FROM THE r.o.W-.P., # 007
 SOUTHER,1 HISTORICAL COLLECTION, THE LIBRARY OF
 THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL


 5 (





 This is an interview with L.E. (Tommy);Thomas, Republican state

 chairman of Florida. The interview was conducted by Jack Bass and

 Walter De Vries in Panama City, Florida on May 21, 1974 and was

 transcribed by Joe Jaros.



 Walter De Vries: Well, it's a good base to start with. I think that

 it's, is it Florida and Georgia that have this?

 Tommy Thomas: I can't say about Georgia. But doesn't Texas too?

 W.D.V.: Texas too.

 Jack Bass: Texas has it.

 W.D.V.: What do you think about that? In a sense, it's almost kind of

 a public subsidy of party organization.

 Thomas: Yeah. Well, of course, I don't know how we would do without it,

 but I think that the way we try to do it is a pretty fair and equitable

 way. All the candidates who survive the primary, generally speaking, maybe

 you could find some candidate that didn't get his money back, particularly

 someone who ran unopposed, you know but since I've been chairman and

 in the two elections since then, we've tried to give back all the candidates

 who survive the primary their filing fee. I think that's a pretty fair

 and reasonable way of doing it. Then, the people who are eliminated and

who don't have primary opposition, are paying a filing fee to really

support the party. We had a Congressman last year who was unopposed,


From the Southern Oral History Program, #4007, Interview 4-&0 in the Southern Historical Collection,
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT.