Soy de Duval

POSTED BY: CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM JULY 10, 2018 Investigations impacted Parr machine, helped Freedom Party The first test on how much impact local, state, and Federal investigations were having on Parr’s political hold came in the 1954 Benavides school election where Freedom Party candidates were challenging three Old Party incumbents. In those days, Freer was part of the Benavides school district, and all the candidates were from Freer. The Parr incumbents were W.C. Kelley, Paul Green, and Troy Carey. The challengers were F.J. Sparkman, Manuel Garza, and Bob Mayberry. Despite having the ballots impounded, Parr candidates won easily by a better than a two to one margin. George Parr “With all the adverse publicity and all that Attorney General John Ben Shepherd could do he still can’t change the minds of Duval County voters,” Parr said.   While not discounting the importance of this election, Donato Serna felt the real test was going to be the July Democratic primary. Parr did not appea

POSTED BY: CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM JULY 15, 2018 The beginning of the end The next bi-annual election for county offices in 1958 proved to be prophetic for the Freedom Party. Three complete slates were on the ballot: Parr’s Old Party, the Tobin Party, and the Freedom Party. When the smoke cleared on election day, the Parr candidates received forty-four percent of the vote. To the surprise of incumbent County Judge Dan Tobin, his slate was nudged out of the runoff by Freedom Party candidates who received thirty-one percent of the vote. With a combined majority of fifty-six percent, the outsiders, and in particular the Freedom Party, appeared poised to finally knock off Parr and his cronies. The column in The Bellaire Texan provides a recap of Parr antics. Click on photo to read the article. But, it was not to be. A week after the vote, Dan Tobin announced he had reached an agreement with George Parr to kiss and make up. He was back in the machine, and he left the Freedom Party in limbo.