January 19, 2005
Lyon Reportedly Considering Run For Governor
By Vince Leibowitz
Guest Post By Vince Leibowitz
Sources close to former State Senator Ted Lyon (D-Mesquite) say he is considering a run for Texas Governor in 2006.
Lyon served four years in the Texas House and ten years in the Texas Senate until he was defeated by Florence Shapiro (R-Dallas) in the 1992 race for Senate District 2 during the redistricting debacle of the early 1990s.
Lyon, a Mesquite attorney, gained some measure of statewide name recognition as Chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee and the Interim Task Force on State and Local Drug Control, as well as serving as co-chair of Ann Richard's Punishment Standards Commission in the 1980s and 1990s. His firmm has handled a number of high-profile environmental including one relating to the contamination of Lake Tawakoni--a major source of water for the Metroplex--with the pollutant MTBE, and even worked with Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong recently.
Though Lyon has been out of the political arena for more than a decade, his resume from his days in the Legislature is still quite impressive. It includes "legislator of the year" awards from groups as diverse as the Texas Farmer's Union, CLEAT, Texas District and County Attorney's Association, Texas Association of Home Health Agencies, Sportsmen's Clubs of Texas, Sierra Club, Common Cause, and the Texas Catholic Conference.
Though Lyon clearly has the funds to start a campaign on his own--and a good amount of support in counties he once represented, he will clearly have to start early to gain name recognition statewide, especially in a field that could include former Texas Comptroller John Sharp, former candidate for governor Tony Sanchez, former Congressmen Chris Bell and Jim Turner, and more.
Vince Leibowitz is County Chairman of the Democratic Party of Van Zandt County.
Posted by Vince Leibowitz at January 19, 2005 06:59 PM
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If Ted gets in Sharp won't. Ted's got a lot of money. He's wanted to get back in politics. I hope we can settle on one candidate against a battered KBH if she beats Perry. I think he could put together a good Dallas-East Texas coalition.
I think Lyon, Turner, and Sharp/Sanchez all need to talk and get this thing straightened out.
Why was redistricting in the early 1990s a "debacle"? The Democrats controlled the legistlature and the governorship...
It was a debacle because, as I recall, it ended up in court on so many occasions, and had to be redone at least once.
Assuming I do not get tied up tommorrow, I am supposed to be at a lunch meeting with Ted Lyon - I will ask him.
BYW, Florence Shapiro is NOT a R-Dallas. She is a R-Plano. WE DO NOT CLAIM HER !!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, WhoMe! Please do! I had intended to call him this afternoon to confirm it, but his office was closed after 5 when I got around to doing it. He's spoken at fund-raisers in Van Zandt County before.
I am glad we have candidates on the Dem side who want to run, but I still say it will be an incredible uphill battle to unseat KBH or Perry no matter how bloodied up they get in the primary
Vince,
I did not have a chance to talk to Ted Lyon this afternoon. Long story short, I got a horrible migraine headache out of nowhere that was starting as I got to the lunch meeting. I sat down, ate my salad and had to go home and rest. I did not have a chance to speak to Ted - in fact, I was in and out of there so quickly I did not even have a chance to confirm if he was there or not.
Luckily I was feeling better after a several hour snooze, but I still do not know any more than before I went to the meeting.
