TX HD 4: Brown Faces Several Opponents And Massive Opposition From Asian American Community In Re-Election Bid

After a session of being marginalized after the defeat of House Speaker Tom Craddick and racial gaffes, State Rep. Betty Brown (R-Terrell) could be in the fight of her political life.

Not only does she have at least three announced primary opponents, but the Asian American political community is gearing up to commit resources to aide in her defeat.

First, let’s take a look at the potential opponents. One is a former Brown staffer (or, intern, depending upon who you believe), named Lance Golden. Golden could have problems proving residency in the district, however; he has been voting and living in Houston according to the online publication Quorum Report.

Via QR:

Others filing papers this summer to run in HD 4 include Jeffrey Fulgham Jr., an executive at the First State Bank of Brownsboro, and Melissa Pehle-Hill who announced her candidacy at the Athens Texas Independence Day Tea Party. Neither responded to attempts by QR this afternoon to contact them for comment about their candidacies.

Wade Gent, who gave Brown a good run in the 2006 and 2008 GOP primaries, filed a fundraising report last month but QR has yet to ascertain whether Gent plans to make a third run for the HD 4 seat. A call placed to his Kaufman law office was not immediately returned.

And, that’s not the worst of Brown’s problems. Via Texas Insider:

Via Capitol Inside:

But the biggest threat that Brown might encounter when she seeks another two-year term next year is an aggressive attempt to knock her out by Asian-Americans at the national level who are still fuming about a remark she made during a House Elections Committee hearing on the voter ID bill in April.

Brown triggered a firestorm that drew headlines around the world when she suggested that Asian-Americans should change their last names to make them easier for poll workers to identify when they show up to vote in the United States.

While it’s unclear at this time whether the Asian-American community in Texas and outside of the state will rally behind a GOP challenger like Gent or a Democratic contender in the HD 4 race, one group plans to go all-out in its attempt to put an end to Brown’s political career at the ballot box next year.

The Asian Political Leadership Fund – in fact – reportedly has a television advertisement ready to run with the following script that seizes on the furor that Brown sparked with her views on Asian-American names in the context of voting:

“The world should see Texas as a big, modern, important state with the twelfth largest economy on earth.

Unfortunately, some of our politicians still seem pretty small.

Betty Brown — she made national news when she said U.S. citizens with Asian names should give up their birthright in order to vote.

If Texas is going to play a bigger role on the world stage, shouldn’t our leaders be bigger, too?”

While Brown offered an apology to anyone who was offended by her remarks at the committee hearing, she has refused to apologize for her conservative views and says her desire to pass a meaningful voter ID bill is one of the main reasons she’s running again for the House.

Brown was the lead sponsor on the voter ID legislation when it won approval in the House in 2007 before it died in the state Senate when Democrats used the two-thirds rule to kill it there.

But Brown was stripped of her lead role on voter ID after Speaker Joe Straus replaced Tom Craddick in the House’s top leadership post and designed the new Elections Committee chairman, Republican State Rep. Todd Smith of Euless, for the sponsorship duties on the highly controversial issue. The voter ID bill cleared Smith’s committee before Democrats used stalling tactics to kill it on the House floor during the final stretch of the session.

“We still have people voting illegally in Texas, and I am asking for your support to go back to Austin to end voter fraud,” Brown said.

Tweet This Post   Ping This Post

Bookmark It