Mark Thompson to Open State Campaign HQ in Austin Monday

by: Karl-Thomas Musselman

Tue Aug 05, 2008 at 07:30 PM CDT

Acknowledging it will be a difficult, uphill battle to defeat his well-funded, well-connected opponent, Democrat for Texas Railroad Commissioner Mark Thompson announced the opening of his statewide campaign headquarters today.

Thompson's campaign will base its operations in Texas from 96 Red River, in the heart of Downtown Austin -- near the Austin Convention Center.

That's right around the corner from the 2006 Travis County Democratic Coordinated Campaign for those that remember, next to the convention center.

A little more about his bio and the race.

Thompson, originally from Hamilton, Texas and now based out of Garland, Texas, began his campaign after a series of deadly home explosions in North Texas linked to faulty natural gas couplings -- couplings that should have been replaced long ago by the industry at the behest of the Republican-run Railroad Commission. But it seems the Commission is more interested in coddling oil & gas companies than protecting the people of Texas.

Michael Williams has had plenty of time to act on his promise to do something about the faulty 'Poly 1' pipe that attaches many Texas homes to the natural gas infrastructure. Williams promised to do something after a deadly explosion in Garland in 2000. But people are still dying in these coupling-caused explosions -- including disasters in Wylie and Cleburne in the last few years.

On the Web: www.markfortexas.com