Well, she's a TAX collector isn't she?
Posted on 01/19/2005 12:56:25 PM PST by Constitutionalist Conservative
AUSTIN - Her name missing from an invitation letter to an upcoming Texas Republican Party fund-raiser, state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn cried foul Tuesday and blamed the perceived snub on Gov. Rick Perry.
Spokespersons for Perry and the party dodged responsibility for the omission, the latest flap to erupt between the governor and the comptroller, who is eyeing a challenge to Perry in next year's Republican primary.
The event, which will benefit the state party, is scheduled for Feb. 22 in Austin. With ticket prices ranging from $5,000 to $25,000, it is being billed as a tribute to Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick.
An invitation letter mailed this week was signed by all other elected statewide officials except Strayhorn, members of the judiciary and the two U.S. senators from Texas, Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn. Hutchison also is considering a race against Perry.
"The governor is doing the party a disservice by excluding the top vote-getter in the state last time (the 2002 election) and one tough grandma who has proved herself to be one phenomenal fund-raiser," Sanders said. "His fear of her presence is a truly self-absorbed disservice to the electorate."
Luis Saenz, director of Perry's political committee, said the event was the Republican Party's business.
"The Republican Party of Texas knows best how to raise money from true Republicans," he said.
"Our fund-raising team has a variety of strategies when they send out these letters," she said.
Susan Lilly, the fund-raising professional handling the event, was unavailable for comment Tuesday. Lilly also has raised funds for Texans for a Republican Majority, or TRMPAC, a political action committee founded by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land. TRMPAC has been part of Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle's investigation of fund-raising activities in 2002 legislative races.
Dave Beckwith, a spokesman for Hutchison, declined to comment on the invitation. He said organizers may have chosen to exclude the U.S. senators because they are federal officeholders.
State law prohibits officeholders from holding fund-raisers while the Legislature is in session. The restriction, however, doesn't apply to political parties.
Perry announced last week that he has nearly $8 million in his campaign account, and Strayhorn reported $5.7 million as of Dec. 31.
The governor's biggest contributor during the last six months of 2004 was Houston home-builder Bob Perry, who gave $250,000. The home builder, who is not related to the governor, has been a major donor to Rick Perry for several years.
Former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, a Democrat, gave Strayhorn $17,500.
Hutchison has $6.7 million in political funds that, under a new federal law, she can use to run for governor, Beckwith said.
The six state officials who signed the invitation — Attorney General Greg Abbott, Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Railroad Commissioners Victor Carrillo, Michael Williams and Charles Matthews — recently joinedDewhurst in an endorsement of Perry's re-election.
Matthews is leaving the Railroad Commission to become chancellor of the Texas State University System.
Chronicle reporter Janet Elliott contributed to this report.
Ron Kirk referred to himself as a "Democratic" mayor of Dallas, but as you indicated, all TX mayors are elected on nonpartisan ballots.
As if any mayor of Dallas would be anything but a Democrat. Have you listened to a Dallas City Council meeting (on WRR 101.1)? Priceless. Democrats can't even get along within their own club.
Well, she's a TAX collector isn't she?
I don't think he's very smart. He is a limp wrist when he shakes hands!
There was a mayor of Dallas in the 1960s named "Eric Johnson," but I think he spelled it Scandinavian style as "Erik Jonnson," but I may have the spelling wrong. He was "Republican" by claim but was elected on a nonpartisan ballot. Dallas was somewhat of a Republican town and "ultraconservative" in the diction of the 1950s and early 1960s, but the assassination at the Dealey Plaza began to change a lot of the city's political orientation. Also demographic changes of course made a big difference. Remember, Ron Kirk AND Tony Sanchez carried Dallas Co. in 2002.
I thought it was Perry who stood up against the spenders and said the budget would be balanced. She wants a state income tax --- to me that rules her out.
Got news for yall, even the Democrats in Austin hate Strayhorn.
Even though she was mayor of Austin years ago, people have not forgiven her for stopping the boat races in town. Those boat races now draw huge crowds to Marble Falls each year.
And make no mistake about it, no one is elected mayor of Austin without being a Democrat.
. . . and also true of great public servants like Phil Gramm and Ralph Hall. The thing is Perry, Hall and Gramm acted like Republicans before and after the switch. Strayhorn is liberal through and through.
Strayhorn's husband McClellan was a staunch opponent of Kennedy and Johnson, wasn't he? Maybe her "democratic" leanings were always exaggerated.
UTD's Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science boasts the fastest growing engineering program in the United States.
I am certain that this "Jonsson" is the former Republican mayor of Dallas, but is he still living?
Bob Bullock was a long-time advocate of a state income tax too, but "conservatives" vote for him in many, many elections. Was he liberal? I know he favored abortion and kept abortion restrictions from coming up for a vote in the State Senate between 1991 and 1999.
Hall and Gramm have, but Perry? How soon we have forgotten his appointments of Henry Cuellar and Xavier Rodriguez...
And he was how many husbands ago.........
Nope, don't kid yourself, Strayhorn is a RINO. This woman will say anything or do anything to get elected. If that means kissing up to Democrat fat-cat donors, she will do it. Her dealings with trail lawyers and lawyers in general goes way back, all the way to her father. Heck, someone with that many husbands has got to have dealt with a lawyer or two.
As I said before: No one is elected mayor of Austin that is not a member of the Democrat party.
No one has yet informed me if Rick and Anita Perry are separated, divorcing, reconciled, never had a problem, or what? I know that official pictures of Anita show a woman without the customary smile for public figures.
McClellan was the first husband and the father of the two McClellans serving in the GWB administration. Could GWB favor Strayhorn for governor?
I don't have a clue as to their relationship. Some nasty rumors were started by Dems but I haven't heard the latest.
Well, wasn't Anita ABSENT from the inaugural ceremonies attended by the governor? Correct me, for I don't know.
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