Tag: 2006 elections

Democrats accuse Carole Strayhorn of being a Rick-Perry-in-a-skirt conservative. Republicans despise her for being too liberal. It seems to me that if both parties hate her, she may be a good candidate for those of us who want a better Texas, but couldn’t care less about the fortunes of either party.

I think the real reason Strayhorn has earned the ire of the two major parties is the fact that she has, over the course of her career, strayed from both. Quitting both parties is troublesome for partisans when the so-called quitter is one of the most popular politicians in Texas.

I suppose her lack of loyalty to the major parties makes her something of a traitor in their eyes when in actuality having quit both parties is merely a sign that she’s come to her senses.

Strayhorn and fellow independent hopeful Kinky Friedman both need to gather nearly 50,000 signatures to get on the November ballot, and I’ve been going back and forth on whose petition to sign. Here’s the situation:

• Rick Perry (R) must be defeated.
• Chris Bell (D) will lose.
• Friedman will shoot himself in the foot, probably after draining Bell’s support.
• Strayhorn can beat Perry.

In addition to her potential as a candidate, Strayhorn is genuinely interested in doing right by Texas schools and Texas taxpayers. I finally signed Strayhorn’s petition. I still have a lot to learn about Bell, so I don’t know if she’ll get my vote in November, but I’m convinced she deserves a spot on the ballot.

Perhaps in the coming weeks I’ll explore each candidate’s positions in more depth.

I occasionally join in the ghost dance that is the Texas Democratic Party primary, but it’s usually an exercise in pointlessness, akin to the efforts of many late nineteenth century Native Americans who hoped they could dance the white man into oblivion.

These days the Democratic Party primaries exist only to choose the guy who will lose by a margin that looks more like a close football game rather than a blowout in basketball. Instead, I tend to vote in the Republican primaries because I live in Texas and the reality of the situation is that that’s were the actual decisions are made. I don’t like it, but there it is.

This year, however, I am not voting in any primaries. Texas has a most undemocratic system designed to prevent independents from reaching the ballot: independent candidates must collect nearly 50,000 signatures from people who did not vote in the primaries, and they only have sixty days to do it.

When I think of this year’s primaries I see no way Rick “What Do You Mean Fix It?” Perry can lose on the Republican side and no difference between Bob “Who?” Gammage and Chris “Who #2?” Bell, either of whom would probably lose a head-to-head race against Perry. I think any of the two Democrats or the two independents – Kinky “Why the Hell Not?” Friedman or Carole “One Tough Grandma” Strayhorn – would be a better governor than Perry and should an independent win, I think it would be good for Texas politics.

One way or another, Rick Perry should be ousted. He has been an ineffective leader, unable to tackle the state’s most serious problem: education funding. He managed to accomplish mid-decade redistricting for Tom Delay, but has shown no leadership when it comes to real problems. He is incompetent and ineffective and he needs to go.

Strayhorn is conservative, but serious (I think) about the problems facing public schools. Friedman is probably more conservative than he appears, but in the honest libertarian way. With a four-way race including three conservative candidates, Perry’s chances likely – hopefully – diminish. With two independent candidates siphoning away his votes, a Democrat could win (the best situation) or an independent could win (the second and third best situations).

I don’t know which candidate I’ll vote for in November, but in the coming weeks I will sign one of the two petitions.