TX CD-03: Dennis Hastert Raising Funds For Sam Johnson

Although it’s nowhere to be found on Congressman Sam Johnson’s website, probably because Hastert is such poison right now, it seems as though Dennis hastert will be speaking at a fund-raising luncheon for Johnson (R-Dallas) in Richardson on October 30.

And, that’s not the only big-dog Johnson has coming to town for him. On October 25, he’ll be hosting a breakfast reception with special guest Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Dan Dodd, Johnson’s opponent, has quite an interesting take on why Hastert is coming to town:

If elections were about nothing but money Sam Johnson already has enough money in the bank. Now let me ask – Why in the world would Sam invite Dennis Hastert, of all people, to come here and raise more money right now for his campaign?
This election is about breaking a cycle of cronyism and corruption and our incumbents just don’t get it. This fundraiser says a lot about where Sam’s loyalty lies – and it is not with Texas families.

Indeed. Hastert is such political poision right now that Shelley Sekula-Gibbs and others across the country have already told Hastert, “thanks, but no thanks.”

So, why is he coming to Johnson’s district? I’ve got a couple of theories. First off, consider that the last time Johnson had a Democratic opponent was 2002, when Manny Molera polled a very poor 24 percent of the vote.

Still, you have to consider that this district is generally referred to as one of the safest Republican districts in the nation, including part of Dallas County (Garland, Rowlett) and most of Collin County including silk-stocking Plano.

While the Dallas County precincts in this districts are still Republican, Dallas County is trending rapidly and Johnson could find himself with fewer votes than he had in 2004 in Dallas County (especially with a Democratic opponent), but not likely enough to put him in any serious danger.
There are a couple of other problems, though. When Johnson was first elected in 1991, he pledged to serve only 12 years as a strong supporter of term limits. His 12 years are up.

Second, I’ve been hearing a lot of rumors coming out of this district that a lot of Republican leaders wanted this to be Johnson’s last term, and that, since he ran for re-election, there is a lot of pressure on him for the term he’s running for to be his last term. Why? Because people are evidently standing in line for this seat. I’ve heard that state reps Jerry Madden and Brian McCall are interested in the seat, but I’m not sure if that’s true. But, this seat is one that is in a high-profile area that has previously resulted in a who’s who of Republicans running when it was open. Back in ‘91, Bill Hammond, Tom Pauken, and even Pete Sessions were among the big-name Republicans who sought the seat. Of course, we’ve had a couple of redistrictings since then, but the fact remains that there are reportedly people in Plano and Collin County chomping at the bit waiting for JOhnson to step down.

Further, we all know that some of Johnson’s comments like the “nuke Syria” incident are an embarassment to his party.

Bottom line, though: Why is Hastert coming into this district?

I think he’s coming in to let people in the district know he supports Johnson and that, in turn, the leadership supports Johnson. Basically, I think it sends the message to those would-be candidates that Johnson is going to stick around as long as possible. In fact, unless his district were to change substantially in a future redistricting, I could see Johnson trying to pull a Ralph Hall.

Only time will tell.

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