06.25.09
Tom Schieffer makes it official
Yesterday Democrat Tom Schieffer officially announced his run for the Democratic nomination for the Governor of Texas.
Decades ago, Tom Schieffer was a little boy who walked into Luella Merrett Elementary, holding his mother’s hand, to begin school for the first time.
On Wednesday, Schieffer, now 61, stood in front of that same school to announce that he is officially running for Texas governor.
“I am a Democrat — as Sam Rayburn used to say, without prefix, suffix or apology — and I think it is time we all had a governor,” Schieffer said. “I have no illusions about the difficulties of the task that lies ahead. There are two tough, veteran Republican officeholders who will be well-funded and will do anything to be elected.
“But I still believe in democracy, and I still believe in the Democratic Party.”
Schieffer, who served as Texas Rangers president and as an ambassador to Australia and Japan under former President George W. Bush, kicked off his campaign with a gathering that featured red, white and blue balloons, bumper stickers and more than 100 supporters.
The Bush ties will either be accepted by Democratic Primary voters or could possibly cost him the primary. Especially if a Democratic candidate emerges that wasn’t tied to Bush in the ’90′s – ’00′s emerges. From reading and listening to this interview Schieffer is a centrist/”blue dog” Democrat in the mold of former US Senator Lloyd Bentsen and former Texas Governor John Connally. More comfortable in the board room than the union hall. As these comments attest to:
While addressing the concerns he identified would appear to require an infusion of state revenue, Schieffer didn’t address such specifics when asked in the interview. He said wants to have a thoughtful discussion about public policy with all interested parties at the table to come up with solutions. He said he’ll lay out more detailed plans as the campaign unfolds.
Schieffer did say that property taxes “have pretty well been exhausted’ and that he doesn’t like an income tax.
“I think sales taxes work better than anything else at the state level, but I think you have to sit down and you have to talk about things and you have tot do it in a serious way,” he said.
Schieffer said that Perry “talks a lot about a good business climate. I want a good business climate. I’ve got more business experience than Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison combined. But a good business climate is not just having low business taxes. It is having an educational system that can produce the workers of the modern world.”
While slamming Perry, Schieffer has a hill to climb among some in his own party because he’s friends with George W. Bush and served in his administration as ambassador to Australia and Japan. He and Bush led investment groups that together purchased the Texas Rangers in 1989 and sold the team 10 years later.
Shcieffer’s main calling card is that he believes he can bring over enough of the growing Independent pool of Texas voters to vote for him in the 2010 election. But first he’ll have to win over Democratic Primary voters.
In the linked interview above he did hammer Kay Bailey Hutchison for her silence on Gov. Rick Perry’s secession comments earlier in the year. (The comments are about 2:30 in on the second interview). He starts out by saying she didn’t say anything about the “silliness of secession” and paraphrasing, “How can she not say Texas ought to be a part of America?”. Further stating that she kept quite because a majority of Texas GOP voters polled like the comments.
There’s much more on Schieffer’s announcement from Kuff, BOR (here and here), and Rachel. Democrats should be willing to give Schieffer a chance and as he said, “There’s a long time between now and March,”.