Posted on 02/19/2006 11:15:45 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
Valley’s contributions total $1,600
AUSTIN — If the Rio Grande Valley is one of the last Democratic strongholds in Texas, you wouldn’t know it by looking at a list of those who have given money to the gubernatorial race.
Just three people from the Valley have directly given money to a Democrat running for governor. Their contributions total an anemic $1,600 out of the combined $500,000 raised statewide by the two major Democratic candidates.
Spokesmen for both Chris Bell and Bob Gammage said raising money in the Valley has been slow-going in part because they don’t have strong connections there. Both candidates are from Houston and represented that area in Congress at different times. Gammage, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, now lives in Llano, a town in Central Texas’ Hill Country.
Fund raising statewide also has been difficult because Democrats with deep pockets are giving to Republican-turned-independent candidate Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn.
"The environment’s just not good for a Democrat fund raising right now," said Gammage spokesman Jeremy Warren.
By contrast, dozens of contributions totaling thousands of dollars have come from the Valley to Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican.
And Strayhorn has received sizable Valley contributions as well.
The LaMantia family alone, owners of the Budweiser distributorship in deep South Texas, gave at least $67,000 in 2005 to her campaign, according to records filed with the Texas Ethics Commission.
Perry and Strayhorn are considered the frontrunners, though humorist Kinky Friedman is also working to get on the ballot as an independent.
Bell’s only Valley contribution has come from his childhood friend, McAllen attorney John Tippit, who donated $1,000. The two have been friends since they attended school together growing up in Highland Park, near Dallas, said Stanford.
Bell’s trips to the Valley this year have been to lay groundwork for his first serious Valley fund-raising event, which was scheduled for Friday in McAllen.
"He needs good friends in the Valley," Stanford said. "Otherwise he’s just a stranger."
Candidate Bob Gammage’s fund raising in the Valley has been even less fruitful. He’s raised $600 from two donors: Weslaco resident C. Ashley McAllen, who gave $100, and Harlingen resident Melchor Chavez, who gave $500.
Both donors support General Wesley Clark and received word from Clark to support Gammage for governor, Warren said.
"It’s a concern," Warren said, of Gammage’s low contributions. "But right now, fund raising in general has been lower than we had hoped, and we’ve been focusing so heavily on direct voter contact and get-out-the-vote, that we have not done a good enough job in raising money in the Valley."
The other candidate in the Democratic primary, Houston retail manager Rashad Jafer, is not accepting donations. He said his tight budget has not allowed him to travel to the Valley, but he hopes to soon.
Bell and Gammage, who have each made several trips to the Valley since January, said they are confident the Valley is responding to their messages, even if they aren’t writing checks.
Bell toured a juvenile detention center in San Benito, focusing on the high dropout rates among Hispanics. He found that Hispanic audiences attribute the dropout rate to teen pregnancy and respond well to his support of abstinence-based sex education that includes information about birth control, Stanford said.
"Chris is the only candidate that’s shining a spotlight on teen pregnancy," Stanford said.
Stanford said Democratic voters praise Bell for filing the ethics complaint in Congress against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, who faces criminal charges for his alleged role in violating campaign finance law.
Meanwhile, Warren said, Valley audiences who know Gammage made several rulings as an appeals-court judge, and later as a Texas Supreme Court justice, that supported the current share-the-wealth system of funding Texas schools have received him well.
"Bob’s message plays very well in particular in the Valley because he’s focusing on improving schools and building top-flight schools for all areas, not just for wealthier areas," Warren said.
Gammage is considering coming to the Valley on Tuesday, the first day of early voting, to meet with supporters, Warren said. His schedule had not been solidified as of late last week.
But for an area that almost always elects Democrats, the Democratic candidates haven’t inspired supporters to rally.
"There’s not a whole lot of attention it seems down here with regard to the gubernatorial race at this point, within our primary," said Cameron County Democratic Chairman David Sanchez.
Sanchez said he thinks Democrats are working to get Strayhorn on the ballot as an independent because she would likely take votes from Perry and give a Democrat a better chance to win. After the primary, he reasons, that Valley Democrats will turn their attention to the Democratic candidate.
The primary election is March 7.
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Elizabeth Pierson covers the state capital for Valley Freedom Newspapers. She is based in Austin and can be reached at (512) 323-0622.
You have to drive into Austin to see real RATs.
Deep pockets ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
"You have to drive into Austin to see real RATs."
I have seen them panhandling on sixth street and in the legislature...
No, Strayhorn is the candidate of the Democratic machine. It's actually a fairly good idea. Since you can't win a statewide race with a (D) by your name, try to win with the democrat running as an 'independent'.
I don't know if she's good at her current job but, Strayhorn/Leghorn was probably the worst mayor Austin ever had.
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