Swinford to run for Ag Commissioner in 2006
By Andrew Dobbs
The third official announcement of political intentions for 2006 came down today as Republican State Rep. David Swinford of Dumas announced that he would be seeking election as Agriculture Commissioner:
State Rep. David Swinford has decided to run for Texas agriculture commissioner in 2006, a job now held by fellow Republican Susan Combs.
Swinford, R-Dumas, said he decided to seek the post after Combs' May 7
announcement that she plans to run for state comptroller once her term ends.
He said his agricultural and legislative experience will make him a good fit
for the job, the Amarillo Globe-News reported.
Swinford has served on the House Agriculture Committee since he joined the Legislature in 1991. He has a degree in agriculture education and has worked in the seed, feed and grain businesses. He also has raised corn, wheat and cattle.
"I ran some traps with the speaker, the governor and other people, and they were very supportive," he said. "I visited with my bride, and she said since
all I do, talk about and want to do is agriculture issues, that probably I
was well-suited to do that."
As the story says, Susan Combs has said she will run for Comptroller and Rick Perry has said he will run for reelection as Governor. Carole Strayhorn is almost certain to run against Perry for Governor and everything else is up in the air. Swinford is unlikely to win the nomination as Ag Commissioner I'd say because East Texas State Senator Todd Staples seems to want the job and he would be the insider favorite to win.
Still no word on the Democratic side other than rumblings from Congressmen Jim Turner and Chris Bell.
Swinford has an 82% career rating from the Young Conservatives of Texas and that might sound reasonable until you realize that the YCTs are so freaking out there that that irascable liberal Arlene Wohlgemuth got only 74% on their ratings this year and that his lifetime rating is the same as Kent Grusendorf. Also, from the Amarillo Globe-News:
Several groups, including Texas Farm Bureau, Texas Cattle Feeders Association and cotton groups approached Swinford about running, he said.
Good to know that he's not even pretending to be independent of the agribusiness special interests. Imagine if someone said "well, the pharmaceutical industry and the tobacco companies wanted me to run so I thought I'd better." There'd be outrage and this guy will be nothing than a puppet for these special interests.
Still, he does seem to posess a certain level of candor and is an experienced public official and I could really give a damn who the Ag Commissioner is, though I obviously want it to be a Democrat. No word yet on who will seek the post for the Party of Jefferson and Jackson.
Posted by Andrew Dobbs at May 17, 2004 05:57 AM
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