When Elise Hu highlighted RPT-TV last Friday, none of us realized Todd Hunter would be so brazen as to lie directly to voters.
The Texas Democratic Party took a quick look at Hunter's claim that he is "very, very anti-tax" and found his voting record reveals his claim to be blatantly untrue.
In 1990, while Todd Hunter was a member of the Texas House, he voted twice to increase the sales tax [HB 150, 4/19/90, RV 34, Journal 35; HB 6, 6/5/90, RV 8, Journal 25]. When Texas hit tough economic times and our family and state budgets were in crisis, Hunter wanted to burden his constituents with a regressive sales tax increase. The following year, the Oklahoma native supported increases in the gasoline tax and diesel fuel tax - hardly the actions of a "fiscally responsible" lawmaker [HB 11, 8/5/91, RV 129 Journal 712; RV 132, Journal 721].
Todd Hunter has proven that he not only wants to raise taxes, but he wants to do it in a way that disproportionately hurts the middle and lower class.
"Todd Hunter's anti-tax claim is an example of a politician at his worst, hoping voters will share his selective amnesia as he misrepresents his record of voting for tax increases," explained Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Richie. "At a time when many families are struggling to make ends meet, voters are looking for new, honest leadership, but all Todd Hunter has to offer is a weak attempt to hide a record of voting to raise taxes on working families and Texas businesses."
It looks like the new margins tax is bringing in less money than original estimates projected. Small businesses are struggling and families are doing everything they can just to get buy during this very real recession. Why should the people of House District 32 (or anywhere else in Texas), vote for a Republican who is going to make it harder on their pocketbooks?
(Last cycle Garcia beat Gene Seaman because he was horrid candidate who made every mistake possible. This cycle, Garcia is in a must win race against Todd Hunter who is a horrid candidate who makes every mistake possible. - promoted by Matt Glazer)
A few weeks ago during a forum in Corpus Christi for House District 32 candidates, an attendee asked State Rep. Juan Garcia and lobbyist Todd Hunter if they would release their tax records. Rep. Garcia immediately said he would release his tax records as well as his wife’s records. Hunter responds by first dodging the question (see video) then stating that he would only give his tax records but not his wife’s if and only if Garcia released his military record (Rep. Garcia continues to serve as a Flight Instructor in the Navy Reserve and is scheduled to take command of a unit in October).
Rep. Garcia fulfilled his promise and released his family’s tax records. The release notes both of their salaries (Denise Garcia is the General Counsel for Driscoll Children's Hospital). Records show an upper middle class income commensurate with two working professionals with four small children. While higher than the average area salary, it is relatively low for two Harvard Law graduates. The Garcias always said that they consciously chose to come back to the Coastal Bend to raise their young family.
To date, the silence from Hunter is deafening.
I think I know why Hunter won’t give up his or his wife's tax records or his wife’s. Todd Hunter has made millions of dollars lobbying for special interests. A large bulk of those millions were made from working for the insurance companies (see spreadsheet) keeping rates high. This is going to be a tough sell in the Coastal Bend, where homeowners pay the highest windstorm rates in the country. Even if for some miracle he releases his records, I am willing to bet that Hunter won’t release his wife’s records because that is where he is hiding his money. Just like Gene Seaman, I expect Hunter to use his wife to funnel and hide money.
I am still quite appalled that Hunter would dare ask for Garcia’s military record when Hunter has never served. I don't know what type of attempt of swiftboating Hunter was thinking but it won't work against Garcia. In a humorous follow up at the debate, Garcia said he would be happy to release his military records and asked if Hunter would release his as well. Hunter snarled back, “you know I don’t have one” (i.e. a military record to release).
Todd Hunter, it is time to release your and your wife’s tax records to see how you have profited off making it harder and more expensive to own a home in Texas.
Yesterday we wrote about a Texas Poll Watch poll, perhaps too soon. After a day of looking at numbers and talking to pollsters, we should not have printed the poll because none of the numbers seem correct.
To take the poll on face would mean that Garcia is - 4.94% in Aransas, - 1.16% in Calhoun,
- 3.15% in Nueces and - 22.61% in San Patricio.
As Kuff pointed out in the comments, "Garcia won San Patricio County by a huge margin in 2006 (7142 to 5350, or 57.2% to 42.8%), so any poll that shows him trailing there by double digits is a little suspicious to begin with. San Patricio did go mostly R in 2006 overall, though Bill Moody won it with 52%, but the downballot statewide Rs didn't do so well, with Todd Staples and Elizabeth Ames Jones getting only a plurality. My guess is that this is a small subsample with a large MOE, and as such probably not very useful."
To add to this, because of the huge swings in San Patricio and Aransas, it looks like Texas Poll Watch is under sampling Hispanics and over sampling Nueces. The combination of the two would skew any poll dramatically and is an amateur mistake when weighting and creating the methodology.
Ed Martin echoes both points in the comments.
In 2006, an excellent Democratic/Hispanic field effort at the end of the campaign helped drive those San Patricio numbers to 57% for Garcia. In this district, San Patricio's 12.5K votes in a House race in an "off" year make it a major county. Unless a pollster knows how to test an accurate and representative sample of Hispanic voters, their preference will typically be under-represented in most polls in South Texas counties like San Patricio. Bottom line: If you flip the San Patricio numbers, this is still a close race that could go down to the wire, but not one that has Hunter ahead, especially by 8 points.
The most important part is this poll both fails to take in unlikely voters that Garcia's campaign will obviously target and new voters identified by the 2008 presidential primary.
In Aransas that is 873 voters. In Calhoun that is 2,653 voters. In Nueces that is 4,271 voters. In San Patricio that is 6,639 voters.
In 2006, Garcia won with 17,607 votes. The Democratic primary alone has identified 14,436 votes compared to 2006 when Garcia had 5,401 2006 primary voters identified. This poll would not touch a large segment of this 14,436 because it is an automated phone system with no live dials. That same system would disproportionately hit men, voters over 35 years old, and excludes minorities.
Just looking at the county by county numbers this poll is strikingly off, and a correction in San Patricio would completely eliminate the 8 point lead Hunter has in this apparently faulty poll.
The newly founded Texas Poll Watch has some scary numbers coming out of incumbent Juan Garcia's district.
Texas Poll Watch conducted a poll of likely voters in Texas House District 32 from June 12, 2008 through June 15, 2008. The sample size is 560. The margin of error is 4.7%.
Todd Hunter - R 46.38%
Juan Garcia (I) - D 38.06%
Lenard Nelson - LIB 5.05%
Undecided 10.02%
Hunter's county-by-county lead ranges from nearly 13-points in both Nueces and San Patricio counties to 8-points in Aransas County. Garcia leads only in Calhoun County by 15-points.
Hunter leads Garcia by over 18-points with non-Hispanic voters, but Garcia leads Hunter by over 17-points with Hispanic voters.
The campaign is just getting going, so these are probably baseline numbers in a district that probably wrestles with 40-45% democratic performance (DPI). These aren't entirely shocking, but do indicate we need to take this race very seriously.
Good news is, Hunter has proven he is a bad campaigner time and time and time again. In addition, the March 4 presidential primary has identified thousands of new Democratic voters for the Garcia campaign to reach out to.
Bad news is this will be another expensive race and the Republicans have already proven they will lie in order to win. Which means Juan's positive message of reform and change will have to have the resources it needs to resonate among HD-32 voters. In addition, nobody is sure how many of those new voters will come out again.
This race also shows us we can't take anything for granted as Democrats.
As always, we will keep our eyes close to this race.
If you happened to run across the website of Republican state house candidate Todd Hunter (challenging incumbent Juan Garcia), you might notice that he's made a good portion of his campaign about his experience as a former 4-term state legislator. In fact, his website mentions it multiple times.
Todd A. Hunter served four previous terms in the Texas House of Representatives.
Also...
Todd completed four terms in the Texas House of Representatives after first being elected to office in 1988.
Now Todd wants to pick up where he left off. That's why he's running for State Representative in District 32.
So I have to ask, if Todd Hunter considers his 4 terms of prior service of such great importance to being a state representative, why did he author a constitutional amendment when he was in office to institute, you guessed it, terms limits of 4 terms?
By Hunter of Nueces H.J.R. No. 96
74R1545 JSA-D
A JOINT RESOLUTION
1-1 proposing a constitutional amendment to limit the number of years
1-2 that a person may serve in the legislature.
1-3 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Article III of the Texas Constitution is amended
1-5 by adding Section 7a to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 7a. (a) A person is not eligible to a full term as a
1-7 member of the legislature if, on the date the term begins, the
1-8 person has served as a member of the legislature for eight years or
1-9 longer. A person is not eligible to fill a vacancy in the
1-10 legislature if, on the date the vacancy occurs, the person has
1-11 served as a member of the legislature for eight years or longer.
1-12 (b) For purposes of this section, serving a full term as a
1-13 member of the house of representatives is counted as two years of
1-14 legislative service, without regard to the date the person takes
1-15 the oath of office or whether the actual term is a few days more or
1-16 less than exactly two years.
1-17 (c) For purposes of this section, serving a four-year term
1-18 as a member of the senate is counted as four years of legislative
1-19 service, without regard to the date the person takes the oath of
1-20 office or whether the actual term is a few days more or less than
1-21 exactly four years, and serving a two-year term as a member of the
1-22 senate is counted as two years of legislative service, without
1-23 regard to the date the person takes the oath of office or whether
1-24 the actual term is a few days more or less than exactly two years.
2-1 (d) For purposes of this section, a person elected to a full
2-2 term as a member of the legislature is considered to have served
2-3 for the full term if the person serves during all or part of each
2-4 regular session of the legislature that occurs during the term to
2-5 which the person is elected, without regard to whether the person
2-6 actually serves for the full term.
2-7 (e) For purposes of this section, for legislative service
2-8 not covered by Subsection (b), (c), or (d) of this section, 365
2-9 days of legislative service is considered one year of legislative
2-10 service.
2-11 (f) Service in the legislature during a term that begins
2-12 before the legislature convenes in regular session in 1997 is not
2-13 counted in determining whether a person is disqualified from the
2-14 legislature under this section.
Can't get enough of chubby 60-something men making painfully off-color anecdotes at legislative events? Been awhile since you've watched the iconic footage of Gene Seaman's now-legendary floor speech on Viagra?
This week House challenger Todd Hunter managed to forge the bonds of creepiness with Seaman in an appearance at a candidate’s forum in Corpus Christi.
Asked about the relative value of seniority in the Texas Lege, Hunter thought the appropriate response would be "size matters." As the footage from the event shows, the audience of Leadership Corpus Christi alumni react with a stunned and deafening silence.
It gets even better.
After the Corpus Christi Caller-Times wrote a Sunday piece describing the bizarre awkwardness of the moment, the Hunter campaign's nimble response was to release an 843-word press advisory desperately trying to spin the concept that this had nothing to do with sexual innuendo. They pathetically try to point out the term "size matters" could have meant all kinds of things, and as examples, they refer to the use of the term "in title of a Playstation 2 video game; it’s the name of a clothing store for big and tall men in Philadelphia; it is a album title by the band Helmet"
Well here's album cover from Helmut (it has no sexual innuendo at all, right?):
As local political scientist Bob Bezdek told the Caller-Times in yet another story on this bizarre incident, "My God, why would you put that much effort into it? If I had said something I didn't mean to say, I'd apologize."
What's with these creepy old guys and their obsession with their junk? Shouldn't Hunter, who endorsed Seaman last cycle, raised money for him, hosted events for him, and took part in his TV ads, shift his focus to thinking about how he's going to defend taking nearly $4 million dollars as a windstorm lobbyist when the Coastal Bend is paying the highest windstorm rates in the nation?
You might have missed Todd Hunter's lie over the long weekend (I almost did).
Over at the Caller-Times, a small but important line states:
Hunter became a lobbyist after leaving the Legislature, with clients including the city of Corpus Christi -- which he represented for free, his campaign said -- and the insurance industry. He said he has no fear of lobbyists exerting undue influence on him.
In fact, Hunter was paid up to $250,000 to represent the city of Corpus from 1998 through 2000. The proof is in the state's own ethics filings. Click on any of the links (1998, 1999, 2000) and scroll down to "Hunter, Todd". I never knew pro-bono work could be so profitable.
Hate to see a quarter-of-a-million "misstatement" get buried over the long weekend. Oh, did we mention that Juan Garcia is one of the strongest voices in ethics reform in the House? Seems more and more valuable every year.
We aren't trying to write about HD-32 every day, but man Todd Hunter is bad guy and horrid candidate. In three days, he has made at least three major errors-- lying to voters, attacking a decorated veteran, and concealing important documents from voters.
In the same week that Nueces County GOP Chair Mike Bertuzzi questioned the "worthiness" of State Rep. Juan Garcia's donation to the Center for the Intrepid (the nation's premiere rehabilitation facility for our most seriously injured, burned and maimed service personnel) because, get this, the facility is not in Rep. Garcia's District (not joking, see the Caller Times), challenger Todd Hunter showed how little regard he holds for military service.
During their first head-to-head debate, the two were asked by an audience member whether they would make their tax records available to the media. Garcia immediately committed to unconditionally releasing the tax records. In a bizarre answer captured on video, an indignant Hunter snarled "you won't get my wife's" (reminiscent of Garcia’s last opponent and Hunter’s supporter Gene Seaman and his hiding of a luxury Town Lake condo kept in his wife's name but paid for with campaign contributions), and then made the release of his own tax returns conditional on Rep. Garcia releasing his military records.
Hunter never served in the military, but has no shame in apparently searching for ways to turn someone else's service against them. Ironically, Garcia, a decorated naval aviator who spent 13 years on active duty and continues to serve as a naval instructor pilot in the reserves at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, will be promoted to the rank of Commander in June, and was just selected to take command of the VT-28 Squadron Augment Unit in October.
District 32 contains NAS Corpus Christi, Naval Station Ingleside, the Corpus Christi Army Depot, and many residents who commute to nearby Naval Air Station Kingsville. They honor military service. A big part of Garcia's 2006 victory was due to the reality that the bonds of sacrifice and service run deeper than partisan affiliation. Chickenhawks like Bertuzzi and Hunter are further proof that this GOP has lost touch with voters and that Garcia is going to win again.
Yesterday, Mynor Rodriguez wrote this post talking about House District 32. Today, Juan Garcia sent out this e-mail explaining the situation further.
This week the Nueces County Republican Party sent out a mailer to thousands of area residents, demanding that State Representative Juan Garcia return campaign contributions from businessman Mauricio Celis. The problem? Rep. Garcia donated all of Celis' contribution to a veterans' rehabilitation center months ago.
A check copy shows that Garcia sent $17,000 to the Intrepid Center on January 24, 2008. The center is a privately-funded, state-of-the-art rehabilitation facility in San Antonio treating injured and disfigured American service personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
A letter from Mr. Richard T. Santulli, Chairman of The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, thanked Rep. Garcia for "your kindness and generosity. We are grateful for your thoughtfulness and for your remembering our service members and their families." Rep. Garcia is listed on the Intrepid Center's website, www.fallenheroesfund.org, as a major contributor in the "Friends" category.
Christian Archer, Garcia spokesman, summed it up nicely, "Juan didn't call a press conference to announce he was doing this. He didn't release a media advisory. He certainly didn't check in with Bertuzzi or any of his lackeys. He just quietly did the right thing, and then went back to serving the people of district 32. "
Bertuzzi's latest misfire follows a string of embarrassing incidents for the local GOP as they've repeatedly attempted to attack Garcia. Earlier this year, former Nueces County GOP Chair Joel Yowell initiated a Texas Public Information Act request for all records, including every letter, email, telephone record, employee record, and office budget item ever generated by Rep. Garcia's office. After Rep. Garcia's State House staff gathered the documents for the request, costing dozens of taxpayer hours, Yowell changed his mind about wanting the materials and returned them to Rep. Garcia. Members of the local GOP leadership have had four frivolous ethics complaints against Rep. Garcia dismissed. And in a bizarre episode this winter, a Republican political consultant was fired after he created an email account designed to impersonate Representative Garcia, and then launched a disparaging email campaign involving the Aransas County Sheriff's race.
This week's GOP mail piece, which also attacks State Representative Abel Herrero, hit mailboxes the same week as the murder trial for a man charged with the death of Herrero's father. Said Joe Hall, Treasurer of Rep. Garcia's campaign, "As a lifelong Republican, these tactics embarrass me. This handful of angry, bitter partisans embodies everything that's wrong with our political system. It's why people want change."
Sour grapes are funny things. After the amazing victory by Juan Garcia over Republican Gene Seaman in the Coastal Bend in 2006, local republican officials just cannot come to grips with reality. Repeatedly, the Nueces County GOP apparatus continues to swing wildly into the air, hitting nothing and looking like fools.
First, since his win, four frivolous ethics complaints againt Rep. Garcia filed by local GOP officials have been dismissed by the Ethics Commission.
Second, former Nueces County Republican Chair Joel Yowell filed a massive public information request of Rep. Garcia’s State Representative office, including every email, phone call and employee document ever generated by the office. After Garcia's staff was forced to burn dozens of taxpayer-paid man-hours complying with his request, Yowell sent the records back unopened, simply changing his mind. Yowell gave no reason for his sudden change of heart. I suspect he is afraid of what happens if we peer into his house.
Third, in an even more bizarre episode, Republican staffer and campaign consultant, Todd Gallaher, got caught using state computers for campaign work, created an email account designed to look like it was from Rep. Garcia and tried to blackmail a sitting Coastal Bend Sheriff. Later, he lied to an ethics watchdog group who filed a complaint against his boss by claiming to be Dallas Morning New reporter.
This week, Mike Bertuzzi, current Nueces County Republican Chair, sent out 20,000 mailers attacking Rep. Juan Garcia for not returning campaign contributions given by Corpus Christi businessman Mauricio Celis. Not surprisingly, Bertuzzi, the ring leader of this bumbling "gang that couldn't shoot straight", didn't bother to check his facts.
Last January, Garcia donated the Celis money to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which serves severly injured American service personnel from South Texas.
The “Center for the Intrepid” serves military personnel who have been catastrophically disabled in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and veterans severely injured in other operations and in the normal performance of their duties.
Here is clip of Rep. Garcia addressing the local media on the false mailers:
