Burnt Orange Report

Kelly White Campaign Kickoff

By Byron LaMasters

I was going to post on the Kelly White Campaign kickoff, since I attended it last night, but a reader made my job easy by sending me his report:

Last night, the Kelly White Campaign (for State Representative in District 48), held its Official Kick Off Party at the Boathouse, right next door to the Hulu Hut. I was there as a volunteer, and thought I'd give you a brief rundown in case you wanted to post any information about it. Turnout was MUCH higher than expected- indeed, we ran out of name tags, having originally thought we had purchased too many. Many local Democratic notables were on hand, including Liz Carpenter, Greg Hamilton, Rhett Smith and others. Donations flowed into out collection baskets. The atmosphere was extremely positive and optimistic. After being introduced by her husband, Bill McLellan, Kelly made a wonderful speech, interrupted by applause several times. She describes her reasons for running as "One-third naivete, one-third idealism, and one-third being ticked off." She described her own astonishment that she once huddled in a phone booth with two babies, desperately calling a woman's shelter for help after fleeing an abusive marriage, and today she has a woman's shelter named after her. She also lambasted the current political climate in Texas, attacking special interest politicians in general and her opponent, Representative Todd Baxter, in particular. She attacked the lack of transparency in state government, and asked why Texas is one of only ten states in which politicians are not required to publicly declare how they voted. She also said that she expects her opponent to attack her in every possible way, including the making up of false charges, but that her experience in an abusive marriage had toughened her, and that she was not a person who takes kindly to bullying in any event. Overall, it was a great event, and a wonderful start to this campaign. Jeff

Kelly White is running against Todd Baxter in a northwest Austin based State House seat. Both Kirk Watson and John Sharp won the district for Democrats in 2002. White has an impressive background, so check out her webpage and learn more about her.