TX-GOV: Bill White Plays Offense

Former Houston Mayor Bill White (D-Houston) went on the offensive this week, taking aim at Texas Governor Rick Perry for, among other things, calling on state agencies to slash spending by five percent to prepare for a likely $11 billion budget shortfall next biennium.

Via AP:

White criticized Perry in particular for calling on state agencies to trim their spending by 5 percent to prepare for rough times ahead for the state budget. He promised to take the scalpel-not-a-hatchet approach to the budget.

“It won’t be done by things that are just across the board, Soviet style, you know, budget management that only career politicians seem to embrace,” White said.

In January, Perry joined Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus, both Republicans, in calling on state agencies to reduce their spending by 5 percent amid declining state revenues. The request exempted federal entitlement spending on items such as the Medicaid health care program, the primary fund for public schools, teacher retirement benefits and a few other items.

While still a far cry from “dynamic,” it is good to see a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Texas playing more offense than defense. For the last two cycles, our Gubernatorial nominees have either waited too long to attack Perry or only launched a major attack after being forced on the defensive.

Hopefully White will keep up the attacks on Perry and the Republicans to keep them on the defensive. His own messaging still needs some fine tuning, but his recent well-placed, well-framed attack on Perry is good to see.

One thing White will have to watch out for–and it has hurt other Democrats like Rick Noreiga and Nick Lampson in their respective races in 2008–is moving so far to the center or right that he alienates the liberal base that is most likely to vote for him and lend support in other ways, such as through volunteering.  To wit:

White quickly sought distance from the White House. He said he was not a “blind follower” of any politician and noted his disapproval of “the whole fiscal management of the country” under the Obama administration. The crowd broke out in laughter when White was called upon to name what items he thought were consuming too much money in Washington.

“Almost everything,” he said.

That’s not exactly what the base of his own party likes to hear. Distance, as we’ve noted before, is right and proper. After all, Texans do like to elect independent-minded candidates. However, there is clearly too much of a good thing and it is important White doesn’t cross the invisible line that places him so far from the party’s base that they become less enthused about his candidacy.

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