I like Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst for his successful leadership of the Texas economy and for his willingness to admit mistakes, take responsibility for them, and continue to move forward. An example of that occurred today.
One of Sen.Dan Patrick’s staffers, Elliot Griffin, included me in a Tweet today about a Dewhurst campaign ad that was completely outrageous. Here is the Tweet:
@BJPolitics@evanasmith@rossramsey@KoltenParker@pfikac This is where Dewhurst is at in this race: https://www.facebook.com/dan.patrick.texas/posts/10152004148066836 …#txlege#tcot
If you click those links, you’ll find a statement from Dan regarding the Dewhurst campaign’s use of a photo of a shirtless Dan Patrick in a demeaning way.
The problem is that the photo was taken from a fundraising event for one of the organizations that Patrick has supported for many years, the Be an Angel foundation. Dan has raised millions of dollars for the foundation, which was created to provide benefits to extremely handicapped children at T.H. Rogers school for the handicapped in Houston and has, with Dan’s help, expanded throughout Texas. It is an awesome charity. In the photo, Dan literally “sold the shirt off his back” for $1,500 to Glenda Kubosh, wife of Houston City Councilman Michael Kubosh. Anyone in Harris County knows that the Kubosh brothers are major donors to both the Republican party, Republican candidates, and many charitable causes.
I was so upset by the use of this photo to attack Dan that I reached out to David and let him know. I’ve supported David through thick and thin and think that no one is better qualified to be Lt. Gov. of Texas.
David agreed with my condemnation of the ad and told me that he was ordering his staff to remove the photos from the ad and that he would personally issue an apology to the Be an Angel foundation. He told me that before the ad aired, he asked his staff multiple times to make certain that the photo was not from a charitable event and they assured him that it wasn’t. However, he understands that the buck stops at his desk and he took full responsibility for the use of the photo.
That is what I expected of David and that is what he delivered. No passing the buck, no ducking the issue, simply doing the right thing.
And that is why I hope that the voters in the Republican primary return David to the Lt. Gov. position. We need strong leadership if we are going to continue to thrive as a state. David’s record of leadership is simply unmatched if you take the time to look at his accomplishments objectively. We need his leadership and we need someone in the position of Lt. Gov. that isn’t afraid to say that the buck stops here. Nor is he afraid to continue the aggressive contrast ads that he has been airing to educate voters on the differences between he and Dan.
I encourage all voters in the Republican primary to compare the record of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst with that of Sen. Dan Patrick. This mistake notwithstanding, if you do that, I know that you will join me in voting to re-elect David as Lt. Gov. and keep Texas the number one economy in the U.S.A.