Posted on 02/24/2004 3:07:15 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
Perry's appointee to Railroad Commission isn't a shoo-in to win.
AUSTIN — A race for the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas, is the latest test of Republican efforts to appeal to the growing Hispanic population in Texas.
GOP leaders are lined up behind commission Chairman Victor Carrillo's bid to keep the post, to which he was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry.
Carrillo faces Robert Butler of Palestine, Douglas G. Deffenbaugh of San Antonio and K. Dale Henry of Mullin in the March 9 Republican primary. The winner will face Democrat Bob Scarborough of Fort Worth in November.
Every statewide nonjudicial elected officeholder is touted as backing Carrillo, as does presidential adviser Karen Hughes, and his funding dwarfs that of his competitors. But none of those advantages makes him a shoo-in.
Two years ago, Xavier Rodriguez of San Antonio lost a Supreme Court seat to Stephen W. Smith despite Rodriguez's strong backing by the GOP establishment.
Hispanic Republicans have had only limited success in their party's primary elections. Tony Garza won a seat on the Railroad Commission, and it was Carrillo who succeeded him on the three-member panel when Garza resigned to become U.S. ambassador to Mexico.
Now GOP stalwarts are hoping that Carrillo doesn't share the same political fate of Rodriguez.
"I think Republicans want to wipe the stain off of losing their Supreme Court appointee to Mr. Smith," said Richard Murray, director of the Center for Public Policy at the University of Houston.
"This would be one factor that could help start building a larger base of Hispanic Republicans," Murray said. "To lose the race would have the opposite message — that even when Hispanics are appointed and backed by the party establishment, in a primary where there are virtually no Hispanic voters, it's very difficult to survive."
Murray said the usual estimate of Hispanic-surname GOP primary voters in a statewide election is 3 percent to 4 percent. GOP pollster Mike Baselice puts it at about 7 percent. Murray said if voters aren't familiar with candidates, they "prefer generally to vote for someone like themselves."
Hughes, while lauding Carrillo's qualifications, was explicit about the symbolism of the primary race.
"It's important that we send a signal to Hispanics that they are welcome in the Republican Party," she said.
Deffenbaugh, an oil and gas service company president, said his conservative values and understanding of the business are what matter.
Reaching out to Hispanic voters "makes good sense," he said. "But to say that Hispanic voters will only respond to a Hispanic candidate is not only racist, it is not true."
Henry, a registered petroleum engineer, cited his 47 years of "hands-on experience." He also said his family, and his wife's family, have been in Texas for generations.
"We are bona fide Texans," Henry said, adding, "We ought to have an equal run at anything."
Butler couldn't be reached through the phone number listed for him at the GOP.
Carrillo's camp first touts his background as a geophysicist, energy lawyer and former elected official in Taylor County.
Carrillo calls himself "somewhat uniquely qualified for this post."
Perry said Carrillo is the best person for the Railroad Commission job, and that he has a personal interest in Carrillo's election.
"If you just gave me a sheet of paper and said write down the description of the perfect individual to be a commissioner ... he would fit that description almost to a 'T,'" said Perry, who campaigned for Rodriguez in 2002. "I have a vested interest in that individual doing well. It's not unlike a parent and a child."
While discounting the idea that ethnicity is even close to being a deciding factor in elections, Perry argued in an interview that "Texas will be a majority-minority state in the not-too-distant future. The party that disregards that fact will not be as strong as they could be or should be."
State Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting noted that history has not been kind to Hispanic candidates in Republican elections.
"The Republican Party has been sending a message to Hispanics for decades," he said in a statement. "Theirs is a message of empty promises that Hispanic voters see through year after year."
Carrillo said Rodriguez's defeat is "certainly something that is in the back of my mind," but that other factors work in his favor, including his election to the Abilene City Council and as a Taylor County judge in a "conservative West Texas area."
Carrillo said he has raised more than $900,000 and expects to spend the vast majority on the primary. Although his three opponents haven't reported anything near that amount, he conceded that a runoff is "a very real possibility."
Still, Carrillo said he believes he'll emerge "victorious and really showing quite definitively" that a Hispanic surname is not a liability in Republican primaries.
"I'm proud of my Hispanic heritage," he said, noting that there are minorities serving in higher office and that "the Republican Party is the party that has made that opportunity possible for many of us."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- pfikac@express-news.net
Vote early and vote often!
I agree with all that above - Carillo has a great background both in the enegy industry and as a lawyer ... and he's a conservative to boot! Ideal man to be in that position, both for Republicans and for Texas!
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