Roy Blake Ad Attacks Leininger, Christian
The GOP race for Texas House District 9 is heating up beyond belief, as State Rep. Roy Blake has made the very ballsy move of launching a radio commercial attacking not only his opponent, the ex-state Rep. he beat in 2004—Wayne Christian—but also God’s Sugar Daddy Himself: Dr. James Leininger.
The radio ad, which you can hear here, includes the following paragraph I wish some Democrats would use come November:
“We’ve seen it all before: money laundering, political action committees, corporate cash. And they think you just won’t notice. They believe that using secret slush funds to buy their own politician is just another day at the office.”
To date, 90 percent of Christian’s contributions have come from Leininger. Of course, in a vain attempt to get himself elected, Christian claims he’s against school vouchers. Here’s what he told the Nacgodoches Daily Sentinel:
“I will never vote for rural vouchers in my district,†the former state representative and financial consultant from Center said. “It’s not an issue.â€
Of course, that’s a catch-22. Christian can vote for voucher pilot programs anywhere else in the state and still keep that lame-ass promise. Then, of course, when they spread like wildfire, he can just sit back and let them roll into his district.
All this is of particular interest given that Blake is not one of the Hochberg 14 that voted for the Hochberg amendment to HB2. He, in fact, voted against it. Only these 14 Republicans voted for the amendment:
Brown (Fred), Casteel, Geren, Goodman, Goolsby, Griggs, Haggerty, Hamilton, Hunter, Jones (Delwin), Kuempel, Merritt, Pitts, Reyna.
So, clearly, it’s not just the Hochberg 14 that Republicans are targeting: It’s all anti-voucher candidates.
The Lufkin Daily News has an interesting editorial on the topic as well:
It just doesn’t sound right, that a San Antonio businessman can unabashedly funnel $150,000 to an East Texas candidate for the sole purpose of furthering his pet cause.
It doesn’t sound right because it isn’t.
Oh, it may be legal, but the idea that someone with absolutely no discernible ties to a district can have such a significant impact on who its next state representative will be is one of the reasons the term “campaign finance†carries such a negative connotation.
The case we’re talking about, of course, is that of Wayne Christian of Center, who is trying to get his old District 9 state representative job back from Roy Blake of Nacogdoches. The district covers Nacogdoches, Jasper, Sabine, San Augustine and Shelby counties.
Christian has gotten $150,000, give or take, of his $172,630 in campaign donations for this year’s election from Dr. James Leininger, who has given more than $1.4 million — through legal loopholes — to opponents of just five Republican officials who fought school voucher proposals last year, according to a Dallas Morning News story.
It may turn out, even if Christian wins, that it was money wasted: Christian says he has no intention of voting to allow the use of vouchers in his rural district. But, as Blake says, that’s not the point.
What matters is the perception that, if you want something done in Texas and you’ve got enough money, you can pretty much buy your own votes.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Do you know that you can 
