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- Travis County Republican Party Split Over Controversial Chairman-Elect.
In the weeks leading up to election day, incumbent Travis County GOP Chairman James Dickey kept a close eye on his opponent’s Twitter feed, watching the steady stream of sexually explicit tweets that targeted everyone from Rick Perry to Barbara Bush. Dickey chose not to sound the alarm — and the man behind the tweets, Robert Morrow, won the election decisively Tuesday.
Now, members of the Travis County GOP are split about their feelings toward their divisive incoming chairman — some pledge mass mutiny, but others embrace him as an agent of change.
Morrow is no stranger to controversy. He’s openly wished several politicians would have heart attacks, says he believes members of the Bush family should be in jail and operates three Twitter accounts, one of which is exclusively dedicated to the theory that President Lyndon B. Johnson was behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Some members of the county GOP, including vice-chair Matt Mackowiak, said these beliefs and antics should disqualify Morrow from the chairmanship — hours after the election, Mackowiak said he viewed Morrow’s election as a “hostile takeover.”
“Mr. Morrow’s behavior would get most children spanked, for good reason,” said Jim Suydam, the precinct 450 chairman. “Mr. Morrow's language in the media, his statements on social media, his oddly proud misogyny — none of this is acceptable in a polite society.”
Those statements “render Morrow unfit” to represent the GOP, Suydam added.
But several other Travis County precinct chairs told The Texas Tribune they disagree with that assessment and believe Morrow will represent the GOP well in his new role. Still others said that because Morrow had been democratically elected, they had no grounds to dispute his legitimacy.
“I have no problems with Robert Morrow,” said Gonzalo Camacho, precinct 149 chairman, in an email to the Tribune. “What people do on their own time is their business, guaranteed by the US Constitution.”
