With one week left before Election Day, there are not a lot of places left where a last minute splash of cash can change the direction of a statewide race. It's too late to gear up direct mail production that isn't already in process and by the time you hire new field organizers the election may be over. But late TV buys, while more expensive per point now, are still a place where late money can be funneled- especially if the targeting is already done.
With tens of millions already spent to define and promote the issues at the top of the ballot, it's very unlikely that an additional $1 million in the Governor's race would be the gamechanging financial move. But for underfunded downballot races a similar investment could provide a major impact, and in some cases, provide a positive spillover across the ticket. The biggest thing that could happen to the Democrats this fall to boost the Party's chances in 2012 and 2014 is simple- win a statewide race. The momentum and fundraising that a single breakthrough win would provide could easily turn a $1 million investment in 2010 into a $3-$10 million value over the next few years. It's hard to quantify, but coming away empty handed costs the party millions every cycle between the dollars spent re-energizing the base from square one and the lost fundraising from new donors who would otherwise open their wallets once they know they aren't wasting their money on yet another hopeless cycle.
Below I outline 3 races where someone like Steve Mostyn, Farouk Shami, Tony Sanchez, or another forward thinking Democratic donor could make a strategic investment and impact the 2010, 2012, and 2014 elections all at once. Not to mention make a name for themselves.
Lt. Governor's Race: Linda Chavez-Thompson
Incumbent Lt. Governor David Dewhurst is well funded, but his polling is weaker than other statewide Republcians. More importantly, Linda Chavez-Thompson's entire campaign operation is built around turning out voters in the triangle formed by South Texas, San Antonio, and El Paso. She's talked about benefits of turning out the Hispanic vote- something she can do, wants to do, and will do if she had the money to fully implement her plan. Her media plan is focused, obvious, and can easily scale up. Her campaign is more than shovel ready- it's already turning dirt. Swap out the shovel for an excavator and she can dig up a mountain of votes. Dewhurst isn't talking to these voters- he's too busy advertising to white, right-leaning voters in his quest to replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in 2012. And every vote that Chavez-Thompson turns out in the Southern Triangle is highly likely to be voting for Bill White and the rest of the Democratic ticket.
Value: Best place for a rising tide to lift all boats.
Ag Commissioner's Race: Hank Gilbert
Lost in the media's hubbub about the "negativity" of this race is the fact that Hank Gilbert has garnered a ton of earned media in primary and secondary markets across the state, many of which aren't online and have flown under the radar of most electoral observers. The variety of stories and hits is second only to Bill White's. The only statewide candidate to have run before against the same opponent, Gilbert has been busy executing his plan in East & West Texas. He can't claim as many newspaper endorsements, but he's blocked a number of the second tier markets from taking a side. He's easily the most authentically 'rural' candidate on the ballot and has been in tune with the simmering anger in the electorate for over 4 years; he never stopped running for this office, setting up anti-toll road (and anti-Perry) groups around the state. As of the last report he had about $100,000 on hand, but incumbent Todd Staples only had about $750,000 most of which has been spent on both sides. Staples is still a weak fundraiser like he was in 2006 and is prone to being spooked into draining his campaign accounts. Unlike Perry or Combs or Abbott, he does not have a skilled political team or instincts. Gilbert's media plan is ready to go and being an Ag Commission candidate, is not going head-to-head in the urban markets in which White and Perry have run up the prices. Added bonus- big Republican donors aren't loyal to Staples, there is a Libertarian in the race, and there is no GOP-sponsored Green Party candidate running.
Value: Higher name ID downballot Democrat with cheap east and west Texas media versus the least skillful, shortest serving statewide Republican incumbent who happens to be low on cash. Plus a Libertarian. And no Green.
Railroad Commissioner's Race: Jeff Weems
Besides the fact that most of the electorate doesn't know we have a Railroad Commissioner (not to mention three of them), this race is unique. Generic no-name Republican David Porter forced incumbent Victor Carrillo into a runoff- and then beat him- by 22 points- while spending 1/20th as much as Carrillo. This led to the infamously blistering Carrillo attack on Porter and the Republican Party for its knee-jerking anti-Hispanic voting tendencies. Other than being James Leininger's PAC treasurer, Porter is an unqualified nobody from Giddings that doesn't campaign. Even his friends thought he was crazy. Democratic Jeff Weems, a Houston energy lawyer and third-generation son of the oil patch, is immeasurably qualified. He's earned every newspaper endorsement in the race. Harvey Kronberg has stated that "If this is an industry-only election, Weems would win." The 8-Day campaign finance report are out and it's shocking how little money there is in this race. If not for Porter's small personal loan, he'd have just $18,000 cash on hand. Weems has been trouping around many of the same areas as Gilbert and shares many of the same benefits of cheaper, ready to access rural media markets. But unless something changes, the GOP, Dems, Libertarians, and Green will have a 4-way battle of "who's name do voters like best" to decide our next Railroad Commissioner.
Value: If you think GOP donors aren't hot on Todd Staples, they really don't give a hoot about David Porter. With fellow Railroad Commissioners Elizabeth Ames Jones and Michael Williams distracted by posturing for Sen. Hutchison's Senate seat, a funded Weems could pass by an unaided Porter and create a foothold for Democrats.
Campaign donations in Texas are often a matter of risk versus reward. I believe in every Democrat running statewide, but with one week to go, it's my belief that these races offer specific opportunities. Our oft-forgotten statewide judicial candidates may yet pull the highest vote percentages (like Bill Moody and Sam Houston in 06 and 08) but voters are harder to persuade in judicial races and statewide judges clearly can't be the same sort of advocates, fundraisers, or campaigners as the other elected officeholders I mentioned.
Now if only I had $1 million.
While I have worked with the Gilbert campaign on their email strategy, but I do not have a contractual financial interest with the other campaigns; other writers through GNI Strategies have worked with Chavez-Thompson.
People who live in glass houses usually learn not to throw boulders through their own living room windows. Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples evidently never learned that.
I’ve watched the 'battle royale' between Democrat Hank Gilbert and Todd Staples with a lot of interest this cycle. I’ve found it particularly interesting that, although the media has given a lot of attention to allegations Staples has made about Gilbert (including that he has some old tax liens and bounced a check a decade ago), the media, at least the Capitol press corps, hasn’t done much to explore the problems with the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) that Hank Gilbert’s campaign has worked pretty hard to make public (see here and here). To be fair, they have done a good job of covering Hank's plan to reform TDA, but they've mostly ignored the very real, very dangerous issues with TDA under Staples.
I find that even more ironic given information that I came across the other day about Staples having managed to escape prosecution for assaulting his step-son. Yes, it turns out that incumbent Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples does, indeed live in a glass house. Why the media hasn’t taken notice is anyone’s guess. After all, they've already set the precedent making Hank's family issues campaign issues.
According to police reports from the Palestine Police Department (the full originals which I've posted in the extended entry below), Staples’ has a bit of a record himself, having been investigated for Assault Causing Bodily Injury/family violence for throwing his stepson to the ground, getting on top of the kid, and beating him.
What’s worse, though, is that it looks very much like Staples may have used his Rolodex of political connections to have kept the charges under wraps for years. Back in 1998 while Staples was a State Representative, he was listed as the “defendant” in Case Number 0927-98. According to these police reports, victim’s statement, and multiple witness statements which were sent to me by an anonymous source (the Gilbert campaign says it wasn’t that source—see the statement from them later in this post), Staples grabbed his stepson, pushed or threw him on the ground, jumped on top of the stepson, and struck him in the face several times while threatening to “beat him black and blue.”
The file notes that Staples and his wife admit that Todd Staples was on top of the son while he was on the ground. Based on these police reports, it sure looks like Staples’ was given preferential treatment by the Palestine Police Department and the Anderson County DA’s office. For example, although the incident was reported on July 6, Staples wasn’t contacted about it until July 10th, and then didn’t return a message about it that was left at his office until the following Monday, July 13, 1998.
Then, in a highly unusual move for a police investigation, Staples and his wife were allowed to come to the police station, and then leave and return with their statements in writing. They were also allowed to delay providing contact information for material witnesses until they filed the written statements. Even more suspicious is that when the Palestine Police Department referred the case to the Anderson County District Attorney’s Office, it evidently vanished into thin air after the DA decided not to prosecute it. Months after the incident, on December 15, 1998, Jeff Herrington, the DA for Anderson County, sent a Jacksonville lawyer who was evidently representing Staples a glowing letter claiming that the incident had been reviewed by three separate prosecutors (three! not one, but three!) and Herrington in turn blamed everything on Staples’ stepson.
In spite of that letter, the case was evidently still open until midway through Staples’ run for Senate in 2000, because Staples stepson executed an affidavit of non-prosecution on June 23, 2000. Though the affidavit was on a typed form, the handwriting on the forms looks like handwriting we’ve seen belonging to Staples.
This all brings up some good questions.
NUMBER ONE: Was Staples’ given preferential treatment, and did he attempt to use his position to avoid being charged in the incident, or even taken before a grand jury?
NUMBER TWO: Why wasn’t Staples’ arrested when the incident was reported? Why did no one seek a protective order for the stepson?
When I contacted the Gilbert campaign about this, the campaign confirmed they were aware of the incident and had seen the records, and even offered a twist. This is a statement that the campaign sent me:
We are aware of this incident. The documents you sent us appear to be the same documents our campaign obtained from the Palestine Police Department under a Public Information Request earlier this year. Before we received it from the Palestine Police Department, someone identifying themselves as an Anderson County resident e-mailed the campaign copies of much of this information, too. Paper copies of these records were also mailed to the campaign’s P.O. Box earlier this year with a return address of a P.O. Box in Gun Barrel City which we could not trace.
Because it is not our intention to do what Staples has done and make this race personal, we have not used this material to date, although I can confirm that a number of reporters also possess the same information. The only additional information I can provide you is that when I requested similar files from the Anderson County District Attorney’s Office, I received back a letter saying that the Anderson County DA’s office has no records of the case.
That in and of itself seems odd. Usually DA’s offices keep these types of records. It looks like they vanished into thin air.
This brings up another question: Did Staples’ use his political influence to ‘disappear’ the files from the DA’s office? Dr. Jay Herrington, brother of Jeff Herrington, the DA at the time, is a contributor to Staples. What kind of relationship did then-legislator Staples have with Herrington? Did he help Herrington’s office with grants? Who knows.
Either way, Staples has a lot to answer for. So does the capitol press corps. Why have they, while giving plenty of ink to Staples’ allegations about Gilbert, not bothered to dig into Staples’ past?
Over the past ten weeks, the Texas Democratic Party promoted an unprecedented "Meet the Statewides" campaign on our website. Each week, we promoted content for our statewide candidates on our website, Facebook, and Twitter pages. We asked candidates to submit a video, write an original op-ed, and provide biographical information. We at the TDP also penned an issue piece, sent out all material to our e-mail list, and created duplicative Spanish-language pages for each candidate.
Yesterday, we began looking back at our series by looking at our statewide judicial candidates. Read our post from yesterday ("Our "Meet the Statewides" Series: Texas Supreme Court & Court of Criminal Appeals Candidates") to read about Texas Supreme Court Candidates Jim Sharp, Blake Bailey, and Bill Moody, as well as Court of Criminal Appeals candidate Keith Hampton.
Today, we wanted to focus on our next batch of statewide candidates:
Practicing law on both sides of the docket, Barbara Ann Radnofsky is a mother, wife, teacher, and mediator. Texas educated, she’s a magna cum laude graduate from the University of Houston and an honors graduate from University of Texas Law School. In 2006, after 27 years of law practice, Barbara Ann left Vinson & Elkins as Head of the Alternate Dispute Resolution Section to become the first woman in history to serve as the Texas Democratic U.S. Senate nominee. She was the first woman at Vinson & Elkins to have children as an associate and attain partnership.
The Texas Attorney General picks his battles. It was a Texas Attorney General opinion which enabled Tom DeLay’s mid decade redistricting. To the great credit of the Texas Rangers in 2006, an election year, it was a Ranger who brought concrete evidence of sexual and physical abuse at the Texas Youth Commission to the Texas Attorney General. The Attorney General turned his back. Instead, he used Attorney General resources to target elderly and minority Democrats assisting the homebound to cast their mail in ballots. Attorney General Abbott squandered seven figures of discretionary funds, finding no organized widespread fraud or voter impersonation. Reports of investigators spying on an elderly woman in her bathroom and knocking on her door amid selective prosecutions of Democratic activists convey a political purpose: voter intimidation.
In the wake of the recent British Petroleum (BP) Gulf oil spill, Abbott didn’t even attempt to act like the state’s chief law enforcement officer. Despite BP’s horrific safety record, Abbott made excuses for the oil company rather than insisting that its plans and actions be scrutinized. Instead, Abbott said on May 3rd: “we’re seeing BP take all the right actions and make all the right comments.” (Source: KXAN-TV).
Todd Staples spent the first few years of his term as Agriculture Commissioner positioning himself to run for higher statewide office. After Kay Bailey Hutchison declined to resign her senate seat, and the long expected musical chairs among Republican statewide elected officials was avoided, Staples has shifted his focus to using the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) as an extension of his campaign. Since taking office in 2007, Staples has shown a dissappointing pattern of shameless self-promotion and incompetence.
The latest example of Staples mismanagement of the TDA involved the outsourcing of $3 million in federal funds to a Kentucky-based non-profit for a broadband mapping project. The non-profit, Connected Nation, has a spotty record and well-documented ties to the telecommunications industry. The study's value is also coming under fire from Staples' Democratic opponent, Hank Gilbert, whose campaign has said the study could have easily been completed by a Texas state agency or public university.
"It was inappropriate for the Texas Department of Agriculture to outsource more than $3 million in federal funding to a Kentucky non-profit organization with a questionable record and significant ties to telecommunications companies when federal law allowed the state to conduct this project on its own,” Gilbert said.
...
“The fact of the matter is that federal law allowed the state or any of the public universities in Texas to conduct this project,” Gilbert said, citing the provisions The Broadband Data Improvement Act, 47 U.S.C. §1304, which states that multiple entity types—including government bodies—were eligible for the funds.
As bad as Staples' decision to outsource the federal funds was, it fits into a long pattern of behavior the TDA has followed under his leadership. What is perhaps more notable is that the TDA is directing reporters to contact the Texans for Todd Staples campaign with questions about the Connected Nation contract.
Of course, it was not Texans for Todd Staples who awarded the federally funded contract, and it is hard to imagine the Republican political operative Cody McGregor employed by the Staples campaign having any qualifications to answer such questions.
McGregor has attempted to deflect legitimate questions about the Connected Nation contract by feeding reporters recycled negative information about Hank Gilbert. The TDA, not individuals employed by the Staples campaign, need to be answering these questions with facts, not recyling old lines of attack against Gilbert.
The question that Todd Staples needs to answer: Where is the line drawn between the Texas Department of Agriculture and the Texans for Todd Staples campaign?
Currently, there is mounting evidence that the TDA and the Staples campaign are nearly one and the same. The Gilbert campaign issued a press release today encouring reporters to take the following actions:
Insist that the Texas Department of Agriculture offer an explanation for why Connected Nation received a $3 million contract from TDA given the wake of problems that plagued the non-profit organization that performed broadband work in North Carolina and Kentucky.
Ask the TDA why they are referring questions about a state contract to Texans for Todd Staples. Ask if it is a deliberate attempt to dodge difficult questions about the Connected Nation broadband contract.
The core issue is about TDA's questionable broadband contract itself, not the back and forth between the two campaigns. Therefore, inquiries should be directed to the TDA, not Todd Staples' campaign. TDA Deputy Commissioner Bryan Black, who handles media inquiries for the Texas Department of Agriculture, may be reached at 512-475-1669. Note that the voice mail at this extension instructs that media inquires may also be made directly to Mr. Black's cell phone, 512-964-2830.
Texas needs a leader who will put the Texas Department of Agriculture first, instead of prioritizing his own re-election and political career over the job Texans elected him to do.
The bottom line remains that the Todd Staples and the TDA need to be accountable for the Connected Nation contract decision. It was not a decision made by his campaign staff, and they should not be the ones answering questions about state business.
Democracy for America released endorsements in three important Texas races today: Governor, Agriculture Commissioner, and Tax Assessor-Collector of Harris County. And arguably, it's that tax-assessor race that might be the most important race for the long-term future of Texas. Now, don't get me wrong, I want to take back the governor's mansion as much as the next person carrying a tote bag around town with Bill White's face on it. But if we're talking long-term change in Texas, it's that Harris County race that every single Democrat needs to know about.
For Governor and Agriculture Commissioner, DFA echoed the earlier BOR endorsements of Bill White and Hank Gilbert. No real surprise there: both are the only candidates in their respective races with the knowledge and skill to succeed at the job they're running for. It's the Diane Trautman endorsement we all need to pay even closer attention to, because of the vital importance of the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector to not just Democrats, but the very concept of democracy here in Texas. From DFA's announcement:
Diane Trautman is a fighter. Nearly toppling an entrenched incumbent in 2008, she's running for office again, determined to return public trust to an office that has been plagued by scandal.
Diane is working to bring more open, honest leadership to Harris County and to protect the voting rights after thousands were dropped from voting rolls and thousands more provisional ballots weren't counted in a timely manner. Diane is the sort of reform candidate Harris County needs.
In 2008, Trautman challenged incumbent Paul "Illegal Voter Registration Rejection-palooza!" Bettencourt, who was sued for allegedly rejecting seventy thousand voter registrations for frivolous reasons. (If you're unaware, voter registration in Texas is conducted by the county tax office.) In what I am sure can only be described as a complete and utter coincedence most of those rejected would-be voters were younger, residents of minority areas, or registered by 501(c)3-sponsored groups like Houston Votes. In short, voters who were likely to vote Democratic were overwhelmingly rejected.
Bettencourt won in 2008, largely because of huge name ID. Every Harris County property owner writes a tax check with his name on it. This was frustrating, given that Obama carried Harris County. Compounding the frustration was Bettencourt's resignation from the office less than five weeks after election day. The man hadn't even been re-sworn in to office yet. Fishy. The majority-Republican Commissioner's Court of Harris County was able to appoint his replacement, who of course was--wait for it--another Republican who has largely continued similarly shady practices. Kuff makes a good point: had the Democratic candidate for County Judge won in Harris County, the Court could have appointed a Democrat.
Meanwhile, the lawsuit against Bettencourt was settled in October. The Tax Office ensured that it would no longer exceed the seven days allowed by state law to process a registration or send the voter a letter explaining what was wrong with the form. The settlement also eliminates the many technical challenges made by the local office to voter credentials. The Harris County Tax Office--and newly appointed Republican Leo Vasquez--basically said it was a baseless suit. From their Press Release (emphasis mine):
"It's all about good government, and this agreement should finally put the baseless allegations behind us," said current Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar, Leo Vasquez. "This was the worst example of a nuisance lawsuit and ill-informed lawyers run amok. As I have always held, this lawsuit proved to be completely without merit."
He got one thing right: 70,000 minority voters' registrations are a total nuisance to the Republican Party of Texas.
Meanwhile, the former incumbent has opened a private tax advisory firm, where Paul "The Taxman" Bettencourt can help you lower your appraisal, thus reducing the important tax base used to fund our public schools. (He actually calls himself "The Taxman." I am 100% not kidding.)
This is the culture of corruption Diane Trautman is running to change. From Trautman's website, emphasis hers:
The interim tax assessor has had problem after problem in running the office including top employees having conflicts of interest, resisting requests to hand over voter registration records, impeding the voter registration process, and failure to properly staff vital parts of the office. As a result, I believe that public trust in the integrity and services provided by the Harris County Tax Office is at an all time low.
Let's get back to Bill White, another important Democrat in Houston. Assuming he's the nominee for governor, it is vitally important that Houston gets out to vote in November. It's also important that would-be Democratic voters are able to register and exercise their basic Constitutional rights. Thanks to Paul Bettencourt and Leo Vasquez, minorities and would-be Democratic voters have a harder time getting registered, and thus can't exercise their rights. And while we can't elect Trautman before we elect Bill White, we can watch the Harris County Tax Assessor's office very, very closely this cycle. We can fund voter registration efforts in the area. We can make sure Trautman has the support she needs to ride the pro-White wave in Houston, where he has won in the past with overwhelming margins. We can elect both of them together, for the good of Texas now and in the future.
So much riding on a tax assessor race. Hell, so much riding on a County Judge race that could have prevented Vasquez' appointment. We can never say this enough: in so many ways, local races such as this can have a tremendous impact--even on a statewide and national level. As Democrats, we need the strong Democratic numbers from Houston to Turn Texas Blue--in 2010 for Bill White and Hank Gilbert, and in 2012 for Barack Obama. As Americans, we need Diane Trautman to ensure that every Harris County voter--no matter their race, age, or likely partisan identification--can register to vote without unnecessary difficulties. We can take Texas back, and that starts with making sure that every Texan who so chooses can cast their ballot.
Our endorsement of Hank Gilbert for Texas Agriculture Commissioner can be summed up in 2 words.
Kinky Friedman. Or Todd Staples. Take your pick.
Gilbert was our 2006 Democratic nominee and we'd like to see him make a second run and win this time. His primary opposition has always been unacceptable for us at Burnt Orange Report, and lest you need reminding, you can review why we will never endorse Kinky Friedman for anything here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, especially here, here, here, here, here, and here.
It's been an interesting year for Hank. He stepped up to the plate to create a race for Governor when it appeared no one strong would bring more than the medium heat. We applaud him for that. He rightfully vacated that race when Bill White stepped in, but exited with an eye raising endorsement and subsequent collateral damage. In the grand scheme of things, these have been minor distractions, but distractions nonetheless towards his most immediate goal- winning the primary.
Hank Gilbert needs your vote to become the Democratic nominee.
Give him your vote and let's move on to a real barnburner of a race against sleazy Todd Staples.
The Texas Progressive Alliance announced on Wednesday the annual list of "Gold Star Texans" for 2009: Ramey Ko, Calvin Tillman, State Representative Elliott Naishtat, Texas Watchdog, and Hank Gilbert. This recognition is voted on annually by the members of the Texas Progressive Alliance, the largest state-level organization of bloggers, blogs, and netroots activists in the United States.
Ramey Ko Ramey Ko is an attorney and activist in Austin. He should be best known for his work in Asian Americans for Obama, but Republican stupidity assured us he will be best known as "the guy who held his cool while on the receiving end of a massive dose of both ignorance and racism from Betty Brown." With extreme professionalism, he tried to help Brown understand why it would behoove her and all Texans that voting rights for Asian Texans and all Texans not fall prey to bureaucratic errors creating name mismatches. Brown's ignorance/racism and Ko's cool reasonableness drew worldwide media attention. Watch the video of their exchange.
Calvin Tillman Calvin is mayor of a tiny town at the epicenter of the Barnett Shale. Several industry giants seized DISH land and installed a several huge compressor stations and processing plants right next to neighborhoods. They built a crisscross of pipelines all through the town and on private property. He has taken a hard line with industry, crafting a strategy to get the most bang for his press releases.
Calvin and the DISH City Council spent @ 10% of their yearly budget for a private ambient air study. This is the first such study where the results were made public so that all citizens in the Barnett Shale area might benefit. The levels of toxins were amazingly high and many DISH residents are seriously ill but they are poor and do not have health insurance. Calvin worked with TDSHS and finally got them to agree to test DISH residents. This is the first time a state agency has tested residents for drilling toxins. Calvin travels to other areas and speaks about these issues. He has offered to speak and assist others and refuses any compensation for travel or time.
Calvin is largely responsible for TCEQ's changed policy, announced today, in responses to Barnett Shale air emissions. Also, he is a blogger.
State Rep. Elliott Naishtat and his Capitol Staff While he may not be a native Texan, the work that Representative Naishtat has done for the State of Texas earns him a spot on the Texans of the Year List for 2009. Even with Voter ID putting a choke-hold on progress, Naishtat and his Capitol staff worked diligently to pass more legislation than any other member of the House during the 81st session. The Representative from Queens, who just completed his 10th session, has consistently proven himself to be an advocate for the sick and elderly, passing legislation that will create the Legislative Committee on Aging and ensuring Texas receives $15.2 million in Violence Against Women Act grants. We would be remiss in acknowledging Elliott Naishtat -- as the Representative is always quick to remind people -- without also recognizing his longtime staffers (Dorothy Browne, Nancy Walker and Judy Dale) who work tirelessly behind the scenes to help make Texas a better, safer place to live.
Texas Watchdog Texas Watchdog had a role in breaking stories in the just-completed Houston city elections. Though their work can, at times, be controversial, we welcome another online news organization to the Texas media landscape with our nomination of the group.
Hank Gilbert For his continuing work to defeat infrastructure privatization schemes and working with Democrats and more than a few Republicans, he helped put a stop to CDA's this past session and handed Governor Perry and Commissioner Todd Staples a rare defeat.
Friedman finalized his decision after meeting with Democratic gubernatorial candidates Bill White and Farouk Shami separately over the weekend. Friedman campaign consultant Colin Strother described the meetings with both men as "very, very good", but Friedman is declining to endorse either Democratic candidate at this point. Friedman's visit with White at the mayor's Houston home was the first time the two had met; Friedman and Shami have been personal friends for many years and share a key ally -- John McCall, who financed much of Friedman's 2006 gubernatorial run.
"After my visit with Bill my mind was made up. There is a clear alternative for the people of Texas, and today I'm changing courses with a happy heart.," Friedman said.
Hank Gilbert has just announced via conference call that he will not seek the Democratic nomination for Governor of Texas. He will instead file for the office of Agriculture Commissioner, returning to the office he was nominated for in 2006 where he received the most votes of any Democratic statewide executive office seeker four years ago.
In departing from the Governors race, GIlbert offered an endorsement of Farouk Shami over Bill White. Personally, I feel that endorsement serves as a distraction from what I view as encouraging and exciting news that Gilbert will remain a strong candidate for an office in which he will excel in running. It remains to be seen if it will have much impact on the race if any, especially given the rumors I've heard that Shami may not be sticking around in the Governor's race through the primary.
Update: From the Statesman on Gilbert's reasons for endorsing Shami.
Gilbert said that on two separate occasions, White "gave me his word" that he was going to stay in the Senate race. "To me, that's a trust issue," Gilbert said.
Gilbert, a Tyler-area rancher, said that he never would have run for governor if he knew White would be in the race.
I don't really think Bill White's openness to running for Governor is a surprise to anyone and I don't think that White proactively lied or broke anyone's trust given we all knew that his situation was dependent upon Sen. Hutchison's indecisiveness. Gilbert was just as prone to attack Shami as Schieffer prior to today on his opposition research site "The Scoop".
Practically, this endorsement does nothing for Shami as it's unlikely that Hank's activists are going to divert their time from working to elect Gilbert Ag Commissioner to donating or volunteering for a multi-millionaire. Shami's not going to get or need any financial support as a result of this endorsement- if anything, it's more plausible that Gilbert could receive financial support from Shami for his Ag Commission race. But even that is a stretch and would be counter to the sort of politics in which Gilbert believes.
End result- this is a temporary head scratcher that confuses the people that would have been instantly supportive of GIlbert's switch and otherwise seen it as a good faith effort to move the Party and ticket forward.
In any case, I agree with the commenters that I look forward to supporting and donating to Hank's Ag Commissioner bid, which should be the real focus of today's announcement rather than the distraction of the Shami endorsement. Todd Staples is weak and can be beaten. Today we've gained a stronger Ag Commissioner candidate in Hank Gilbert and a stronger Gubernatorial candidate in Bill White.
As Michael pointed out earlier today, Bill White has a nice little stash of cash that he could transfer to a gubernatorial run. Shifting somewhere between half a million and a million dollars from certain mayoral accounts could give him around $5 million to enter the Texas Governor's race, not counting any burn of previous cash on hand, continued fundraising, or the fact that he can go back to a few thousand maxed out donors and ask for unlimited funds and raise a couple million more quickly.
White of course is not alone in transferring money from a Senate account as Sen. Hutchison has moved millions of hers, in fact having moved more money than White has raised so far. All in all, we are talking about million dollar numbers in the primary.
There are two public online fundraising drives in the Governor's race at the moment, one for Kay Bailey Hutchison and the other for Hank Gilbert, and the goals reflect what may soon become a widening challenge for Gilbert should he continue his primary bid for Governor.
First Hutchison...
Today is the last day for Kay's 100Kay Club's to reach it's goal. Join the many Texans from across the state that have already invested in a better Texas. By donating $10 today, you can become a member of Kay's 100Kay Club. Kay needs $5,000 more to continue her fight to bring results to Texas.
10 days for $100,000 (which she'll reach) for about $10,000 online a day. For comparison, Rick Noriega was raising about $6,000 online a day during his similar weeklong sustained and directed "Stamp Out Bush" fundraising drive in November of 2007.
And then Gilbert...
The situation is simple: We need $50,000 to help us get where we need to be by the end of the year. That's $50,000 in 32 days.
My campaign relies on a network of nearly 100,000 Texans like you to make us competitive. You are an essential part of my strategy to win the primary and beat Rick Perry next November. And now is the time when I need you to stand up and help me show the pundits and naysayers that a grassroots candidate CAN mount a competitive campaign that can win.
That's a directed sustained online fundraising drive for three times the time for one half the goal of Hutchison and works out to a little over $1,500 a day. He can reach that goal, but the challenge for Gilbert will not be about "making" his goal, but rather, is it enough to stay competitive in primary should he attempt to tangle with White and Shami (now that he's successfully taken helped terminate Tom Schieffer's cash-starved campaign).
