General Wes Clark Endorses Lukin Gilliland

by: steph

Mon Oct 30, 2006 at 10:16 AM CST

General Wes Clark Endorses Lukin Gilliland

October 27, 2006.  Little Rock, AR.  General Wes Clark today endorses the candidacy of Lukin Gilliland for Congress in Texas's 23rd Congressional District. 

General Clark said, "Today American families face many difficult challenges at home and abroad.  There has never been a time when foreign affairs were as closely linked to the daily lives of Texans as they are now.  We are fighting the causes of terrorism that threaten our homes and we must prepare for a changing global economy that demands that America train our people to compete for the highest paying jobs. 

"Texas is home to thousands of military families who deserve a partner in Washington who respects their daily challenges and sacrifices. That partner will be Lukin Gilliland whose common sense, businesslike approach to pubic service is needed to resist a reckless, free-spending Congress up in Washington.  I am pleased to endorse him today.

"With a strong perspective as a native Texan, a successful businessman, and rancher, Lukin upholds strong moral convictions and American values that are much needed in today's government. Lukin Gilliland will represent Texas's 23rd District by standing up for small businesses, good government, and working families.

"In voting for Lukin Gilliland, Texans have an opportunity to turn things around now before it's too late.  To change politics-as-usual, we have to vote for someone besides the usual politicians."

Bolanos Endorses Gilliland in TX-23

by: Karl-Thomas Musselman

Thu Oct 19, 2006 at 00:21 PM CDT

Rick Bolanos (former sole nominee back in the old 23rd pre-August redistricting) has apparently dropped out and endorsed Lukin Gilliland.

One down, four to go. Or is it five...or six with that Independent?  Seriously, I don't really see this endorsement changing anything in the race to unseat Bonilla this cycle.

TX-23: Lukin Gilliland Jr did not give money to George W. Bush

by: RBH

Mon Oct 09, 2006 at 04:04 PM CDT

Bolanos will discuss evidence showing that Republicans have enjoyed the financial support of those candidates, including thousands of dollars of contributions from one of the "Democratic" candidates to George Bush, Dick Cheney, John Cornyn, Lamar Smith (Congressman of  District 21, in which one of these "Democratic" candidates resides) and even to the TX-23 incumbent, Henry Bonilla himself.

Let me let the cat out of the bag here..

A Very Interesting CD-23

by: Matt Glazer

Thu Aug 31, 2006 at 05:06 PM CDT

In another twist, The AFL-CIO has already picked their guy.

The Texas AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education (COPE) endorsed San Antonian Albert Uresti in the special election in the newly drawn Congressional District 23, Texas AFL-CIO President Emmett Sheppard said today.

The AFL-CIO mentioned the reasons for their endorsement to include:

Uresti, a retired district fire chief in the San Antonio Fire Department and a long-time member of the San Antonio Fire Fighters Union, is challenging U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio, in a district that newly includes a large portion of South San Antonio. Past election results suggest the district is closely divided on a partisan basis. Uresti is the brother of state Rep. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, who is the odds-on favorite to be the next District 19 state senator.

“Union members in C.D. 23 are impressed with Albert Uresti’s understanding of the issues that concern working people,” Sheppard said. “They also are persuaded he will run a proactive campaign in a district that is somewhat similar to the one in which his brother is campaigning so effectively.”

“In an era of gerrymandering, this is clearly a winnable election for a strong challenger against an incumbent who has voted an agenda that is counter to the interest of working families.”

Is this the gold star Uresti needed to catapult himself to become the candidate in CD-23?

BREAKING NEWS: Ciro Rodriguez withdraws in CD-23

by: Matt Glazer

Wed Aug 30, 2006 at 09:03 PM CDT

This would have been Rodriguez third attempt at getting back in the House in 4 years and he still had substantial debt from the 2004 race against Henry Cuellar.

That narrows the Democrats down to Albert Uresti, Lukin Gilliland, Rick Bolanos, and Augie Beltran.

The favorite in the race clearly shifts to Gilliland now because of his wide range of support ranging from Treasurer Rep Peunte all the way to Alpine in Rep Gallego. Gilliland has already put $500,000 of his own money in the race, and can clearly put more if needed.

UPDATE: It appears Ciro wasn't completely sure when he said he was bowing out of the race. Gina Castañada, Ciro's spokesperson, said he will officially pick whether he is running on Friday.

Congressional Round-Up

by: Karl-Thomas Musselman

Mon Aug 28, 2006 at 07:21 PM CDT

• Paul Burka has some background info on Lukin Gilliland who filed as a Democrat in TX-23 against Bonilla. He has since written his campaign a half-million dollar check, hired a well known Austin consultant, and brought on board one Travis County candidate's campaign manager. I know I'll be keeping an eye on him as he seems to be the only Democrat with a real chance at actually eating into Bonilla's white voters which is needed to force that race into a run-off.


• Capitol Annex goes into what's interesting about all the re-re-redistricting filers and who didn't decide to run too.


• Kuff reminds us that Gov. Goodhair still has one more day to decide if he wants to call a 'special election' in TX-22. That would be just to fulfill the remainder of DeLay's lame 2-month term. Can we repeat how lame that would be?


• Rick Pery v. The World informs us that Chet Edwards has picked up two endorsements from traditionally Republican leaning groups-  U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business. Both groups had endorsed Chet's Republican opponent in 2004 (Arlene Wohlgemonster).

Some Thoughts on TX-23

by: Unnamed Source

Mon Aug 28, 2006 at 04:07 PM CDT

Ciro Rodriguez: Four-term Congressman, Two-time loser.  No one knows how much money he actually has.  On his initial March 30 reports, he showed over 300k.  Ciro then filed a correction that showed him 80k in the hole.  It's like seeing my bank statement on the 1st and then looking at it again on the 2nd.

He's never had to win a race by even remotely trying to attract Republicans.  Yeah... that could be a problem.  Big turning point for Ciro will come this Thursday at the SA AFL-CIO meeting.  Labor has always been his biggest supporter. If they won't hop in this time around, that's the ballgame for Ciro.

Everyone in his base (southside SA/Bexar County)- regardless if they love or hate him- is saying, "Again?!?!" when told Ciro is running... um... again.

Already going negative against the rest of the Dems.  Will do what it takes to win, which is a good thing, unfortunately for Ciro and his campaign staff that means turning it into a intraparty fight- one that they'll all have to engage in since Ciro is the most credible and recognizable candidate right now- which would let Bonilla cruise on by everyone to a November 7 win.

Highest name ID, but crappy campaign staff.  Probably the best shot out of all the Democrats to take 2nd and go to a run-off with Bonilla.  Worst candidate to send up against Bonilla.  Bonilla. will. kill. him.

Albert Uresti:  Thinks his brother's support will transfer over to him seamlessly.  Doesn't really have a clue about the vast expanse of space there is between him working on his brother's campaign and actually running himself.

Where does he get his money from?

Nice guy but that and 50 bucks will buy you a tall cup of joe at Starbuck's.

Look for him to finish 4th... maybe 3rd if he's lucky.

Lukin Gilliland:  Lotsa money.  But trying to get Dem votes in Latino areas when he's running up against people with names like Bonilla, Beltran, Rodriguez and Uresti.

What do you think Senora Garcia in Eagle Pass is going to do when presented with a list like that?  Unless Gilliland empties out his pockets it's gonna be tough for him to push past Ciro.

500k is alot of money, but it's just a drop in the bucket for him.  If he really wanted to, he could fund this entire campaign out of his pocket.  That would hurt him financially, but he could do it.

One other thing to remember.  Don't know where the millionaire's clause threshold exactly is (the clause that says that if an independently wealthy candidate spends, say, over $400k of his own money the rest of the candidates in the race can go back to their maxed out donors and solicit another 2,100 from them) but I think Gilliland may have passed it already.

Which means Bonilla's kitty probably just jumped 300k with that clause alone.  Not a good thing.  Also, did anyone ever figure out if these candidates can resolicit donors again because it's a special election? That would suck if they could.

Still, the most intriguing of the bunch if he can get past non-Hispanic surname.  But you could drive a truck through that if.

Rick Bolanos:  This guy's a joke.  For all of his high-falutin' endorsements, my dog could've raised more money than he did in 10 months.  As a matter of fact, I think she did.

Playing for last.

Augie Beltran:  For those of you who made it all the way down here, boy have I got a treat for you.

Mr. Beltran is what they call in San Antonio a, coyote.  A 'political operative', and I use that term extremely loosely to describe these guys who will work for whomever pays them the most money regardless of party, who has done work for people like Henry Cuellar in Bexar County (Hey, he went from losing 4:1 in Bexar County to 3:1 in those exact same spots!) and most recently for Republican State Rep candidate George Antuna.

The funny thing is, I think he could outpoll Bolanos and the Independent.  How would you be able to move on from there?
There's also reports that Bonilla's people are donating to him just so they can have one more Dem on the ballot this November. Fantastic.

Needless to say, I believe, that if you wanted to give Bonilla this district and then stack him up against the worst possible opponents and almost assure him of re-election- save Gilliland- you couldn't have done much better than this.

I think it's wait til '08 in 23.

What do you think?