Like him, love him, hate him, or be indifferent towards him if you want but regardless of your opinion of Texas State Sen. Dan Patrick, you have to admit that he is defining the race in terms of issues and media coverage. In my opinion he’s leading all of the candidates and the Republican Party of Texas over the cliff but who asked? I mean, seriously folks, impeaching Obama because we don’t like him? Repealing the 17th Amendment so that no grassroots candidate could ever be a US Senator?
All because the candidates are trying to get to the right of Dan. I have to hand it to Dan and his consultant, Allen Blakemore. I never thought that they could drive the conversation to this extent.
Sen. Patrick is out with a new ad today that touts his vote against the state budget this year:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Allen Blakemore
Wednesday, October 23, 13 713-526-3399
Patrick Campaign Launches Second Television Ad Statewide
Pledges To Cut Property Taxes For All Texans
And Eliminate All Property Tax Increase For Seniors
AUSTIN – Today the Dan Patrick for Lieutenant Governor Campaign launched its second thirty-second television statewide titled “Texas Goes Sacramento.” The ad follows Patrick’s first television ad “Fight” and will air in all major Texas media markets and selected smaller markets on Fox News.
“Texas Goes Sacramento” highlights Dan Patrick’s pledge to cut property taxes for all Texans and eliminate all property tax increases for every Texan when they reach the age of 65. The ad also details Dan Patrick’s vote against the Lieutenant Governor’s current budget that the Wall Street Journal called “Texas Goes Sacramento” … “its biggest spending spree in memory.” In the ad, Senator Patrick notes “All you need to know about the Lieutenant Governor’s current budget is every Democrat praised and voted for it. As a conservative Republican, I didn’t.”
That’s probably a very effective ad for most low information Republican primary voter types. And Patrick’s vote against the budget certainly helped him get Michael Quinn Sullivan’s endorsement. But as with everything Dan, the reason for that vote against the budget was a bit um, how shall I say this, well, okay, let’s use ‘self-serving’. Recall what the budget chief said about Dan’s vote:
At a recent event hosted by The Texas Tribune, Patrick said his vote was due to the lack of funding in the budget for some public education programs.
“The problem with these comments is that Patrick was directly responsible for these same education programs not being funded,” Williams said in a column published by the Tribune on Friday. “Such revisionism cannot go unchallenged.”
Williams pointed to Patrick’s work as chairman of the education panel and as a member of the finance committee, where he worked closely on the portion of the budget devoted to education.
“A more thorough review of the past session’s work on public education funding clearly shows the state’s new budget for public education was heavily molded by Sen. Patrick,” Williams said. “To suggest otherwise is mystifying to me and others.”
…
“I can only conclude he was looking for an excuse to distance himself from our good work to advance his own political interests,” he wrote.
Ya think?
Speaking of budgets, Kevin Whited over at blogHOUSTON recalled one of Dan’s projects called CLOUT:
The finance reports also reveal significant expenditures directed towards Gary Polland for legal work, and surprisingly high expenditures for design and hosting of a simple website.
While funneling so much money towards Patrick’s own business and political interests was not illegal, it also wasn’t something that Patrick or Hendee were emphasizing to all the KSEV listeners who sent small donations to the PAC.
Ah, the good old days when Dan was a radio host.