04.09.10
HD-52 GOP Runoff – issues take a back seat
A couple of things have become pretty clear in the GOP runoff in HD-52so far, these two candidates (Larry Gonzales and John Gordon) don’t like each other very much (hopefully is political and not personal), and the issues that matter to voters in the district don’t seem to be playing much of a part in either candidates effort. They attack each other, one saying the other is a meanie, the other saying his opponent is a shill for a rich corporate donor. And that’s where the conundrum comes in for the voters it seems. Do they go with the guy who’s going to run the same campaign Diana Maldonado’s losing opponent ran two years ago, or the guy with long ties in the county and an colorful record?
News 8 Austin has a report where one candidate accuses the other of attacking his wife, while the other denies he’s been bought.
The RRL accuses both candidate of “sniping“.
And this recent AAS article points out more troubling issues for the candidates, Emotions heat up in Republican runoff.
A Web site called thetruejohngordon.com also attempts to highlight Gordon’s temper. The site contains many of the same accusations as in Gonzales’ ads but also offers court documents to back up its claims and calls Gordon a “lawbreaker” for the speeding convictions and his arrest after damaging the parking boot.
The site was paid for by Houston-based Texas 1836 PAC . A phone call and e-mail to Larry Massey , who is listed as the PAC’s treasurer, were not returned.
Gonzales says he doesn’t know Massey and wasn’t aware of the PAC until he received contributions from it.
Campaign finance reports filed Monday with the Texas Ethics Commission show Texas 1836 PAC contributed $16,520 to Gonzales’ campaign from Feb. 21 through Saturday . According to a filing by Texas 1836 PAC, the Gonzales campaign was the only campaign the group supported.
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Gordon says the ads are half-truths from a campaign that knows it’s losing.
“I’ve been around for 33 years,” Gordon said. “Most people know I am not a hothead. I am a leader. I’m passionate in trying to protect people’s interests.”
He said it’s true that he attempted, unsuccessfully, to pry open a parking boot in 1994 and was arrested for it.
But he explained that the City of Austin had been issuing parking tickets unfairly around the Capitol, where he worked as an aide to Krusee, and he didn’t think the boot should have been placed on his vehicle.
He said he hired the private investigator to interview people in Eacono’s neighborhood after he became suspicious that she didn’t live in the district.
He later sued Eacono to have her named removed from the ballot because he said she lived outside of the district. But Gordon dropped the suit after Eacono received 8 percent of the vote in the primary.
Gordon also denied allegations by Leo Wood , who accused Gordon of threatening to beat him up. Wood sued the county Republican Party after the county chairman refused to accept his application for a place on the ballot because he didn’t correctly fill out his address. The allegation was included in the lawsuit.
“It was in a room full of people, and nobody heard what Leo claimed,” Gordon said.
And he said he was upset during the traffic stop because he believed the officer had put his family in danger by stopping the car on a rainy day on a road without a shoulder. By saying “all the way up,” he said he meant the municipal prosecutor, who later dismissed the ticket.
What’s troubling is not only Gonzales’ purported ignorance of Massey and his PAC, but his ambivalence to knowing about someone who is not only giving him money, but someone who is attacking his opponent on his behalf. It makes it look as if he subscribes to the theory “the enemy of my opponent is my friend”, no matter who they are or what they do, as long as they have a big bank account.
Another aspect of this that the PAC’s money, according to his runoff ethics filing [.pdf] (see pages 18 – 19), that was donated went specifically for “web development” and the printing and postage of three mailers. Which would lead one to believe that his campaign paid for the web site that the 1836 PAC built attacking his opponent.
Gordon’s issues seem to be with any authority that isn’t his own. Which seems to be sometimes productive but often times destructive.
As stated above the runoff has turned into a contest about the candidates personalities and not the issues, which is almost always the case in a runoff. They don’t particularly care for helping working families in the district, they’re likely “trickle-on-down economics” guys. Would usually take the side of insurance corporations, and business in general, over the consumer. Would likely rather keep 6 million Texans from getting health insurance.
It’s not clear which one of these candidates will win, because the right wing voters will see little difference between the two, and it will be hard for them to appeal to those who ordinary voters who will show up in November. Neither one of them is better for the District 52 than incumbent Diana Maldonado.
Windham12 said,
April 10, 2010 at 11:46 am
Larry Gonzales’ opinion of Mr. Perry’s significance to the development of Williamson County is off-base. Mr. Perry and other cookie cutter homebuilders like him have contributed immensely to urban sprawl, the decimation of our natural resources, overcrowded schools, higher taxes, the higher cost of providing extensive infrastructure, monotonous landscapes, and land development patterns that disuade public transportation.
You can bet that if Mr. Gonzales is elected, Williamson County will soon look like one big subdivision.
Representative Maldonado has stood up to Bob Perry, exposed his ridiculous pet, The Texas Residential Construction Commission, and defended the consumers of Williamson County. We can be proud of her for that hard work and success. The pretentious and powerless TRCC is now gone and Bob Perry is mad. This Gonzales candidate is nothing more than a special interest tool of the homebuilding business, that if not checked, will destroy our county in the name of plunder and profit.
Mr. Gordon. He may be a little over the top, but he is definately a better representative for the constituency of Williamson County.
Whoever comes out on top in that skunk match will have to face the proven, progressive record of the Honorable Diana Maldonado.
Texas-Irish said,
April 10, 2010 at 9:04 pm
What I find interesting is how it appears that many of the District 52 voters (Gonzales Supporters) have a long memory on disliking John Gordon, but a short memory on the 2008 national election.
These folks will carry their dislike of John Gordon to their grave. It’s a shame that people waste that much of their lives carrying grudges like that. They also refuse to admit that while they developed this dislike, John was doing things to support the citizens of the district – even if he was ruffling their feathers to do it. Credit to the Gonzales campaing for convincing folks and media that this is about John’s temperment. However, that is a bunch of horsepuckey. The insiders who started the I hate John Gordon club did it because he rained on their parade.
On the other hand, we had a young, nice guy, who had a bunch of political insiders who liked him and who had very little experience. He managed to become President, and then the uproar began about how the press did not do an adequate job of reporting on his inexperience and his contacts. Well deja ve all over again. There are too many people, press included, who want to give Mr. Gonzales a pass on the funding issue and the past of Mr Perry and other Houton contacts (Hillco, Massey, etc.). Getting -outside- funds in the range of $150K for a District 52 primary is unheard of. If you look at the growth in Williamson county, it’s not a far reach to come up with some conclusions (as Windham’s post did). We contine to hear denials that this is special interest money, but when somethng looks like a duck, quacks like a duck….. fill in the rest.
If Gonzales wins this election, it will be on Houston money and dislike of Gordon, not on his strong credentials. When you consider that he was given $70K in the early run, had his list of endorsements and who’s who list, and could only muster 38% of the vote; that’s not a whole lot of strength. So when we hear that it is John’s temperment and how John caused the race to go negative, that’s a sham also. If the campaign had contnued with John running on what he did and Larry running on who he knows; that’s a win for John. I don’t think the Houston folks wanted to invest in that clean of a contest. Give that money to Casey and the runoff might be Casey vs. Gordon.
It would have been nice to see a telephone interview poll done by some local media , and i think what they would have found form the 2 camps supporters.
Gonzales folks will tell you he’s a nice guy, he plays well with others, and he has this theme base campaign (translation, no experience to list, only what he will do)
Texas-Irish said,
April 10, 2010 at 9:08 pm
Sorry, and the rest of the story.
Gordon folks will tell you they have known John for some time, and they have benefitted either directly or indirectly from some efforts of John. Most have a relationship with John and are willing to accept the rough edges becaue they know John has the best interest of the ctizens at heart.
wcnews said,
April 10, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Thanks for the info. That’s kind of what I thought, there’s a WCGOP faction that’s ABG – Anyone But Gordon.
What are your thoughts on how these guys would be different if elected, how would their voting record as a legislator differ?
Eye on Williamson » Texas Blog Round Up (April 12, 2010) said,
April 12, 2010 at 10:15 am
[...] WCNews at Eye On Williamson has an update as the runoff, to see who will challenge Rep. Diana Maldonado, approaches HD-52 GOP Runoff – issues take a back seat. [...]
Texas blog roundup for the week of April 12 – Off the Kuff said,
April 13, 2010 at 5:35 am
[...] WCNews at Eye On Williamson has an update as the runoff, to see who will challenge Rep. Diana Maldonado, approaches HD-52 GOP Runoff – issues take a back seat. [...]