Posts Tagged ‘Republican Party of Texas’

Newer Entries »

Interview With Texas Lt. Governor Candidate Jerry Patterson

Saturday, March 1st, 2014

Friday night, I was finally able to get an interview with Texas Land Commissioner and Lt. Governor candidate Jerry Patterson, which I’d been meaning to do for quite a while. Below is a pretty close transcription of the interview (or as close as I could make it with my 45 words-a-minute fingers).

Lawrence Person: What do you see as current Lt. Governor David Dewhurst’s biggest mistakes in office?

Jerry Patterson: His biggest mistake is not a mistake but a shortcoming, that being having no ability to lead and motivate both voters and members of the senate. We all make mistakes, but shortcomings are more serious than mistakes.

Lawrence Person: Likewise, what qualities or policies do you think separate you from Dan Patrick and Todd Staples?

Jerry Patterson: Policy-wise, there’s very little difference. Between me and Dan, my story is not going to change from day to day and venue to venue. I feel no compulsion to tell you what I think you want to hear to like me.

As for Todd, I’m a little more of a risk-taker, I’m bolder, and I’m less consultant-driven.

Lawrence Person: What, if any, procedural changes would you make in running the Texas state senate?

Jerry Patterson: The first thing I’m going to do is roll the tape of the evening Wendy Davis carried out her filibuster, and make sure all the Democrats who helped encourage that riot are not in charge of committees.

I will also make it easier for the Lt. Governor to recommit bills from one committee to another.

Lawrence Person: The Lt. Governor has tremendous influence over the composition of the Legislative Budget Board. What specific background and qualities would you seek in those you would appoint to the board?

Jerry Patterson: They need to be fiscal conservatives, and they need to be resistant to those who blow smoke into places you don’t usually see it, and they need to have those qualities on a consistent basis.

Lawrence Person: How did the Concealed Handgun bill come about, and how hard was getting that passed?

Jerry Patterson: It had been attempted several times before. I sponsored it in 1993, passed it, and Gov. [Ann] Richards vetoed it. But it wasn’t a real CHL bill, it was just a referendum on whether to pass a CHL bill. In 1995, we have a new Governor, George W. Bush, who won in part because he promised to sign a CHL bill if it came to his desk. In 1995, I was sole author of SB 60, the CHL bill. It was a difficult task. We had a lot of Democratic support, and a lot of Republican opposition. It was made more difficult when Selena [the Tejano signer] was shot and killed by a deranged woman in Corpus Christi. But I told wavering legislators I would campaign against them if they did not live up to their commitment. Then I had to deal with hostile points-of-order to kill the bill. I was the chair of the conference committee, and I hired parliamentarians with a meticulous knowledge of the rules to make sure I didn’t make any mistake that would allow opponents to overturn the bill with a point-of-order. I think the final vote in the senate was about 22-8. And that included five yeas who wanted to vote no, but knew their district wouldn’t be happy.

Lawrence Person: What do you think are the most essential actions Texas needs to take to secure the border?

Jerry Patterson: There are several. We have to first realize that this is a three-legged stool: border security, assimilation, and immigration reform. You cannot have border security without immigration reform, and you cannot have immigration reform without border security. We have to stop birthright citizenship, we have to stop this bilingual ballot nonsense. You know what my name is on the Spanish-language ballot?

Lawrence Person: No, what?

Jerry Patterson: It’s Jerry Patterson. We need to do what the GOP platform calls for: biometric ID card for non-residents, no amnesty, a guest worker program with no path to citizenship. We need to focus on coyotes, narcotraffickers, terrorists, felons. That’s where our resources should be used, not chasing kitchen help.

Lawrence Person: Any final thought or message for BattleSwarm Blog readers?

Jerry Patterson: I’ll always be honest with you, and I won’t change what I say to get your vote.

Thanks to Jerry Patterson and his staff for taking the time to do the interview.

I have another interview with Lt. Governor candidate Dan Patrick which, do to technical difficulties on my part, I’m still trying to complete. Once that’s done I’ll put that up as well.

Tags:, , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Border Control, Elections, Guns, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »

Texas Governor’s Race: State of Play and Update

Wednesday, February 26th, 2014

It’s a mere six days before the March 4 primary, and I haven’t covered the various statewide races nearly as well as I would have liked. (Maybe Ukraine will refrain from blowing up this week.) So I’ll try to catch up with some statewide race update, including a summary of the current state of play for those just tuning in, as well as some race tidbits (some of which are, alas, fairly musty). First up: The Governor’s Race.

Gregg Abbott is a better, more focused candidate with a better organization in a deep red state. Abbott has both experience running successful, high-profile statewide races, has a solid record of achievement as Attorney General, and unquestioned conservative credentials. I’ve seen Abbott work a room in person, and he’s very good at it. He has all Rick Perry’s strengths and none of his weaknesses. He came into the campaign with a hfty warchest and continues to raise money at a record pace.

Wendy Davis, by contrast, is a photogenic white woman whose main claim to fame is her filibuster in support of unlimited late-term abortions. Davis had a fairly indifferent record as a State Senator, and called herself a Republican back in the 1990s. She has been fundraising at a more-than-respectable clip, and pulling in impressive amounts of out-of-state liberal special interest money. She probably has more enthusiasm at the liberal grassroots level than any statewide top-of-the-ticket candidate since Ann Richards. Her campaign has frequently seemed very poorly organized, and indifferent or hostile to potentially friendly reporters. Her fibs about her life story and unconvincing flip-flops on guns and late-term abortions may have hurt here with swing voters, but don’t appear to have dampened the enthusiasm of her liberal base. She’s aided in her campaign by Battleground Texas, a well-funded attempt to “turn Texas blue” by registering more Democrats.

Obviously, Abbott is going to win the Republican nomination, and, despite her many stumbles, Davis is going to win the Democratic nomination. Abbott is going to cream her in November.

Now some race tidbits:

  • Abbott holds an 11 point leader over Davis in the latest polls.
  • Gregg Abbott raised $2.5 million in the latest filing period, and has $30 million cash on hand.
  • In case you missed it before: Abbott outraised Davis 3-1 in January. Davis’ claimed advantage comes from counting Battleground Texas totals as her own.
  • Speaking of BattleGround Texas, did they break the law?

  • Abbott and the Texas Republican Party aren’t taking Battleground Texas efforts lying down. “Abbott…has 50 paid staff members doing grass-roots outreach.”
  • Davis’ actual campaign finance report
  • Greg Abbott on ObamaCare.
  • Ted Nugent apologizes.
  • For all her walkback on late-term abortions, it’s still the pro-abortion crowd who is giving Wendy Davis the big bucks.
  • “Wendy Davis is no Ann Richards.” To be fair, Ann Richards wasn’t really Ann Richards either, but she was a whole lot better at faking it…
  • Davis gets a New York Times Magazine profile…
  • …which the hard left complains is insufficiently sensitive to radical feminist language demands.

    • Tags:, , , , , , ,
    Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Texas, video | No Comments »

    Pictures from Ted Cruz/Tony Dale Event in Williamson County

    Friday, October 26th, 2012

    I attended the Ted Cruz/Tony Dale event at Williamson County GOP headquarters on October 25 and took some pictures. Click to embiggen.

    Your humble blogger with the Guest of Honor, the next United States Senator from Texas, Ted Cruz:

    And just in cased you missed it, here once again is my endorsement of Cruz for the general election.

    Since I didn’t manage to get any good pictures of Tony Dale at his last event, I got two good ones this time around to make up for it:

    Here are some pics to give an idea of the Wilco GOP digs:

    They had a wide selection of GOP literature available:

    Ted Cruz solo:

    Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas Steve Munisteri, who I hope will forgive me for taking a picture than makes him look like The Joker:

    I get the impression that it was a very long day for both him and Cruz. Two ravenous Cruz staffers went to town on the chicken nuggets; I think they’d been too busy to eat before then.

    Also in attendance: Holly Hansen, Lisa Birkman, Third Court of Appeals candidate Scott Field, and Cedar Park Mayor Matt Powell.

    It was a good crowd (I’m guessing about 50-75 people) and Cruz gave a very solid stump speech. I think things look pretty good for Cruz, Dale, and (fingers crossed) Mitt Romney.

    Tags:, , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »

    Will Kinky Friedman Run for Governor Again? Will Rick Perry?

    Thursday, August 9th, 2012

    Word is he’s considering a run in 2014.

    Could Kinky get nominated? Sure. You saw how little effort it took to run as a Democratic statewide for the Senate, and Kinky starts off with greater name recognition than any of the Dems in that race. There’s little indication any prominent Democrat wants to go through the meat-grinder of a statewide race (though if I were to guess, trial lawyer Jason A. Gibson, who launched an abortive Senate bid before Sadler got stamped with the union label, might make a run). Kinky’s probably to the right of the Democratic primary electorate, but I don’t see anyone with his name recognition talking about a run.

    Could Kinky do better than he did in 2006? Sure. Kinky only got 12.5% of the vote, coming in fourth. Even Democrat Chris Bell did better in that four-way race, pulling in just shy of 30% of the vote. That’s probably his absolute floor if he gets the Democratic nomination, and it’s probably closer to 40%.

    Could Kinky win? Doubtful, but not impossible. Save for 2006, Democratic gubernatorial candidates have pulled in between 40% (Tony Sanchez) and 42% (Bill White) of the vote against Rick Perry. Perry clearly damaged his popularity with the missteps of his abortive Presidential run (and, to a lesser extent, his endorsement of David Dewhurst’s failed senatorial campaign), though probably not enough to lose to Kinky (or any other Democrat), assuming he runs again. But two years is a long time, both good and bad. Perry has time to recover, but also to make a catastrophic error or fumble a crisis. And while it’s not nearly as widespread as the MSM would like you to believe, there is a certain amount of Perry fatigue among even Republican voters. Perry’s already the longest serving Governor in Texas history, having replaced George W. Bush on December 21, 2000. That’s an awful long time for anyone to be in the same office, and there are plenty of people ready to make the argument that it’s too long.

    Will Rick Perry run again in 2014? Answer cloudy, ask again later. Maybe even Perry doesn’t know yet. Word is that Attorney General Greg Abbott is itching for the office, and may run even if Perry doesn’t opt to retire. If I had to guess, I think it’s slightly more likely that Perry retires than that he runs again. He has nothing left to prove at a statewide level. Dewhurst’s implosion proved that even the most well-heeled Texas incumbents are vulnerable to a challenge from the right. Perry has very little to gain and much to lose from hanging on, and a Perry-Abbott race would be a brutal smackdown that could go either way. It would probably be in Perry’s best interest to assume that Texas A&M Presidency rumor has the diehard Aggie angling for as his post-gubernatorial sinecure, and possibly contemplate another Presidential run at the end of Romney’s second term. But Perry would hardly be the first politician to stay in office too long.

    Another gubernatorial run might not be good for Kinky, but it would be be good for the Texas Democratic Party, which resembles a moldy thing in a jar more than a viable alternative. Kinky might (might) even be able to shake off the stultifying far-left political correctness that has rendered the party uncompetitive in statewide races.

    It would also be good for the Republican Party of Texas; once you get past the Tea Party, there’s no one left to keep them honest.

    Tags:, , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Democrats, Elections, Texas | No Comments »

    Texas Senate Race Update for June 11, 2012

    Monday, June 11th, 2012

    I put off putting up the latest Texas Senate race update until the Republican Party of Texas convention in Ft. Worth concluded. Good thing, too, since a lot of news came out of it, almost none of which was good for Dewhurst, but some of this news may be a bit old.

  • Ted Cruz appears on Fox News:

  • Dewhurst claims he wants more than five debates with Cruz. Since Dewhurst did extremely poorly in the ones he did have, color me skeptical.
  • Cruz says bring it on.
  • At least one will be on WFAA.
  • Another will be at KERA.
  • The line to take pictures with Ted Cruz at RPOTC was evidently quite long.
  • Conversely, Dewhurst was booed there.
  • And so was Rick Perry, for endorsing Dewhurst.
  • Despite that, Perry doubles down on backing Dewhurst. I don’t think this course of action will bring him joy….
  • The text of Dewhurst’s RPOTC speech.
  • More coverage of their respective speeches.
  • The Cruz campaign says it’s raised a lot more Texas contributors and small donors than Dewhurst does. While I think they’re probably correct, honesty compels me to point out that comparing Cruz’s internal June 4 donation stats with Dewhurst’s May 17 FEC stats is not an apples-to-apples comparison for many reasons, not last of which is that FEC reports only show donations over $200, so the 69 number for “donations under $250” is simply misleading. (When I pointed this out to the Cruz campaign, they noted that Dewhurst is free to release his own small-donor statistics. Which is true.)
  • Speaking of misleading, Dewhurst goes back to Communist China bit.
  • A look at the Cruz-Dewhurst fundraising numbers.
  • A look at various reasons Dewhurst couldn’t win without a runoff. Ahem: “Just about everybody bet on Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst to win outright.” yeah, Ross Ramsey, everyone except those of us who were actually paying attention to the race.
  • Dewhurst endorsed by Railroad Commissioner David Porter.
  • Craig James endorses Dewhurst. They didn’t even try to pretend Team Dewhurst didn’t write that speech…
  • On the other hand, Lela Pittenger endorsed Cruz. She only had one-third the votes James has, but 95% less baggage…
  • Another KFYO poll where Cruz is clobbering Dewhurst.
  • Dewhurst appeared on Fox News:

    Also on KTRH:

    And KTSA:

    And KCRS:

  • And as far as I can tell looking at the stats on his official page, the most people who have listened to any David Dewhurst YouTube radio interview posted in the last month is…35.
  • As previously mentioned, Grady Yarbrough has a Facebook page. And he also has a website…that currently redirects back to his Facebook page.
  • And now Grady Yarbrough has a YouTube ad:

  • Standard Democratic boilerplate. However, Yarbrough did run two statewide races as a Republican.
  • Sean Hubbard endorses Paul Sadler. “The other guy [Yarbrough] has never even filed with the Senate or FEC.”

    • Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Democrats, Elections, Media Watch, Republicans, Texas, video | 1 Comment »

    Newer Entries »