(Attorney General Al) Gonzales open to running for office in Texas

HoustonChronicle.com ^ | October 15, 2005 | Associated Press

[AuH2ORepublican]

Gonzales open to running for office in Texas

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales suggests he would be open to running for office in his home state of Texas after leaving the Justice Department.

"I wouldn't close the door, no," Gonzales said in today's editions of the Dallas Morning News.

While Gonzales didn't indicate which office he would consider, he wouldn't choose the Senate.

"There are other things I'd rather do than be a senator," he said.

He pointed out that his absence from the Texas political scene since 2001 could make seeking office difficult.

"It would be kind of tough," he said Thursday as he returned to Washington from a border summit in San Antonio. "But I love Texas."

Gonzales, who was rumored to be under consideration for the Supreme Court, emphasized that he's not looking to leave the Justice Department.

"I love being attorney general," he said.

With the national name recognition he has, Gonzales could easily gain campaign contributions from across the country, University of Texas-Pan American political scientist Jerry Polinard said.

As a Hispanic Republican, he could help the GOP take away from the Democrats' hold on the Latino vote, Polinard said.

"In terms of a statewide race, I think he would be a formidable opponent," Polinard said. "The problem he might have would be winning his primary."

Social conservatives have deemed Gonzales insufficiently conservative.

"The religious right and the social conservatives are essentially the gatekeepers" in Texas, Polinard said. "The question is: Does he meet the test set up by the social conservatives?"

"Candidates running for offices other than something that may determine Roe v. Wade, (social conservatives) are going to cut a lot more slack," he said.

[AuH2ORepublican]

Al Gonzales is a San Antonio native who may be the answer to the question "who can run for the GOP in the San Antonio-based Hispanic-majority 23rd congressional district if Congressman Henry Bonilla runs for the U.S. Senate?" I think Gonzales would need to explain that he is pro-life and would vote pro-life in the House, and that his infamous opinion as a Texas Supreme Court justice in a parental-notification case was done as a matter of law, not policy, since conservatives make up the lion's share of voters in the 23rd CD and won't vote for someone who is pro-abortion.

I think it's important that a Hispanic Republican replace Henry Bonilla in the House because if a Democrat wins, the media will trumpet it as "Hispanics deserting the GOP in droves (and it will put the Democrats one seat closer to taking over the House; and if an Anglo Republican wins, the media will say that Texas Republicans are "racist" and can't even nominate a Hispanic in a 55%-Hispanic district, and it may force the TX GOP to draw districts that are well over 60% Hispanic in the next redistricting because a 55% GOP-leaning district wouldn't be "Hispanic enough" to comply with the requirements of the Voting Rights Act. Electing Hispanic Republicans in 51%-56% Hispanic districts is the key to long-term domination by the GOP of the congressional delegation not only in Texas, but in California, Arizona and New Mexico as well.

[AuH2ORepublican]

*Ping*

If Congressman Henry Bonilla runs for the Senate (which he likely will if Senator Hutchison retires), I think Al Gonzales might be our best bet to hold the House seat.

[RockinRight]

I'm not a big Gonzales fan, really.

[sinkspur]

He's telegraphing that he'd rather be Texas Attorney General. I don't see Gonzales serving in a House Seat.

The problem is, Greg Abbott doesn't seem to be in any big hurry to do anything else, and I doubt, for the sake of comity, the Gonzales would simply run against Abbott in a primary.

[HostileTerritory]

Does he live in the district?

[deport]

If Congressman Henry Bonilla runs for the Senate (which he likely will if Senator Hutchison retires),

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I'm not that sure that Senator Hutchison will retire this go around. I think she'll hang around and enjoy her leadership position. In either case I don't see Gonzales running for the House seat. He may have been born in SA but has more ties to the Houston area where he was raised, graduated from school and worked for the Law firm.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"Does he live in the district?"

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I thought he lived in the district or close enough to it that it wouldn't matter (e.g., another part of San Antonio), but another FReeper says that he hasn't lived in San Antonio in years. So maybe this wasn't such a good idea on my part.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"I'm not a big Gonzales fan, really."

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I don't think he's all that bad. I would hate to see him in the Supreme Court, since he's a get-along kind of guy who would probably vote like Justice Kennedy, but his voting record as a legislator in a GOP House may not be bad at all.

[AuH2ORepublican]

Good points all.

But we still need to find a Hispanic Republican to replace Bonilla in the House in the eventuality that he runs statewide. Bonilla is such a promising candidate for statewide office (how could a solidly conservative, Baptist Mexican-American Republican lose in a statewide election in Texas?) that we can't expect him to the stay in the House for too much longer.

[Clintonfatigued]

Interesting idea, but I don't see Gonzales doing that. Since he's unacceptable to most conservatives for the U.S. Supreme Court, maybe Bush could put him on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

[zbigreddogz]

I seriously doubt he'd step down as AG to run for House. I think he's more thinking that he might wanna run for Governor in 2010.

That would be fine with me. I have some minor concerns about him on the SC, but he'd be fine as Governor.

[fieldmarshaldj]

As some have already echoed, I cannot imagine Gonzales setting his sights on a House seat (that's a helluva step down). But if Bonilla vacates the seat, it does point up to the fact that we have a very serious lack of a farm team for non-Caucasian Republicans. Bonilla himself would not likely have even ended up in Congress had it not been for the corruption of his 'Rat predecessor, Albert Bustamante.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"Bonilla himself would not likely have even ended up in Congress had it not been for the corruption of his 'Rat predecessor, Albert Bustamante."

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True, but had the GOP run an Anglo in the 23rd CD in 1992, Bustamante would have won, corruption and all, and another Hispanic Democrat would have run and won in a special election in 1993 (after Bustamante was forced to resign).

We need a Hispanic conservative Republican to run so that we make sure we hold the 23rd and forestall any claims that Hispanic-majority districts must be over 60% Hispanic in order for a Hispanic to have a chance of being elected. I think there are a couple of Hispanic Republican mayors in the district, but would any of them be interested in running? Having 28th CD candidate Quico Canseco moving a couple of miles west and running in the 23rd won't cut it---he'd never win the primary.

[Theodore R.]

Correct me if I am wrong: but doesn't H. Bonilla have the same pro-Roe v. Wade position as the popular Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison?

[Theodore R.]

Ann W. Richards tried to engineer the 23rd District for a perpetual Democrat Hispanic. She never imagined that Bustamante would fall from grace, and that Republicans would actually nominate an Hispanic who could compete well with the once popular Bustamante. Republicans in other states have made similar errors of judgment about gerrrymandering to their regret.

[Theodore R.]

The popular Henry Cisneros has openly endorsed Albert Gonzales for attorney general. He backed him for the TX Supreme Court too, saying that Gonzales was the only Republican for whom the Democrat stalwart Cisneros has ever voted.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"Correct me if I am wrong: but doesn't H. Bonilla have the same pro-Roe v. Wade position as the popular Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison?"

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I don't think that Gonzales has made his personal opinion of Roe v. Wade known. His time in the TX Supreme Court (especially the case in which he interpreted the judicial bypass mechanism of a parental-notification law regarding abortion as being easy to meet), and his actions during SCOTUS consideration of the U. of Michigan affirmative action programs, led manu conservatives (including me) to distrust his judicial philosophy. However, even if he believes in judicial activism, he might be conservative on policy issues such as abortion, gun control, taxes, the War on Terror and marriage.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"Ann W. Richards tried to engineer the 23rd District for a perpetual Democrat Hispanic. She never imagined that Bustamante would fall from grace, and that Republicans would actually nominate an Hispanic who could compete well with the once popular Bustamante. Republicans in other states have made similar errors of judgment about gerrrymandering to their regret."

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Absolutely. The Democrat legislature created a new Hispanic-majority district based in San Antonio for Frank Tejada (I believe that was his name) and kept Gonzales's district wholly within San Antonio, so the only parts of Bexar County in Bustamante's CD were the heavily Anglo and Republican suburbs. The Democrats added Hispanic Democrat areas in Laredo, Eagle Pass, and other border areas, as well as Hispanic neighborhoods in Midland and Odessa, the resulting district only leaned Democrat (as opposed to being comfortably Democrat) and Henry Bonilla was able to get a larger share of the Hispanic vote and increase turnout among Republicans and win in 1992 and thereafter.

The 2004 legislative redistricting supported by the GOP reduced the district's Hispanic percentage by taking out half of Laredo and substituting heavily Republican German counties; the district is now 55% Hispanic, but actually gave President Bush like 1% more of the vote than did the state as a whole. Of course, Bush is more popular among TX Hispanics than just about any other Anglo Republican, so we would risk losing the seat if we nominate an Anglo once Henry Bonilla retires. Plus, as I mentioned before, it would make it more difficult to argue that a 51%-56% Hispanic district in TX can elect Hispanics to Congress. In addition, having a Mexican-American Republican in the House provides us with the opportunity to expand our percentage of the Hispanic vote and especially the Mexican-American vote; I'd hate for us to lose ground when Henry Bonilla leaves the House.

As for the GOP overreaching or being too optimistic in redistricting, I agree, it happens more often than not. Look at Pennsylvania, for one thing. The GOP created a half-dozen districts that were meant for Republicans but are very winnable by the Democrats, and the results so far are that (i) Gekas lost to Holden, (ii) Gerlach barely won in 2002 and 2004 (iii) Fitzpatrick will face a tough reelection in Bucks County, (iv) Weldon's CD could easily flip when he retires, (v) Murphy's CD is very competitive, (vi) Hart's CD will be very competitive when she leaves, (vii) ditto for English, and (viii) Dent's CD could be competitive in 2006 or beyond.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"The popular Henry Cisneros has openly endorsed Albert Gonzales for attorney general. He backed him for the TX Supreme Court too, saying that Gonzales was the only Republican for whom the Democrat stalwart Cisneros has ever voted."

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If and when Gonzales runs for office again in Texas, I'm sure that's one endorsement he won't be touting. Cisneros is not only a liberal Democrat, he's also a philandering scumbag.

[Theodore R.]

It has been noted for some time that Henry Bonilla has never polled a majority of the Hispanic vote in his district. It is Anglos that keep him in office.