As this week’s narrow victory by Democrat Dan Barrett, by a mere 452 votes, in Tarrant County shows, the fight for control over state government in 2008 looks to be nasty, brutish, but not necessarily short, to paraphrase Thomas Hobbes.  Mr. Hobbes may not have believed that democracy could work at all, but there will be two candidates vying for the House 107^th District seat, which covers White Rock Lake, Lake Highlands, and Forest Hills, who hold very different views on how democracy currently works in Texas and how it could work better.  They have a little over ten long months to articulate their respective visions for state government, and each has a record to stand on (or hide from, as the case may be).

On Wednesday, at Dallas GOP Headquarters, Bill Keffer filed more than 600 signatures from District 107 voters to be the Republican candidate to unseat Democrat Allen Vaught.  These two gentlemen faced off in November 2006.  Mr. Vaught, a lawyer, won by the narrowest possible majority, 50.1%.  Mr. Keffer, also a lawyer, represented District 107 from 2003 through 2006.

Despite the importance of this announcement as the state’s political battles heat up for 2008, no reporter from the local print or television media took the time to cover this event.  Here is what they could have reported.  Mr. Keffer outlined three main issues on which he will campaign, although he acknowledged there are many other issues that need to be addressed.  One theme will be forming the state’s response to illegal immigration, particularly requiring voters to present photo identification at election polls in Texas.  He said he is on record as state representative in favor of such a requirement and he pointed out that Mr. Vaught voted in the last legislature against such a measure.

A second theme will be comprehensive budget review.  It seems only yesterday that Texas faced a $10 billion deficit between tax and fee revenue and state spending.  In 2003, the first Republican-controlled legislature since Reconstruction balanced the biennial budget without raising Texans’ taxes, doing so by a zero-based budget review that eliminated billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and redundancy.  Quoting then 22-year House veteran and now Texas GOP Executive Director, Talmadge Heflin, who said at the time, “we’ve only scratched the surface,” Mr. Keffer said it was vital to continue this budget review process to ensure stricter fiscal discipline.  He sees his Democratic opponent as being more generous with “the people’s money.”  He said he wants to be a “good steward” of their money, instead.

The third theme outlined was protection of tort reform.  He touted the positive effects of past tort reform, of which he was a mover and a shaker, on health care availability, particularly in rural Texas.  Before tort reform, he said, many medical specialists, such as obstetricians/gynecologists, faced burdensome medical malpractice insurance premiums and were either leaving medical practice altogether or moving away from rural areas to practice in more populous markets.  Now doctors are returning to practice in Texas, according to Mr. Keffer.  He did not mention, however, how past tort reform has affected the right to a jury trial in Texas, but he warned that trial lawyers are backing Mr. Vaught in an attempt to undo the 2003 tort reform effort.

District 107 is almost sure to see another close fight between these two rivals.  Let the men fight a clean fight.  No punches below the belt.  No metal plates padding the gloves.  Voters will see a fight, but only if they pay attention and vote in November 2008.  May the best man win.

Jeff Turner is a Dallas attorney.

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