HD 67: Madden Sees A Challenge … From The Right?

It seems though to imagine that anyone who was part of House Speaker Tom Craddick’s leadership team could be challenged from the right, but it appears as though Jerry Madden (R-Richardson), has drawn one.

Tom Cole, a former legislative staffer and White House employee in the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is challenging Madden. Although the most important question in the HD 67 GOP primary will be “who supports Tom Craddick and who doesn’t,” it is clear that Cole, whose site smacks of right-wing conservatism, is challenging Madden from the farthest reaches of the party’s right wing. A recent email he sent out published on Quorum Report smacked of the right-wing “faith, family, freedom” mantra many Republicans have run on since 2002.

Here are some samples of Cole’s early attacks on Madden:

We depend on our elected leaders to represent our values and beliefs at the Texas Capitol. Sadly, District 67 residents suffer from representation that will say one thing at home and do another in Austin.

I want restore our shared values of faith, family, and freedom to the Texas Capitol.

Moving Texas into the future will require hard work, innovation, and a principled leader. With your help - we can secure our borders and stop the flow of illicit drugs into North Texas; we can provide real tax relief for homeowners and businesses, not just lip service; we can reign in out-of-control spending and provide real accountability for taxpayers; and we can keep drugs and crime out of our community and schools by locking criminals up - not putting more of them out on our streets.

Not being a Republican, I find most of this kind of platform regurgitation on the right amusing, but I seriously wonder if he realizes he’s running against the Chair of the House Committee on Corrections. Does this guy seriously think he can run a “I’m gonna be tough on crime” campaign against Jerry Madden? That’d be like running an “I Hate Illegal Immigrants More!” campaign against Leo Berman.

Leadership team and Craddick issues aside, I feel as though Cole is going to have a very tough time running against Madden. Although I’m not sure how successful its proposed reforms were, Madden scored a lot of points statewide for his co-chairmanship of the Joint Select Committee on Management & Operation of the Texas Youth Commission.

Another major issue for Cole seems to be stopping illegal immigration. It’s an interesting campaign issue since the Texas Legislature really has absolutely no control over federal immigration policy.

Let the games begin.

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