallettsville, an office he was required to vacate before he ran for the sheriff’s office.

Also at Monday’s forum and appearing on Republican runoff ballots later this month are the two vying for the District 30 Texas House seat in Austin, which opened last fall when longtime statehouse member Geanie Morrison of Victoria announced her plans to retire this year.

If campaign mailers are any indication, the District 30 race has proven a contentious one between the two remaining candidates, retired longtime Jackson County Sheriff A.J. Louderback and former Victoria City Councilman Jeff Bauknight, a construction contractor who specializes in air conditioning and heating system installations.

Morrison, the current statehouse representative, was in attendance with the roughly 200 locals gathered Monday evening at the fellowship hall of St. Peter Lutheran Church in Hallettsville, with her having thrown her support behind Bauknight, from her hometown, as her replacement.

Bauknight also landed endorsements from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and several others of influence, both in Austin and here locally.

Of course, Louderback came highly recommended as well, with endorsements from a multitude of law enforcement groups and their leaders, as well as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, to name but a few.

Even they pale in comparison to his most prized endorsement, however, and rightly so for those who run in conservative Republican circles, for this one comes straight from the top. As in the former president and current presidential hopeful Donald Trump himself, for whom Louderback served as an advisor on border issues and law enforcement concerns back when Trump ran the Oval Office.

Although they worked together on just a handful of occasions, his time spent with Trump both in Washington, D.C., and here in Texas, down on the border, remain as some of Louderback’s most memorable. He even spoke on those meetings Monday, and what he took away from them.

They weren’t the only ones name dropping, of course. Both sheriff’s candidates had a few to mention as well. Many of Greenwell’s stem from his time working with the feds, though he’s picked up more than a few new ones as well, Sheriff Roy Boyd over in nearby Goliad County one of the more notable ones. Boyd has been a vocal critic of both Harmon, Louderback and other nearby sheriffs, citing of cooperation with Gov. Abbott’s Lone Star Task Force efforts in drug and human trafficking interdiction, even accusing Harmon and Louderback of trying to interfere with the funding of his group’s efforts, dollars which Boyd says they attempted to funnel to the Texas Border Sheriff’s Alliance, which Harmon and Louderback have headed up for years now.

And when it comes to fixing what Greenwell termed as a fundamentally broken system that exists within the Lavaca County sheriff’s office, working with task forces like Boyd’s will be fundamental in righting those wrongs.

In fairness, it should be noted that Boyd currently holds Greenwell’s law enforcement commission as a reserve officer, something that officers like him who have qualified for retirement with one or more agencies will often do to keep their peace officer licenses active.

Harmon defended his department, at one point stating that if it were half as flawed as he’s heard about of late, he would face tremendous turnover within his department. Harmon said the opposite is true, pointing to long-tenured individuals like his chief jailer and chief deputy, as examples.

As to the task force concerns, Harmon said his office works closely with several federal task forces. One of his investigators was actually assigned to that detail currently. As to Boyd’s criticisms on cooperation, “We work with real task forces,” Harmon jabbed.

Fittingly, most of Harmon’s endorsements stem from his many years of public service, not only the last two decades as the county’s top local lawman, but also dating back nearly three decades before that, when he spent his days dispatching for the local police department, before rising to patrolman ranks before he became a deputy sheriff and, later, a jailer. He even spent some eight years as a local justice of the peace before he moved into the sheriff’s office.

For all the mirth we’ve seen from both sides in the Bauknight-Louderback match-up, both in our mailboxes and via our cellular devices, and more recently, in the dustups stemming from the sheriff’s race, most appearing on social media platforms, Monday’s meeting of the two sets of challengers was remarkably civil, congenial even, as witnessed when both Bauknight and Louderback grasped palms at the event’s conclusion, smiling broadly as they exchanged what appeared to be well-wishes to the other in the coming campaign.

In fact, after hearing from all four candidates Monday, both those vying for state representative and those facing off for sheriff, one sure fact stood out among them.

That is, they are all far more alike than they differ, particularly when it comes to their views on the issues we all face, especially with things like drug enforcement, protecting our children’s schools and doing all we can to curb property taxes.

They value family, our rural way of life and each exhibits a definite commitment to public service. Three have literally dedicated their entire lives to that service as law enforcement officers.

While Bauknight may lack some of the more visible service commitments that those in law enforcement might enjoy, the efforts he’s taken to attend to service commitments, above and beyond the typical workday, are indeed commendable.

What differs most between them seems to involve the approach each might take in accomplishing their goals.

They hold vastly different leadership styles, Greenwell and Bauknight seeming to tend more toward analytical approaches. Bauknight even spoke at length on the value of compromise and how giving some now and again to get what you’re really after is a skill that will prove invaluable in Austin.

Louderback and Harmon seem to have far less give about them. They seem far more accustomed to simply taking charge. Perhaps it’s just the cowboy cut of the Stetsons they wear, but both have a certain swagger that may come from wearing a badge and living in the public eye for as long as they have in the same small towns we call home.

Or, as Louderback himself put it, it’s about “knowing when to back something and when to kill it,” specifically referring to the many legislative bills he’s helped carry through passage to the governor’s desk, as well as those bills that were far better off buried in committee someplace.

Given his law enforcement background, Greenwell likely has a similar lean though he’s proven far more difficult to read. He keeps his cards close. Still, you can see in his eyes his mind is constantly at work. Perhaps it’s his many years of working with the feds. So, which qualities are best poised for the jobs at hand? That’s for you to decide.

Early voting for those Republican Party runoff races officially kicks off on Monday, May 20, and runs just five days, to Friday, May 24. Election day is the day after Memorial Day, Tuesday, May 28.

Those who took part in the Democratic Party Primary in March will not be permitted to vote in the coming Republican Party runoff. Everyone else should be fine, provided they are registered voters in the county. For more on the coming election, please visit https:// www.co.lavaca.tx.us/page/lavaca.Elections or check out the Texas Secretary of State’s page. Several people were videoing Monday’s Q&A sessions as well. Watch for clips of those in coming social media feeds, we’re almost certain.