Posted on 09/12/2006 7:06:23 AM PDT by laotzu
AUSTIN - Cigar-chomping cowboy Kinky Friedman seems to be offering a home for conservatives disgruntled by Gov. Rick Perry's administration.
Friedman, the independent gubernatorial candidate, has said he'll reduce state spending, eliminate the new business tax and use the state surplus to curtail illegal immigration and crime in Houston if he's elected in November.
It's a platform that resonates with Republicans who say they feel betrayed by Perry's policies, especially the new business tax they call a state income tax in disguise.
His platform so closely matches the agendas of groups like Texans for No New Taxes and Citizens for Lowering Our Unfair Taxes that conservative radio host and state Senate candidate Dan Patrick wonders whether Friedman stole their ideas.
''What his campaign platform is now is what I've been talking about for years,'' said Patrick, who is heavily favored to win his northwest Houston district in November. ''I think it's fascinating that he has figured out in his campaign where the majority of conservatives stand on the issues when others have not.''
Friedman also stands with Republicans who want to see prayer and the Ten Commandments back in schools, and he frequently quotes or praises conservative icon Ronald Reagan and other GOP leaders.
And he's taking a harsh stance on illegal immigration, saying he'll add 8,500 National Guard troops to the border, fine companies tens of thousands of dollars for hiring illegal immigrants and force migrants who want jobs in Texas to pass a criminal background check and buy a foreign taxpayer ID card.
Experts say Friedman has almost no chance of pulling enough voters away from Perry to win the race. And Perry spokesman Robert Black said he believes conservative voters will stick with what they know.
''This is far and away not only the most conservative candidate on the ticket, it's the most conservative governor the state's ever had,'' Black said of Perry.
Friedman campaign manager Dean Barkley says Friedman is just speaking his mind, with no strategy to jockey for the anti-Perry favorite among the three other gubernatorial candidates.
''Why would you impose a brand new large tax burden on any Texan when you're sitting on a pile of money?'' Barkley said, referring to the state's multibillion-dollar surplus. ''It just makes no logical sense of why you'd do that.''
The Legislature approved the new tax format this spring, bringing in new business tax money to replace local school property taxes they cut to answer a Texas Supreme Court ruling that declared the state's dependence on property taxes illegal. The tax takes effect next year, and the first due date for businesses is May 2008.
Supporters of the new tax say it's more fair because only about one in every 16 Texas businesses paid the tax it replaces. Most Texas businesses, including Dell Inc., use well-known accounting tricks to avoid paying it.
But critics say businesses that lose money could still owe money because the tax is based on a percentage of net receipts instead of net income.
Friedman and other opponents of the tax say that amounts to a state income tax. And he says he worries the tax will hurt small businesses the most because they don't own as much property as bigger companies and won't get as much relief from the property tax reductions.
''That is simply taxing the people who have been a bit successful and been playing by the rules,'' Friedman said recently. ''It shifts the tax burden. It doesn't create new revenue as something like legalizing casino gambling would do.''
Harris County Republican chairman Jared Woodfill says true conservatives will be turned off by Friedman's support of gambling, gay marriage and abortion.
But Friedman has won the support of Bill Weldon, a 39-year-old project manager for Continental Airlines and lifelong Republican who's mad about the business tax and skyrocketing property appraisals.
Weldon says he likes Friedman's ideas about education, the border and taxes. And he's willing to live with Friedman's qualms about the death penalty and his support of abortion rights because the governor has little power over those laws.
''He can throw out all the crazy ideas he wants, you know, but if he doesn't have the senators' and the House members' support, it doesn't matter,'' said Weldon, of Katy.
While Patrick says 90 percent of his callers tell him they plan to vote for Friedman, as a Republican, he says, he wants ''the home team to win.''
But it's not that cut and dry for Weldon.
''I'm a conservative first. I'm a Republican second,'' he said. ''I believe in a common sense approach to things. The way things are sitting right now, there is no common sense in what Gov. Perry has been doing.''
I'm just telling you what I have been hearing. I talk to a lot of people. And a lot of big Repub donors.
My prediction, Perry wins with a plurality in the upper 40's, with the 3 others equally sharing the rest.
Kinky will probably take away votes from Bell(the democrat) in such places as Travis county.
Kinky is another Lyndon Johnson....
Tell your "big Repub donors" friends to wean themselves off of the kool-aid.
The scary thing though is can the votes for Kinky ultimately result in Chris Bell winning? That is a situation I dread more than anything.
Perry is nto a conservative either, he is a rat with a R by his name.
See reply #20, poster child of the know nothings.
The Rats learned their lesson from Nader, they won't let that happen.
JMO, I don't think that will happen. Kinky will probably take away votes from Bell.
I know when I am being lied to by a crooked rino governor. So I will not vote for him.
So voting for a liberal will make you a Conservative?
And vote for the uber liberal Kinky. You must enjoy putting your hand on the stove over and over again.
Sorry, but this state is not doing "great". We are being overrun with illegals. They are like locusts. The bottom half of Texas is almost unimhabitable for an English speaking American. It is so bad hear in Houston that my sister's family, my dad and my family are all leaving within the year. Not leaving Texas, just moving more North. And it is still bad even up in the panhandle, but not quite as bad as the bottom half of Texas. We just need some relief from the surge of illegals. Crime is unreal. Between the MS13 and the Katrina folks you one would be nuts to leave his or her house without packing a sidearm.
Yes, its that bad. Perry is doing NOTHING about it. Folks are completley fed up. Even to the extent they will vote for somebody like Kinky who never had a whisper of a chance in the past.
No, he is the most conservative running. Sad but true.
Well, Perry's become an atypical politican (smoke & mirrors),the Demacrat runnin, is well, a Democrat(nuff said), and Kinky is a comedian. So, if ya want a good time in Texas, vote for Kinky, because their all a bunch of clowns anyway!
At any rate, if Kinky becomes the next gov - Louisiana's Blanco can move over. Texas will gain title to the Laughingstock Governor of the USA.
They are not "my repub donors friends".
I'm just telling you what I have been hearing. If you don't like it fine. Don't blame me, blame Perry.
LOL! Put your resume in to be a used car saleman.
I agree; the Kinkster voters I talk to are the kind that are normally reliable 'rat voters, but are disappointed in Bell and don't think he has a prayer, and looking to cast a protest vote.
Kinky will draw from both sides, but I don't think Bell will go anywhere - he's battling "One Trial-Lawyer Funded Grandma" for last place.
(At least, I hope so...)
Perry and the Republicans. While in office he held strong against an onslaught of Dem/media attacks (at the cost of his poll numbers) and pushed through redistricting, which looks increasingly likely to be the difference in preventing Nancy Pelosi from becoming Speaker and preventing endless impeachment-related investigations/distractions. Pushed through tort reform. Tightened restrictions on abortion. In the face of an economic downturn and multi-billion dollar deficit was able to get the legislature to pass a balanced budget without raising taxes (budget cuts instead.) The latest school finance reform isn't perfect but the courts were holding a gun to his head and he and the legislature worked out a reasonable compromise. Has for a couple of years now been calling for a cap on property tax appraisal increases, but the legislature has so far pretty much resisted this. Perry has pushed for streamlining and privatizing state gov't where possible, such as his Trans-Texas Corridor proposal, where instead of the gov't spending $6+ billion of tax dollars for needed road expansion in the I-35 corridor the state bidded out the contract to a toll firm that will pay the entire cost of construction and also pay the state $1.2 billion for the rights to operate the road (the state will still own it.) That's a $6 billion savings for taxpayers.
Those are real conservative accomplishments, completely ignored by the conservo-utopians here or those who don't want their pet middle-class welfare program cut.
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