Lt. Gov. candidate Sen. Dan Patrick was on the Michael Berry Radio show this morning for a half hour. He’ll be on for another half-hour this afternoon at five o’clock. I was able to tune in this morning and thought that Patrick did very well, especially considering that Michael has been blasting Patrick’s media consultant since Friday morning and did so again in this interview. Fortunately there wasn’t time for an opening or closing statement and they went straight to questioning. They discussed five different topics as listed below.
Mental Illness
Michael asked about Dan’s problems with depression and mental illness. Dan reminded Michael that he has never hidden his problems with depression and said that if elected, he would be able to raise awareness on the issue. They did not discuss the suicide attempt.
Medical Information Release
Does Dan think that David Dewhurst was behind the release of Dan’s medical information about depression? Yes, and he laid out his case for why he thinks so.
Consultant Allen Blakemore
As I noted above, Michael has been on a rampage about Patrick’s general consultant Allen Blakemore since Friday morning. Michael noted that Dan’s campaign has not been negative in this cycle but warned Patrick that Blakemore would do something to hurt the campaign before the November general election. Dan told Michael that the campaign was his responsibility and that he understood the personal animosity between Michael and Blakemore but that he would not let his campaign go awry.
Illegal Immigration
Dan talked about the lack of funding for illegal immigration prior to his arrival in the Senate in 2007, the need for expanding legal immigration, and the overall issue.
Property Taxes
This was Dan’s signature issue when he first ran for Senate in 2006, so it was pretty much in Dan’s wheelhouse. He explained that he filed bills every session but they did not come out of the Finance Committee.
If you were expecting a fight between the two, you didn’t get what you wanted, with the execption of the Blakemore discussion. But Michael did ask relevant questions and probed Dan’s answers, so if you want to know where Dan stands on these topics, you will enjoy listening.
Remember, Dan will be back on the show at 5 pm this afternoon to complete his hour. It will be interesting to see what issues Michael asks about next or if they will repeat some of the above.