Drafting Jim Mattox
By Byron LaMasters
With Molly Beth Malcom's resignation as Texas Democratic Party Chair, the SDEC (Senate Democratic Executive Committee) will select her replacement at their next meeting. Supporters of former Congressman and (former) Attorney General Jim Mattox are attempting to draft him to run for chair. They have a webage, here.
I know that some Dallas Democrats are behind the effort, although I'm not quite sure exactly who is in charge. I'm also not sure who has expressed interest in running for the post, or if Malcolm will endorse a replacement. The Austin American Stateman has mentioned several other possible names for who might take the post:
There's a laundry list of potential replacements including, the party's general counsel, Charles Soechting; former Austin Mayor Kirk Watson; former Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox; Houston City Council Member Carol Alvarado; former state Sen. Carl Parker of Port Arthur; longtime political activist Debbie Branson; and former Travis County Democratic Chairman David van Os, now of San Antonio.
The name of state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, is floating around, although only as an interim chairman.
Of those names, I'm cetainly a big fan of Garnet Coleman. I think that Kirk Watson would be very well qualified as well. He has lots of financial contacts that would be good for the party. As for Jim Mattox... he's a little bit before my time, and he's been out of the loop for awhile now (he's lost his last three races - 1990 Gov, 1994 Senate, 1998 AG), but he obviously still has a strong following among some in the party.
Posted by Byron LaMasters at September 20, 2003 01:55 PM
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Yes you will have input if you make the effort to call or e-mail your SDEC committee man and woman and give them your two cents' worth. After all, they are your elected officials. I've already spoken to my SDEC people and asked them to support and encourage Jim Mattox. He understands how to run a grassroots coordinated campaign. He hasn't held elective office in over a decade, it's true, but he's not "out of the loop," and is the only person being mentioned who has the stature and tenacity to to get the various and sundry elements of the coordinated campaign to follow his lead.
