Posted on 12/26/2005 5:32:20 AM PST by Theodore R.
Texas governor's race shaping up to be big show next year
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN (AP) - For the first time since Republicans claimed all statewide offices in 1998, the party faces the possibility of a big-name GOP primary showdown next year.
The March 7 primary for Texas governor will likely pit Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a self-described "tough grandma," against her longtime foil and incumbent Rick Perry.
"I've never been the darling of the insiders. I run with the people," Strayhorn said. "Right after the new year, buckle your seat belt and hang on."
This month Strayhorn denied speculation she might consider a run as an independent, potentially postponing a contest with Perry until the November general election. She hasn't officially filed her candidacy papers yet, but she's expected to make the Jan. 2 deadline.
Perry, meanwhile, said he's only talking about his own Republican campaign.
"I know which party I'm for and which party I'm going to run. I made that decision a decade ago. I've got other very important things to spend my time on," said Perry, who switched from the Democratic Party before his run for agriculture commissioner in 1990.
If elected to another four-year term, Perry could hold the governor's office for 10 years, making him the longest-serving governor in Texas history. He was lieutenant governor under then-Gov. George W. Bush and assumed the state's top job when Bush was elected president in 2000. Two years later, Perry was elected to his first full term as governor.
Among Democrats, who admittedly are in a rebuilding period, former Houston congressman Chris Bell and former Texas Supreme Court justice Bob Gammage will challenge each other for their party's gubernatorial nomination.
The race's wild card is musician and author Kinky Friedman, who wants to get on the ballot as an independent. He'll have to gather 45,540 signatures from registered voters after the primary, but as a sign of confidence he's hired campaign manager Dean Barkley, who helped engineer the surprise victory by former pro wrestler Jesse Ventura for governor of Minnesota.
"There will be a whole new spirit blowing through Texas," Friedman said of his candidacy earlier this month. "There will be a smile on everybody's face and a chill up the spine of every politician."
The Republican race for governor narrowed in June when Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison decided to run for re-election rather than challenge Perry. The governor had warned a primary contest would be a "bloody" and "brutal" affair.
"Perry has shown that he gives no quarter in political races. None should be expected," said consultant Bill Miller, whose company's political committee has donated to Perry's campaign.
Miller predicted a hard-hitting contest if Strayhorn makes good on her promise to run. "They're both going to go for the jugular," he said.
Both camps began shooting insults at each other early in the year. Strayhorn called Perry a "do-nothin' drugstore cowboy" who hasn't shown leadership on children's issues or school property tax relief. Perry's campaign questioned Strayhorn's ethics and accused her of using her state office for political gain.
Perry and Strayhorn are also veteran campaigners. Perry has never lost a race. Strayhorn lost a run for Congress in 1986 after she switched to the GOP from the Democratic Party, and she lost a race for Railroad Commission in 1992. But she was later elected to the commission, then went on to become Texas' first woman comptroller. She was known at the time by the last name Rylander, before she remarried.
Perry's aides portray him as the real conservative. They cast Strayhorn as a pseudo-Republican whose support comes from Democrats and trial lawyers.
"I think the primary voters will see right through that," Perry spokesman Robert Black said. "Republican primary voters need to know if trial lawyers have picked a candidate in the Republican primary and who that candidate is."
Strayhorn's camp says it wants to attract more than the usual 600,000 people who typically vote in a Texas Republican primary.
"Our game plan is to turn the Republican primary in 2006 into the general election," said Mark Sanders, Strayhorn's spokesman. "We want everyone who wants to have a say in the future of this state. In order to do that, they need to vote in the March Republican primary."
As 2005 ended, Strayhorn and Perry were busy collecting campaign cash. At the end of the latest campaign reporting period, June 30, Perry had $8.8 million in cash on hand, and Strayhorn had $7 million.
They won't have to report their contributions for the second half of the year until mid-January, but each undoubtedly added millions more dollars.
It's widely believed Perry would outspend Strayhorn, who said she plans to counter Perry's power by debating key issues and bringing together supporters of all political stripes.
"I am looking forward to the challenge," she said.
"Governor Perry and his friends spent a great deal of time
researching ideas to create more revenue"
— Ric Williamson, Texas Transportation Commissioner,
appointed by Rick Perry to govern TxDOT
"in your lifetime most existing roads will have tolls."
— Ric Williamson, Texas Transportation Commissioner,
appointed by Rick Perry to govern TxDOT
"Since 1997, he has received more than $1 million from highway
interests, according to reports filed with the Texas ethics commission."
– TIME magazine, "The next wave in super highways
or a Big, Fat Texas Boondoggle?" 12/04
"Governor Rick Perry received $30,000 from California based
Fluor Corp...less than a week before the corporation signed a
$1.5 Billion state contract to build Texas 130 toll road."
– Houston Chronicle, 8/02
Rick Perry's "innovative financing solution" means taking existing highway projects that are fully funded, on the verge of completion, and turning them into toll roads at the last minute. This is the "Rick Perry double tax loophole", as he say's he won't toll "existing" highways. This loophole allows him to take hundreds of Millions of dollars worth of funded public freeways across Texas, and turn them into daily tax booths. It's a double tax.
And his unelected, unaccountable freeway tolling authorities set the toll rates for what we've already paid for!
Or, in the case of the Trans Texas Corridor, Perry is taking private land away from generations of farmers and giving secret 70 year deals to a foreign corporation to profit.
Perry is a tax, toll and spend Governor who is creating brand new taxes on Texas families while his special interest friends make record profits.
Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has been fighting along side us Republicans, Democrats, Independents & Libertarians that make up Austin Toll Party and Texas Toll Party since Summer 2004. She is the only state official that has been taking a stand for Texas families (b, "texas families" - http://www.texastollparty.com/viewSignatures.php) to help stop Freeway Tolls and the Trans Texas Corridor.
"We will not sit quietly by and let this Governor
embark on the most historic land grab in history
and cram toll roads down our throats."
– Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Comptroller
More than just talk, Strayhorn has taken real action for the people of Texas!
Months ago she produced a scathing report on the folks that can now toll our freeways, the first Regional Mobility Authority in Texas. The investigation reveals how the new authorities are unelected and unaccountable, and since they use our tax dollars to create tolled freeways, it's true double taxation. Not surprisingly, Comptroller Strayhorn also found favoritism and self-enrichment as board members gave contracts (without bids) to their friends and their own companies!
Before Strayhorn took a stand, Rick Perry and his appointed commission that runs TxDOT used Texas Mobility Fund Dollars as a blackmailing tool. They pitted cities against each other, and threatened they would give those millions of tax dollars to one of the other "many" cities that wanted the freeway toll reward. As a board member of the Texas Bond Review Board, Carole Keeton Strayhorn fought hard for a unanimous vote that made it clear, "toll roads will NOT be a prerequisite to receive Texas Mobility Fund dollars". The people of Texas thank you Carole Keeton Strayhorn!
Strayhorn is a RINO and apparently nobody really wants to be married to her.
Don't hold back, HC! Tell us how you really feel. Keeping it all bottled up can't be good for you. ;)
I haven't considered that. It will be amusing if your scenario comes to pass in a significant way.
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