HD-92 Republican Primary Race Gets Really Ugly

by: Todd Hill

Thu Feb 25, 2010 at 10:01 AM CST

Prior to the eight day out report filing, Cason had only raised roughly $8,000.  Having now been rescued by his new found PAC buddies, Cason reported over $90,000 raised.  A stunning surge of money in a race indicative of the fight between moderates and extremists taking place within the Texas Republican Party.  Will extreme continue and be mainstream, or will moderates be able to hold on and survive? That is the question that will be answered on March 2nd in HD-92.  

The Star-Telegram reports the following about some of the mail pieces being tossed around in HD-92:

Fisher called it "the most disgusting piece of political literature I think I've ever seen."

The mailer is in reference to a bill from Smith that would have allowed defendants to petition a judge to be exempted from registering as a sex offender if their crime involved consensual sex with a minor. Judges already have discretion in such cases where the defendant is under 18. Smith said his bill would have allowed judges that same discretion for defendants who are 18 or 19 when the victims were no more than four years younger.

The bill passed with strong support in the Legislature but was vetoed by Gov. Perry, who wrote that it failed "to adequately protect young victims."

Smith took issue with the imagery of a beaten girl for a bill that involved only cases of consensual sex. He also said Cason misrepresented the bill by saying it would have changed the handling of cases involving girls "as young as 13."

Cason stood by his characterization of Smith's bill.

Anyone can read the bill for themselves and they'll see that Todd thinks 17-year-old young men who coerce a 13-year-old girl into 'consensual' sex should have a way off of the sexual predatory registry," Cason wrote.

Nasty indeed. There are great implications to this race, particularly from the Voter Suppression Legislation perspective.  You'll recall that it was Smith as head of the Elections Committee who attempted to ram through a Voter ID Bill, but ultimately scuttled his own legislation.  Cason, along with the above referenced issue by the Star-Telegram, has pursued Smith hard on Voter Suppression proclaiming he wants a more stringent and tougher Indiana-style Bill.

On the other hand, should Smith win his primary he'll be so scared and paranoid to the point that should he retain his Chairmanship of the Elections Committee he'll do whatever he can to ram Voter Suppression Legislation through Committee and eventually the House.  He'll be desperate to curry favor with the extreme elements of the Party that are clearly taking over the Texas GOP---again, extreme is becoming mainstream with Republicans these days.  

Ultimately, what I would say is I'd rather have a moderate over an extremist any day of the week; however, I'd most assuredly rather have a Democrat over a Republican in HD-92 too. Since I'm not likely to get a Democrat the question left to voters in HD-92 is are your interests best represented by someone to the extreme Right, or someone more in the middle?  What's going on within the Republican Party, where Republicans are actively paying to take out moderate Republicans in order to elect extremists, is everything that is wrong with politics today. It's a nasty fight for the soul of their Party, but one that has great implications for us all, regardless of Party affiliation.    

As a final note, a fascinating quote by Cason at the end of the Star-Telegram interview:

"What the voters of this district want is someone who will actually represent their conservative values, not pander to political action committees and play word games about their voting record," Cason said.

A remarkable quote coming from someone who can account for almost 50% of what he raised having come from extreme element PAC's such as Empower Texas and Citizen Leader. So conservative values equate to being bought? Thanks for confirming what most of us already thought.  Can we all say that we now know who Jeff Cason will pander to should he make it to Austin?  Of course we can. It is yet another purchased vote for Bob Perry and his PAC buddies who've run roughshod over Austin for far too long.

I'm not the biggest fan of no-win situations, but I would say voters of House District 92 are left with that scenario this election cycle.