Republican frog lands in Democratic pond
JERRY AULDS

The drumbeats pound and reverberate announcing the forever-and-aday political season has fallen upon us once again.

It seems only a day or so ago that around here the pressing of the flesh, the promises, the "vote for me" entreaties lasted just through spring. That was when Texas was still mostly a one party state and the Democrat primary was the only election game in town.

In Wharton County Charles F. "Doc" Drapela was the man swimming upstream and against the tide. Doc was the GOP's single, sole and solitary office holder; a Republican bullfrog sounding off in a Democrat pond.

Pundits who sniff the political winds point to House Speaker Newt Gingrich as the man responsible for breaking the Democrats' strangle hold in the South.

But before Newt had uttered even one "special orders" speech, C.F. Drapela was "The Man" in West Wharton County for the GOP.

In the mid-70s and early 80s Doc, in his dual capacity as a veterinarian and justice of the peace, treated sick and injured animals while also dispensing justice from his veterinary office on South Mechanic here in El Campo.

It was in 1982 from that small office that the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Justice of the Peace, Scoutmaster, winemaker, husband of current county commissioner Catherine Drapela and father of 11 launched his bid for a county commissioner's post.

Reporting on that 1982 election, the Leader-News headline read, "Democrats Almost Sweep Wharton County."

Drapela was the "almost" avoiding the Democrat broom by squeaking by not just one, but two candidates in the general election.

Without Doc and that three-man tag team bout, the Republican revolution might have been on call waiting for a few years.

In '82 Democrats swamped Republican hopefuls by two to one margins including an unexpected and impressive upset by Mark White of Gov. Bill Clements, the first Republican governor since reconstruction.

The three-way race started in the Democrat Primary where Wharton County newcomer and retiree B.K. "Pete" Bingham, campaigning from a horse and buggy, beat but failed to knock out the incumbent John Drozd.

Following his primary loss, Drozd, a Texas A&M classmate of Drapela (Class of 1948), mounted a rare writein campaign.

When the counting was done, the vote was in the words of Cajun philosopher and storyteller Justin Wilson - "Close. Close. Close I guarantee!"

Doc garnered a plurality of 804 votes out of 2,209 votes cast, or about 36.5 percent, with Drozd finishing second after a recount and Bingham bringing up the rear.

Drozd went back into the family floral business while Bingham would continue to attend and comment at nearly every session of the commissioners court as the almost elected commissioner.

And Doc. Doc would be Doc until he died. Each year when the Houston Astrps baseball caravan rolled into town, Doc would present the Astros athletes with sample jugs of homemade wine.

And he presented his fellow citizens with a sweet wine composed of equal parts of entertainment and accomplishment. The vet practice continued. Scout work went forward. And at any public function the Drapelas always seemed to have, if not a majority, a winning plurality.

I'm a lifelong Democrat, but Lord I'd vote for Doc because he had style and heart and Chutzpah, a Hebrew word which in Texan means "sand, grit and gall with a smile."

When Doc died, Catherine Drapela was both a popular and obvious choice to succeed him. After all, anyone who could manage Doc and 11 kids already possessed more management skills than the average Fortune 500 company CEO.

Doc's gone. Catherine is retired. I plead guilty. I miss Doc. And I miss Catherine.

- Reprinted, in part, from the Jan. 31, 1998 edition of the Leader-News.