Fort Bend County GOP Explodes

Via the news, Burnt Orange, and Bay Area Houston comes word that the leadership corps of the Fort Bend Republican Party has resigned. I knew the infighting was bad, but I didn't think it would happen like this in Tom DeLay's backyard.

This would be an embarassment for any party organization, but it seems a particularly extreme development for everyone at the top to leave the party to an executive committee as combative as this one must be. Fort Bend Republican Party County Chair Gary Gillen made it plain that the decision was made under some sort of backroom duress. From Fort Bend Now:

“We have a problem in Fort Bend County that I’d like to bring to your attention,” Gillen told an audience at a luncheon meeting of the West Fort Bend Republican Women, at Katy’s Falcon Point Country Club. “We’re facing nother(sic) less than a hostile takeover” of the county Republican Party.

--snip--

Gillen has clashed with members of the party’s executive committee repeatedly in the 18 months or so since he took office. In fact, on Jan. 3, 2007, the Republican Party of Fort Bend County, in the person of the executive committee, filed a lawsuit against Gillen, saying he diverted money from the party by attempting to operate the party’s Lincoln Day fund-raiser through another organization.

This sort of thing makes me wonder what kind of a plan the leftovers have.