SD-22 | Kip Averitt Won't Run. Sets Up GOP, Democrats to Choose Nominee for Nov. 2

Kip Averitt needs to resign, withdraw, get out of the state senate...his hand-picked successor, David Sibley, lost bad tonight, in a special election run-off. While the Democrats and others arm themselves to take Brian Birdwell off the ballot via the courts due to not having his birth certificate all the eligibility questions, the focus now becomes on the liberal state senator that has "represented" us in Austin since 2002: Averitt.

Perhaps our new SD-22 State Republican Executive Committee members (Jimmie Kerr & Janet Jackson), elected at the GOP convention two weeks ago, could float a resolution calling on Averitt to make due on his word and step aside...
From Michael Quinn Sullivan:

It was a great Tuesday night for conservatives and another impressive win was added to the column of Empower Texans / Texans for Fiscal Responsibility endorsees with Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell’s landslide victory in the Senate District 22 special election.

But nothing is ever easy. Mr. Bidwell's 58% win should be the final word on the expressed desire and preference of voters (and Republicans). Unfortunately, the outgoing moderate state senator, Kip Averitt, is making noise about not giving up his seat to the conservative Brian Birdwell. Confused? A reasonable person should be.

It's a prime case of elitist conceit. Mr. Averitt may well be Exhibit A in explaining why so many people have given up on what they see as a corrupt, good-old-boy political system.

Remember, Mr. Averitt managed to mangle his transition into political retirement, forcing a series of very costly elections. He had announced he wouldn't seek re-election (for vaguely described “health” reasons), but too late for his name to be removed from the 2010 March primary ballot. (That means absent other action, he is the GOP nominee for November.) So he resigned his seat so he could give his predecessor (lobbyist David Sibley) a chance to re-take the seat in a special election. But he cynically held the nomination – apparently as a trump in case voters got uppity.

As they did. It seems the people weren't interested in having a squishy senator-turned-lobbyist in the seat, thank you very much.

Since the election didn't go his way, Sen. Averitt says maybe he'll just stay on the ballot. Never mind doing so would clearly subvert the political will of his constituents. To top it off, he’ll be responsible for wasting untold thousands (millions?) of dollars in the cost of special elections, not to mention political donations for campaigns and the untold efforts of volunteers for the various candidates.

Is ‘selfish’ too strong of a word here? Or not strong enough?

To top it off, Mr. Averitt is says he might stay on the ballot because of the spurious charge Mr. Birdwell isn't eligible to serve. Mr. Birdwell is a Texas native and life-long legal resident, who honorably served our nation in the armed forces and survived the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. (The several months in which he wasn’t a legally a resident was because he was undergoing a series of painful operations repairing injuries inflicted by our nation’s enemies.)

The people clearly expressed, through their vote – and despite relentless negative attacks by Averitt, Sibley and Co. – that Mr. Birdwell is eligible to serve them, that he meets the spirit and intent of the law.

You know, Joey,what really galls those of the moderate-to-liberal bent? It's that Mr. Birdwell is an actual conservative. Not the “campaign” type who votes with liberals when he thinks no one's watching, but the real kind who takes seriously the values and principles of liberty.

The people clearly preferred Mr. Birdwell's clear, commonsense message.

Now it's time for Mr. Averitt should respect the expressed preference of the voters, not subvert it. He should support his party’s team, not undermine it. He should respect the expressed preference of the voters, not subvert it. If he cannot be helpful, he should be silent. At the very least, Mr. Averitt should just go quietly into the political night and retire as he announced.

For Texas,
Michael Quinn Sullivan
Empower Texans / Texans for Fiscal Responsibility
PO Box 200248, Austin, TX 78720
(512) 236-0201