Gov. Rick Perry chose Dec. 18 for a runoff election for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives, rejecting a request by Tarrant County election officials.

Seriously, a team of monkeys with darts could have selected a better election date.

This is like a sequel to last year’s bad runoff election date set by Perry. In 2006, he set the Bonilla/Rodriguez runoff in Congressional District 23 for the festival of the Virgin of Guadalupe. This year, he’s picked a date that’s way too close to Christmas. Oh, and he decided to disregard other election dates, and the wishes of county officials in setting a date that will no doubt result in the most depressed voter turnout in special election history in this state:

The Fort Worth City Council set Dec. 11 as the date for its District 9 runoff more than a month ago. County election officials had asked Perry to schedule a runoff for the House District 97 race on the same day to save taxpayer money and simplify matters for voters, some of whom live in both districts.

That makes sense. Of course, not to Perry, who must have left most of his common sense in Iowa or some damned place as he’s been pimpin’ all over the world for Rudolph Giuliani.

Naturally, though, simply being absented minded or failing to locate and read a calender doesn’t come in to play here. Perry’s motivation for selecting this date is purely political:

“We worked closely with the city and the county to determine a permissible election day to allow adequate time for the campaigns to rev back up and educate voters on the candidates who were running,” said Krista Moody, a spokeswoman for Perry.

“Adequate time for the campaigns to rev back up?” When has the Governor’s office ever taken that into consideration? The reason Perry has taken it into consideration this time is because it appears that he could actually be in danger of losing another House seat before the 2008 cycle begins. He recognizes that there is a lack of statewide GOP attention on House District 97 right now because his party’s establishment is taking for granted that the seat is a “gimmie” and because time is needed to make sure Bob Perry, James Leininger and other high-dollar GOP contributors can dust off their Mont Blanc’s and write fat-ass checks–appropriately sheltered and washed through whatever PAC is handy at the moment.

“Unlike his opponent, Dan Barrett opposes taking money away from public schools to fund private school tuition vouchers,” said Ellen Jones of Euless, a Texas Parent PAC board member. “Barrett understands that Texas taxpayers cannot afford to subsidize private schooling through voucher schemes. Our limited state and local funds must be used to strengthen public schools in every neighborhood so children can succeed academically and their communities and families prosper.”

I’m glad to see Barrett get the Parent PAC endorsement. Clearly, we don’t need another voucher advocate in the House clinging to James Leininger’s leg like a shy three-year-old.

Technorati Tags Dan Barrett

We’ll get started with this: In HD 97, Democrat Dan Barrett is leading the early vote with over 32 percent in a seven-way race.

Tags: Dan+Barrett

Technorati Tags Dan Barrett

They note that Leonard’s consultant, Bryan Eppstein, represents many of the leaders of the anti-Craddick faction (as well as some of the speaker’s supporters). Also, Fort Worth Rep. Charlie Geren, a Republican who has clashed with Craddick, spoke at Leonard’s fundraiser last week.

On the other hand, the firm of Mike Toomey and Bill Messer, perhaps the speaker’s biggest benefactors among Austin lobbyists, gave Leonard $5,000, and Toomey helped him raise money from the Capitol crowd. (Toomey and Messer, who both served in the Legislature with Leonard, did not respond to requests for comment.)

It is particularly interesting that much of the establishment is falling in line behind Leonard. Though Leonard served in the Legislature for five terms before Mowery took office, he has zero legislative accomplishments. Even his website lists none.

Leonard was a huge piece of legislative furniture during his tenure, and we don’t mean a nice Ikea coffee table, more like a well-worn Salvation Army sofa. With that kind of a reputation, the pro-Craddick forces are no doubt sure that Leonard will tow their line, and vote for their Speaker.

Democrat Dan Barrett is the only choice in the HD 97 race who voters can elect with the real confidence that their choice won’t vote for Craddick.

Tags: Bob+Leonard, Anna+Mowery, Mike+Toomey, Dan+Barrett

Former state Rep. Anna Mowery has thrown her support behind Republican Bob Leonard to replace her as District 97 representative in the Texas House.

This is somewhat of a surprise, as it seems Leonard is not one of the first-tier GOP candidates in the race. It’s unclear to me what impact Mowery’s endorsement will have, if any.

Barrett, the Democrat, teased Leonard, “Maybe it ought to be a lesson to him.” But he also questioned why the card said Leonard supports “charter, private and home school options” — not vouchers, but “options.”

“It’s really inconsistent for him to send a card talking about public education but hint about private schools,” Barrett said.

Of course, everyone knows that language such as that Leonard used is righwing-speak for “vouchers.” However, Leonard is trying his damnedest to back away from that:

Leonard attended both public and private schools and has said he wants state money spent on public schools.

“My family raised me to support the public schools,” he said. His daughters are in public school, and he and his wife are co-presidents of a parent-teacher organization at a public charter school.

If your family raised you to support public schools, it seems as though you’d keep your mouth shut about private schools, home schooling, and “other options.”

Certainly, nobody told HD 97 candidate Craig Goldman, who is one of a passel of folks vying to replace retired State Rep. Anna Mowery:

Big names showed up — State Senator Kyle Janek, State Senator Florence Shapiro (who introduced him) and House Speaker Tom Craddick. Goldman has already pledged support to Craddick. While it sounds like Craddick didn’t make any formal statements to the group, his showing up says a lot on its own.

Clearly, Craddick has already picked his million-dollar baby, and it’s Goldman. Of course, Craddick is only reciporcating all the love Goldman’s shown him:

“I met with the speaker and I told him when I’m elected I will be supporting him.”

Interestingly, he’s not the only one. Nobody in the HD 97 race, save Democrat Dan Barrett, is firmly anti-Craddick:

Craig Goldman, Republican: “I met with the speaker and I told him when I’m elected I will be supporting him.”

Jeff Humber, Republican: First candidate to pledge loyalty to Craddick.

Chris Hatch, Republican: “At this point in time, I don’t know that answer yet.”

Bob Leonard, Republican: “If the election were held today, he’d probably get my vote but I can’t promise that.”

James Schull, Republican: Would “probably” support Craddick. “I think it would probably be prudent to wait until you’re in there.”

Mark Shelton, Republican: Likes Craddick but says, “I’m waiting to see.”

Dan Barrett, Democrat: Opposes Craddick. “Whenever you got someone trying to rule with an iron fist like that, frankly it makes people mad.”

This is just nauseating. Simply nauseating. Not one Republican in this district will stand up and say that they out and out refuse to support Tom Craddick’s dictatorial rule of the Texas House of Representatives. Not one of these candidates has a spine, evidently.

Tags: Tom+Craddick, Craig+Goldman, Jeff+Humber, Chris+Hatch, Bob+Leonard, James+Schull, Mark+Shelton, Dan+Barrett

Texas Governor Rick Perry has 20 days to call a special election in Mowery’s district. I fully expect him to do so. And her HD 97 seat probably won’t be the only one before the November general election–which is presently only a constitutional amendment election in most jurisdictions. Rumors continue to swirl that Rep. John Smithee (R-Amarillo) will retire too, triggering yet another special election.

Before we get down to who is planning on a run in Mowery’s district (which is not totally unreachable by a Democrat, given she won by only 56 percent in one of the reddest counties in America in 2006), let’s consider why this seems to have become a Republican strategy of choice in previous cycles.

For one thing, in somewhat-better-than-marginal districts like Mowery’s, and in far-to-the-right districts, early resignations of Republicans easily enables candidates chosen by the right-wing GOP establishment to get a leg up and, of course, a much easier chance of winning.  It also gives the opposition a more difficult time, especially when it comes to Democrats.

In addition, the special election format where numerous candidates from all parties can file allows Republicans to be able to ensure that third-party and Democratic straw candidates enter the races to help ensure runoffs in especially tight districts. It also allows Republicans to take advantage of especially large fields by defining all but the most ultra-conservative of Republicans as too liberal.

Now, on to those candidates in the HD 97 race:

Mowery first won the District 97 seat in a special election in 1988, after state Rep. Bob Leonard resigned to become a lobbyist.

Leonard announced Tuesday that he is a candidate to reclaim his seat in the Texas House. He has received the endorsements of Mark Mowery and Fort Worth Councilman Chuck Silcox, who had been considering entering the race.

Anna Mowery will not endorse a candidate, Mark Mowery said.

More than 10 other candidates have signaled in recent months that they are considering a run for Mowery’s seat, including, among Republicans, Fort Worth school board member Chris Hatch, former Fort Worth Councilman Clyde Picht and Fort Worth lawyer Robert Higgins, who unsuccessfully challenged Mowery in the 2006 primary.

Democrat Dan Barrett, a Fort Worth lawyer who opposed Mowery in the general election in 2006, has said he is considering pursuing the seat again.

Could be a very interesting field.