Georgetown Mayoral Candidate, Party Chair Spar Over Facebook Post

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TX — A Republican political candidate in Georgetown has filed a police report against the chairman of his political party who is accused of disposing of campaign materials after taking offense at the mayoral hopeful's summer social media post inviting friends over for tequila and a dip in the hot tub.

The case has since been presented to the county attorney's office for review, a spokesman for the Georgetown Police Department told Patch on Monday.

Mayoral candidate Jonathan Dade, who is Black, insists retaliation over his post has racial undertones as he pursues political office in a town of some 63,100 residents 30 miles north of Austin where the population is overwhelmingly white — 73.6 percent of the population and merely 3.53 percent Black.

The chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party, Steve Armbruster, said he would have trashed campaign materials from any candidate posting similar images on social media.

The infighting was sparked when Dade — a 37-year-old former U.S. Navy officer now serving as a rabbi for the local Messianic Jewish synagogue — dropped by the party headquarters at 716 S. Rock St. to check on his campaign materials inventory housed along with that of other Republican candidates vying for office in November. An avid bicyclist, Dade turned on his GoPro action camera as he entered the building as he confronted Armbruster — a recording shared with Patch.

Dade discovered his entire inventory of campaign materials — yard signs, door hangers, bumper stickers and booklets he estimated had a collective value of about $500 — were gone. In a telephone interview with Patch, Armbruster admitted having trashed the materials. But he insisted it was for good reason: "Every person I have shown that too said it's suggestive at least, massively inappropriate at worst. My job as Republican County chairman is to keep an eye on my candidates and elected officials."

At the center of the controversy is a photo of a Jose Cuervo Especial bottle of tequila that served as invitation for friends to stop by his house captioned: "Do you want to stop by, take a dip in the hot tub, and see what this drink does to you?"

Dade insists the post was innocent, merely meant as an invite of sorts for friends to drop by.

Dade shared the since-deleted post he posted on Facebook.

Asked by Patch if disposing of Dade's materials was the appropriate reaction, Armbruster somewhat acquiesced: "I probably should have returned them, but at that point of the day I didn't want to have any more conversations with him," he said.

The party chair added his umbrage was heightened during a conversation he had with Dade. In that conversation, Armbruster said Dade wavered when asked if he had made the post and suggested it may have been his wife before acknowledging he had posted it himself.

Dade acknowledged having been less than forthcoming with Armbruster, but said he was evasive to gauge the sort of information the party chairman was seeking. "Sometimes you don't know if someone is asking you a question or baiting you," Dade said.

Armbruster doesn't buy it. "I celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary, and you probably would've found me buried in the backyard if I had thrown my wife under the bus like that," Armbruster said. The party chairman said Dade's evasiveness played into his decision to throw out his materials after assessing a lack of character on the candidate's part, he told Patch.

The party chairman shared screenshots of text messages between him and Dade as evidence of a perceived evasiveness on the mayoral candidate's part:

Dade insists the post was innocent, and not meant to be sexually suggestive. "I've been married ten years, and have never had an affair," he told Patch. "We actually got the hot tub because I'm a disabled veteran," he added, singing the praises of hydrotherapy. "For me, taking a shot of tequila or vodka or wine and hopping into the hot tub makes you sleep better. I was not inviting for something to happen. My kids are in the house! My daughter's window overlooks the hot tub!"

As a candidate enduring punitive action for a post on Facebook, Dade wondered why Donald Trump hasn't had his campaign materials thrown out. After all, Dade said, the president has made numerous remarks that have deemed offensive, and Twitter has blocked some of his missives not passing the truth test.

"I'm not a personal friend of the president," Armbruster said in explaining why the Trump signs remain at GOP headquarters. "I cannot have a personal conversation with him," he added, noting he did chat with Dade about his meme.

Although the subject of race didn't come up during the interview with Armbruster, the residential remodeling contractor volunteered he also served as bookkeeper and head usher of the House of the Lord Fellowship Church in Austin comprising around 60 percent to 65 percent Black parishioners. "I've been a member of that church for twenty years," he said.

Captain Roland Waits, a Georgetown Police Department spokesman, confirmed an investigation into the matter has been launched after Dade filed his original June complaint over his trashed belongings. But the severity of any potential charge is unclear.

"There was a report that was filed, and it will be assigned to a detective," Waits confirmed to Patch back in mid-September. "I don't know if it will actually be a criminal issue or a civil issue. I don't know if the Republican Party paid any portion to have the signs posted and Jonathan Dade had to contribute a portion. We believe that may be a civil issue, a breach-of-contract kind of thing."

On Monday, Waits provided an update on the case of the trashed campaign materials: "I checked with our detectives and the case has been presented to the county attorney’s office for review and consideration. What that means is they will review all the information, reports, video recordings, etc., and determine if there is criminal culpability or it is a civil issue, and provide us direction moving forward."

The county seat of Williamson County, Georgetown is located some 28 miles north of Austin. Early voting is underway until Oct. 30 before election day on Nov. 3.