I decided to go at the last minute because a guy named Jim Neidner was going to be speaking. He was supposed to be running for the new CD-36, the same one that Mike Jackson is running for and my new district. But when I got there, he walked up, introduced himself and told me that he was running against Sheila Jackson Lee in CD-18. I asked him why the switch and he told me that he liked Mike and didn’t see a need to run against him. So he picked Jackson Lee because somebody needed to and that John Faulk had two chances and couldn’t do it. Huh. Not exactly what I’d tell folks when asked why I was running but to each their own.
So he gets up to give his speech and get people excited about his campaign. Except that he has no strategy other than “working hard”. He has no campaign literature yet because he just decided to switch districts. But Sheila Jackson Lee is bad for the country and must be defeated. When asked how much he thought it was going to cost, he deflected the question, stating only that it would be “a lot, because Sheila has a million in the bank”. But he’s qualified because he’s a home builder and has built homes n the district, knows the district, and can talk to the people.
So Carmen Cuneo, Precinct Chair #210 in the district, asks him what his strategy is to start a conversation with the people that support Jackson Lee. He tells her that it would be a waste of time to talk to them. She tries again, telling him how John Faulk tried different messages but never could connect because after each meeting, Jackson Lee would point to him and tell the people that “that rich old white guy is picking on me”. She asks how he is going to overcome that and he responds with “that’s easy, I’m not rich”. Never one to be dissuaded, Carmen persists and once again asks how he is going to relate to the people of the district. To which he responds, “I’m a home builder. I’ve hired Mexicans and Blacks. I can get along with them.”
Alrighty then.
Then Don Hooper tells him that Ed Johnson is sitting in the room and can give him all the demographic data on voters. Neidner responds that he already has it and picks up a white binder, flips to a page, and says, see, I’ve got everything here. I have my own business and my staff put this together. There are 720,000 people in the district and it is 41{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} Hispanic, 38{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} Black, 16{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} Anglo, and 5{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} Other. Well, it sounded good but…it doesn’t agree with the official data for the district. The official data lists it as 18{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} Anglo, 41{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} Black, 36{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} Hispanic, and 6{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} Other. Oh, and 698,488 is the listed population, which is the target population for all districts in Texas.
And then it got weird. A Democrat named Walter told him about Dan Patrick trashing John Faulk for daring to run in a non-winnable district and asked how he was going to overcome that. It must have been misinformation day because then Ed Johnson chimes in with, yeah, all John managed to do is to kick the anthill and make the turnout in that district the highest it ever was, hurting Republican judges. Then Randy Kubosh chimes in with, yeah, I don’t think we should be kicking anthills and helping blacks turn out. Ed pointed out that it did help defeat red light cameras, Randy’s cause, and got a good laugh. He also stated that it was the safest black district in the nation.
But was any of that true?
No, it wasn’t. Here is a chart and graphs of turnout in that district for the last six elections:
I didn’t have to look at the data to know those statements weren’t true because I was with the Faulk campaign a lot. I block walked for the guy in areas of the city that no Republican had dared walk in for years. I totally, 100{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} agree with Faulk’s philosophy of competing for every seat, not giving an inch to anyone. It really pissed me off yesterday to hear Republicans giving out false information, trashing a guy’s reputation by saying he pulled resources from other races, and giving up districts without a fight. While we block walked, we handed out literature for the joint judicial race, Fernando Herrera’s race, and other Republican races. It is absolute nonsense for anyone to state that all John Faulk managed to do was to “kick the anthill”. Look at the data: he did increase turnout but he also took 7{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} away from Jackson Lee’s traditional 77{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}. And every single one of those votes were for Republicans. Thank you John for showing the way and having the courage to not only walk in neighborhoods other Republicans are scared to go but to stand up to the leaders of your own party.
I wish Neidner well but he has a lot of work to do if he wants to be the candidate in 2012.
Okay, down from the soapbox. The meeting was fun as all Downtown Pachyderm meetings are because they are good folks. Many, many candidates were there. Future Supreme Court Justice Leif Olson was there, campaigning for the 151st District Court, along with Ken Shortreed for the 215th, Mark Walter for the 80th, Stacey Bond for 176th, and another one of my favorites, Kristin Guiney, who is running for the 179th. Kristin brings a very human touch to the campaign and the time these candidates have to spend on the trail. Her 5 year old started kindergarten last week and she was a proud mom. She also made me laugh talking about the size of the county and driving a large “mommy car” around it with gas at $4 a gallon. Click here and buy her a gallon of gas!
Also present were Sheriff candidate Harold Heuszel, council candidates Eric Dick, Elizabeth Perez, Scott Boates, and probably someone or two I missed. Oh, and Larry Youngblood, who is challenging Kevin Brady in the primary.
