Well, he promised to drop out of the race if he didn't get the endorsement of the precinct chairs of CD22. He claims to have stayed in because the RNC would not give him a letter promising $4,000,000 for the Shelley Sekula-Gibbs campaign, as Texas GOP cChair Tina Benkiser told us the party was prepared to commit if there were one (and only one) GOP candidate in the CD22 race

Guess what -- the letter was not ALL he was demanding. As Bob Dunn over at Fort Bend Now points out, Don Richardson was also asking for "a check for $20,000 as a refund of my campaign expenses".

Richardson initially indicated he failed to follow through on his promise to drop out of the race because he wanted proof from national Republican officials that $4 million in funding was on its way to Sekula-Gibbs.

However, a copy of a fax from Richardson to Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman reveals an additional issue.

“I will withdraw as a write-in candidate upon receipt of your letter and a check for $20,000 as a refund of my campaign expense. Please see my FEC report, filed today,� the fax, dated Aug. 25, 2006, says.

Apparently Richardson didn’t get that $20,000 check, because he’s still a registered write-in candidate, not to mention that he’s also in the running in the special election.

For those of you who don't believe my charge against this miserable poltroon, let me supply you with a little bit of photographic evidence -- sent to all the CD22 precinct chairs by Don Richardson himself!

Now I don't know about you, but Richardson's demand for a check made out to him to cover his "expenses" certainly looks like solicitation of a bribe to me -- and given that he was communicating via fax with the RNC in Washington, DC, it would appear that he committed a federal offense in the process.

Hey, Don -- Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass GOP. Do not collect $20,000!

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