Presidential Party

Sharpe brings Texas pride to inaugural festivities

Published Sunday, January 23, 2005

In the Wise County Messenger, Decatur, Texas

By Brian Knox

Wise County Republican Chairman D.A. Sharpe and his wife, Suzanne, didn’t go to Washington D.C. this month to blend in with the locals during the presidential inauguration activities.

The two wore matching cowboy boots and cowboys hats to the Democracy Ball Thursday night, one of several inaugural balls held that evening in the nation’s capital. Sharpe and his group attended the Democracy Ball – which is held primarily for the states of Arizona, California, Kentucky, North Carolina, North and South Dakotas, Tennessee and Utah – because it was the only ball where they could purchase eight tickets.

Sharpe said that out of about 6,000 people in attendance, it was hard to mistake which state he was from.

“I was one of about three or four people wearing a cowboy hat out of about 6,000 in attendance,” Sharpe said. “A man wanted to pose for a picture with us in our cowboy hats and boots.”

There were a few more people wearing cowboy hats and boots Wednesday night at the Black Tie and Boots ball sponsored by the Texas Society of Washington D.C. (for Texas-rooted people in the D.C.-area and out-of-towners such as the Sharpes who are also members of the group).

“You were kind of looked at as an oddball if you weren’t wearing cowboy boots,” Sharpe said.

The Wednesday night event drew many famous Texans such as Van Cliburn, Asleep at the Wheel, Robert Earl Keen and others, not to mention high-ranking Republicans such as Representative Kay Granger, Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, Texas Governor Rick Perry, and, of course, President George W. Bush and family.

Sharpe said the Wednesday night ball was far superior to the following night’s activities.

“I found that the people were warmer and more friendly,” Sharpe said of the Black Tie and Boots ball.

As for the inauguration itself, Sharpe was able to sit fairly close to the front, thanks to an unlikely source, it turns out.

“A lot of tickets are distributed through congressmen and senators. A few senators and congressmen don’t quite distribute all of them, so they turn them in and they become available. We got tickets turned in from Senator Hillary Clinton’s office,” Sharpe said with a laugh.

While most of the people in town for the inaugural festivities were supporters of the president, Sharpe said he saw a few people who disagreed with some of President Bush’s policies, particularly his decision to go to war in Iraq.

When walking down the street to watch the parade Thursday afternoon, Sharpe found some protesters lying in the street.

“There were about 12 to 15 of them laying in a big circle as if they were corpses,” Sharpe said. “We just stepped over them and kept going. They didn’t say anything to us.”

Protesters did not seem to interrupt any of the proceedings, Sharpe said.

This was the second time Sharpe had been to Washington to see George W. Bush sworn in as president. He said there was a little different feeling this time around.

“At the first one, there was a lot of celebration because he was the new president. At the second one, I found a whole lot of enthusiasm that we get to keep going with his administration,” he said.

The Sharpes will return from their nearly two-week trip Monday.