VIEWPOINT: SOME RACES TO WATCH ON TUESDAY – WHAT HAVE I MISSED? By Ken Molberg

Tuesday, March 7, is primary election day. Judging by the area’s early voting numbers, the electorate won’t be beating a path to the polls in record numbers, and that can result in a whole bunch of surprises. But there are a few races in Dallas and Tarrant counties, and in other areas of the state, that are generating some political heat—at least among the partisans of both major parties.

Most attention in Dallas County is focused on the race for District Attorney. In the Republican Primary, former judges Vic Cunningham, Dan Wyde and veteran prosecutor Toby Shook are vying for the nomination to replace the outgoing Bill Hill. The race is clearly between Cunningham and Shook. The latter has Hill’s support, and a look at the landscape shows that party regulars are lining up behind Cunningham. Wyde is odd man out, even with Commissioner Ken Mayfield’s endorsement.

On the Democratic side, Larry Jarrett, a former state and federal prosecutor, is challenging Craig Watkins, the party’s nominee four years ago, to carry the party’s banner in November. B.D. Howard, the third candidate, finds himself playing the role of the Democrats’ Wyde. While Watkins has some significant Party support, much of it left over from his previous race, and a last-minute mail piece that will help him in the 23^rd Senatorial District, Jarrett, who is first on the ballot, is clearly the candidate on the ascendancy, picking up a wealth of endorsements recently, including former Congressman John Bryant and former state Sen. Ted Lyon. Will it be enough to win?

I don’t know of any polling that has been done, but it seems that Wyde and Howard could force runoffs for both parties if the stars do not align.

Over in Congressional District 30, Amir Omar and Wilson Aurbach are having a food fight in the R primary for the chance to see how quickly after 7 p.m. on November 7 the victor gets his head handed to him by Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson. As of late, Omar and Aurbach have been debating barbecue sauce and the efficacy and legality of its use in attracting voters. Like cheese and mice. Oh, yes, and Fred Wood is also in the Republican race. How did I miss that?

And speaking of Kamikaze missions, Bob Johnson, a commenter on DallasBlog, is trying to best incumbent Sam Johnson in Congressional District 3. At least Bob has something substantive to say (particularly on foreign policy, immigration and the role of government), whether you agree with him or not. Sam, who is all but clueless most of the time, will win, no doubt, because the big boys have too much invested in him. In my view he ought to win a ticket on the next train out, if for no other reason than his improper use of his congressional committee position to spur an IRS investigation of a non-profit organization, Texans for Public Justice that had the audacity to expose Tom DeLay’s money laundering.

Democrats have a primary race in Dallas County Commissioner Precinct 4 between Oak Cliff attorney and U.S. Army veteran Scott Chase and Rose Renfroe, a former nominee for the position who is employed as a mortgage broker. The victor will meet Commissioner Ken Mayfield in November. Chase has almost all Democratic leaders lined up behind him, and he should win. In looking at the early turnout, it appears someone made a concerted effort in the Duncanville and Oak Cliff portions of the district to implement a mail ballot and early vote program, and this should benefit Chase. If Chase gets the nomination, Mayfield, who has caused some consternation in Republican circles because of his public endorsements of certain candidates, will have the run of his political life in November. District 4, once occupied by the late and well-respected Chris Semos, has never been a “safe” one.

There are also bilateral races going on for Dallas County Clerk. Longtime clerk’s office employee Carolyn Garon is trying to upset incumbent Cynthia Calhoun in the Republican Primary. I don’t have a clue how this race is going, but you have to think the incumbent is the odds-on favorite. Maybe you can tell me differently. Meanwhile, on the Democratic front, Greg Allbright, employed with the Dallas County Budget Office, John Warren, a civil court administrator, Harry Trujillo, a tax accountant, and Darryl Brigham, who is employed in the real estate field, are seeking the chance to return the clerk’s office to the Democratic fold. Although Trujillo has run for office before and may have some residual name identification, the race appears to be between Allbright and Warren, with Allbright having the broadest political organization and the number one ballot position in a race where most of the candidates are not well known. But don’t underestimate Warren, because he’s got his own program going, and don’t rule out a runoff.

There are plenty more Dallas County primary races, and space does not permit a discussion of each, but the race for the Democratic nomination for House District 107 (near East Dallas County) has turned into a heated battle between Andy Smith, a communications manager for Texas Instruments, who has garnered most organizational and party-member support as a result of a long campaign effort, and Allen Vaught, an Iraq veteran and lawyer who is new to the district and has secured The Dallas Morning News endorsement. Vaught has also blanketed the district with repetitive mail pieces in the last week, and this tends to help in a race like this one. These men seek to take on incumbent Republican Bill Keffer in the fall in a district that is a tough one for Democrats. That task may have become a bit easier when Keffer a few days ago aligned himself with James Leininger, the right-wing, so-called pro-voucher advocate, who is almost single-handedly attempting to fund the defeat of five Republican moderate-conservatives in Republican Primary races throughout the state. Being a Leininger Lieutenant will probably not help Keffer in the fall in this Dallas district, even if it brings him some added bucks for his actions.

Some other down-ballot contested races on your primary ballot, excluding justices of the peace and constables:

Democratic -- HD 108 (Jack Borden and Tom Malin); HD 109 (Helen Giddings and Cedric Davis, who has now been disqualified); HD 110 (Dr. Jesse Jones and Barbara Mallory Caraway); 195^th District Court (Fred Tinsley and Heath Harris); County Court at Law No. 3 (Sally Montgomery and Baltasar Cruz); County Criminal Court No. 6 (Alan Barr and Angela King); County Criminal Appeals Court No. 2 (Jeff Rosenfield and Brian O’Shea).

Republican – State Senate, District 2 (Bob Deuell and Tim McCallum); HD 101 (Elvira Reyna and Thomas Latham); HD 112 (Fred Hill and David Stephenson); 195^th District Court (Dianne Kathryn Jones and Fred Burns); 256^th District Court (Brenda Garrett Green and Barbara Geddis Van Duyne); County Court at Law No. 3 (Robert Reagan and John Stilwell); County Criminal Court No. 3 (David Lewis and Glen Fitzmartin); County Criminal Court No. 4 (Bill Fay, Don Metcalfe, Mary Anne Haren); County Criminal Court No. 6 (Sindhu Stovall, Jennifer Balido, Teresa Hawthorne); County Criminal Court No. 11 (Donna Winfield and Mindy Sauter).

For a complete Dallas County sample ballot, along with polling location information and a precinct-finder, go to the web site of the County Elections Department here: www.dalcoelections.org. To know more about these candidates, Google the web sites of the Democratic and Republican parties. And remember, Libertarians have candidates, too.

Let’s move west for a moment. In Tarrant County there are some real fireworks going off in two legislative races in the Republican Primary. In House District 99, one of Leininger’s Lieutenants, Chris Hatley, is trying to upset incumbent Charlie Geren. Most of Hatley’s funding comes from Leininger or his related PACs, and his supporters are trying to trash Geren as a “liberal.” (That’s ridiculous, of course.) Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick gave a half-hearted endorsement to Geren, and Congresswoman Kay Granger has been all over the radio on Geren’s behalf. That didn’t keep five of his colleagues (Bill Keffer, Linda Harper-Brown, Bill Zedler, Mary Denny and Jodie Laubenberg) from endorsing Hatley, no doubt at Leininger’s insistence.

In House District 94 (primarily Arlington), House Education Committee Chair Kent Grusendorf faces a stiff challenge from Diane Patrick, a former State Board of Education member and Arlington School Board president. While education and property taxes appear to be the focus of the race, things have gotten nasty, and the two candidates have recently been fighting over a supposedly anonymous attack-flier distributed to harm Patrick. Grusendorf has disclaimed association with that piece, but it is remarkably similar to a piece that Leininger (yes, him again) has promoted to help Grusendorf. Grusendorf has said that if he doesn’t get the school finance deal done in the next special session, he’ll take his toys and go home. Patrick supporters have noted that Grusendorf has had plenty of opportunities, so why don’t you just leave now.

Finally, Democratic regulars in Tarrant County are brawling over their Party Chair. Longtime incumbent Art Brender, a prominent attorney and an icon of Tarrant County Democratic Party politics, is challenged by Doreen Geiger, a former executive director of the Tarrant County and Fort Worth YWCA. This race has engendered so much back-and-forth that the Austin-based political blog, Burntorangereport.com, has had to split the “conversation” into two sections. As is typical in counties that have experienced a Democratic drought (like Dallas some years back), Tarrant County Geiger supporters tend to blame many political maladies on the Party Chair. Those who know Brender know that he has selflessly faced the political waves and has been an anchor in a stormy sea. Whether that will be enough to save him from a fresh face who promises to bring new activity to the county Party is anyone’s guess. He’s first on the ballot and a low turnout favors him because of name recognition. In any event, as any former Party Chair will admit, when you hold that position there are only two types of people you deal with: your enemies who hate you and your friends who hate you.

Southeast of here, everyone is watching Tom DeLay, the Republican King of Sleaze who called Jack Abramoff one of his best friends, and DeLay’s attempt to hold onto Congressional District 22. Lawyer Tom Campbell is his strongest primary challenger. Will DeLay make it out of the Republican Primary? He says he will, but the news that broke Sunday—that he won’t even be in the district on Election Day, but will be attending a fundraiser in Washington hosted by lobbyist friends instead—has sent even some staunch right-wing supporters running for the Maalox. If successful, DeLay will go into the fall campaign trailing the assured Democratic nominee, former Congressman Nick Lampson, in the money race and with polls showing that the former House Majority Leader will likely get hammered in November. And with the scuttlebutt in Washington, DeLay better keep his orange jumpsuit handy.

South of here, Democrats are watching the outcome of the rematch between former Congressman Ciro Rodriguez and current Congressman Henry Cuellar in U.S. House District 28. Former Mesquite school teacher and U.S. Senate candidate Victor Morales is also in the race, although with no chance to win, according to polling in the district. He could cause a runoff, however. Cuellar’s support of the Bush administration has made him a target of Democratic activists and party organizations. A picture of Cuellar hugging George Bush, broadcast on the internet’s Democratic-leaning Blogs, reportedly resulted in contributions to Rodriguez of more than $125,000. In contrast, the right-wing Club for Growth has given Cuellar a bunch of political cash. He is apparently the first Democrat ever supported by the group who thinks Arlen Specter is too liberal a Republican to serve in the U.S. Senate. It would be nice to see Cuellar gone, but he’s got a large base in Laredo. In any event, the race is neck-and-neck.

And down in San Antonio, “Democratic” Sen. Frank Madla is also getting the Cuellar treatment for his support of the Republican agenda in Austin. State Rep. Carlos Uresti, a Marine, is waging a ferocious battle to unseat the senator in District 19. Madla, the Democratic Benedict Arnold of the state senate, is being funded by Leininger-associated PACS (yes, Leininger again) and Republican lobby groups and contributors, like Republican Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. I wonder if these “moral values” people know how much money Madla spends on booze and pricey restaurants. Nothing like representing a working-class district. Good luck to you real Democrats.

See you Wednesday. It’s back to the campaign trail. And I didn’t even get to talk about all those other races that involve—you guessed it—James Leininger.

--Ken Molberg is a former Democratic Chairman of Dallas County and longtime Texas Democratic Party leader. He also is an attorney who specializes in employment law.

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