More pie in HD94; Grusendorf plays the race card and Patrick pulls the gay card

February 25, 2006

x-posted at BOR

Mmmmmm pie. Just when I thought that we might get a few spam-free days here in HD94, Grusendorf and Patrick both went and kicked it up a notch.

First, I was mistaken when I wrote the other day about Grusendorf going on the air on the local non-cable channels. I wasn't paying too much attention when I saw that first commercial. He may very well be running on the non-cable outlets, but I can only confirm that Grusendorf is on the air on the USA channel. I spotted his ad when I was watching Olympic Ice, and now that I think about it, that's when & where I spotted his first ad. Anyway, I caught the ad again yesterday. It could only be described as a positive spot, and doesn't mention Patrick at all.

After I wrote that entry the other day, we got a bigass door flier from Grusendorf. It's full color, high gloss, and features a picture of Gov. Goodhair and a statement from him endorsing Grusendorf. Now, considering Perry's only pulling a thirty-something approval rating right now, I have to question the wisdom of the Grusendorf campaign. But hey, if they wanna blow their shot at re-election by aligning with Perry, then by all means they should go for it. LOL The back of the flier features a picture of Grusendorf and a women whom I assume is supposed to be a teacher standing in front of some wall lockers inside a school. It then lists some bullet points. This is supposed to be Grusendorf's campaign platform, although it cribs heavily from Patrick's platform:

- More fiscal accountability for school administrators.
- More local control of cirriculum for teachers.
- Move school board elections to the November ballot to ensure maximum voter accountability.
- Stand up to the teacher unions and the liberal special interests who oppose reform.
- Strengthen Texas borders. Illegal immigration is straining our school funding.
- Cut property taxes by at least 33% and cap appraisals.

That third bullet point caught my eye because once again Grusendorf raises the spectre of Democratic boogeymen supporting Patrick. But I'm still suprised that he painted teachers in a negative light. That is soooo not going to fly here in Arlington. I also wonder how Grusendorf can claim that he's going to cut property taxes by 33% and cap appraisals. Since we don't have a state income tax, where the hell else is Grusendorf planning on getting the money to replace Robin Hood? Note that I'm not advocating replacing Robin Hood (which has been proven to WORK); I'm just pointing out the contradictions here.

On the same day, we received a peice of mail from the Texas Federation of Teachers. It's a little card with a kid at a chalkboard on the front. Inside it says:

"Teachers and school employees need your help. The legislature has failed repeatedly to provide for the high-quality public education our children deserve. We need new leadership in Austin. And you can make it happen."

Then there's a handwritten note that says, "School employees ask that you vote for the best educational candidate." It then endorses Patrick and lists the early voting locations.

The next day we got a mailer from the "Texas Opportunity PAC", based west of Austin. It's a two page folded, full color flier going negative on Patrick. This flier is pretty disgusting, as it plays the race card. It begins with this message:

While illegal aliens are flooding Texas, taking our jobs and running up huge bills as taxpayer expense, the man running Diane Patrick's campaign is a top adviser to the Mexican government. Diane Patrick's campaign consultant, Rob Allyn of Dallas, is being paid nearly one million dollars to advise the Mexican government and President Fox who wants to "open up" the border with the United States.

Oh no, the Mexicans are coming! Nevermind the fact that this is a piss-poor attack and that there's a big difference between being a top advisor and a campaign consultant, it's just racist. The flier also has a little picture of a hummer and a map of Texas that Grusendorf claims is being given to illegals by the Mexican government. It also adds that "There have been over 200 documented cases of the Mexican Army escorting and protecting illegal drug shipments into the USA." I guess Grusendorf doesn't realise that border security is the domain of the federal government. The racist smears included in this flier include painting all Mexicans as job-stealing, drug-running, money-grubbing parasites on our economy. It's really disgusting.

The next mailer we got was a negative/positive mailer from Patrick. Like the first one we received, it's an expensive flier. The front is solid black and says "The Facts On The Race For Texas House". Inside it features a side by side comparision of Grusendorf's record and Patrick's campaign promises:

A Failed Record: The Facts on Kent Grusendorf
Fact: Failed to Solve School Finance Crisis Five Times
Fact: Poor Leadership for our Schools (i'll copy the entire text here because it's pretty good): When Texas Monthly named him on of the "Ten Worst Legislators" for the second time, they called his school plan "so full of shams... so bad it was perished in the session's closing hours."
Fact: Increased Property Taxes, then Used School Funds to Increase His Pay
Fact: Supported by Austin Lobbyists and Special Interests
Fact: Worked with Liberals To Promote Anti-Family Legislations (mentions the casino bills in this section)

The other side gives Patrick's promises, and pulls the gay card. Patrick claims that pro-gay materials are included in our textbooks, and promises to purge our textbooks of anything that paints gay people in a postive light. I'm pretty disgusted by this, although it's par for the course in a state where hatin' on the gays is considered a recreational sport. You know for about five minutes I was actually starting to like Patrick, but now I'm disgusted by her as well. I still think she would do a better job than Grusendorf, but I can't endorse her pulling the gay card. It's just disgusting. Appealing to peoples' worst instincts is a lowly campaign tactic that makes me sick. It's the same shit that Nixon pulled with his infamous Southern Strategy, only this time gay is the new black.

The next flier we received was a one page, high gloss, color Grusendorf ad. It shows him on one side holding what appears to be a pay stub. This flier is designed to knock down Patrick's claim that Kent voted himself a pay raise, and asks "Can Diane Patrick win with a lie?" The back of the flier attacks Patrick for having Rob Allyn on her staff, for supposedly being backed by Democratic boogeymen (are we sensing a pattern here? I guess Grusendorf thinks he can repeat something again and again until it becomes truthy), and for being a "Liberal College Professor" who "Voted with Democrats on the State Board of Education" and "Raised Property Taxes by 92% while on AISD". In other words, he's pulling stuff out of his ass at this point.

You know, I must say that this has proven to be one incredibly entertaining primary race. Definitely more fun to watch than some of the other local races. Grusendorf and Patrick are beating the crap out of each other, assuming perhaps correctly that whomever wins the GOP primary will be the next rep from HD94. What I'd like to know is where in the world is David Pilow in all this? Hopefully he's kicking back and biding his time while his opponents beat each other up. But I sure hope he's got something going on that I'm not privy to, because the GOP primary has gotten so ugly that Pilow could benefit from this. How much I'm not sure, but damn, this is like a golden opportunity here. Both campaigns are providing all the oppo research Pilow could ever need. I hope he take advantage.

Also, the sign wars haven't kicked up any further. The ratio of Patrick:Grusendorf signs is still running about 20:1 at this point, and I am still confidently betting on a Patrick victory at this point. But then again, I'm not plugged in to the local GOP organisations; I'm only going on what I'm seeing and what I'm getting in the mail. And regardless of how disgusted I am at Patrick for pulling the gay card, I hope to hell she takes out "Do Nothing" Kent.

Comments:

Your summary of the Diana Patrick mailers mischaracterizes it. You claim she promises to "purge our textbooks of anything that paints gay people in a postive light," but it actually says that she is a "Staunch Social Conservative" and "worked to keep illicit materials out of our children's textbooks." Now, I understand about code words and all, but I do not think those words are nearly as offensive as Grusendorf's bilge about immigrants, and it's wrong for your blog to equate them.

Posted by: Boddhisattva at February 27, 2006 04:56 PM

diane patrick has mentioned in several of her flyers that she's running a socially conservative campaign, and she's hilighted her support for "family friendly" textbooks. in addition, her promise to "keep illicit materials out of our children's textbooks" IS code for purging any positive references to gays or sex education. i can appreciate it if you think i mischaracterised it, but i do not believe that i did.

diane's record speaks for itself. she has been one of the leading voices for revisionism in textbooks. go look at her history on the SBOE and the AISD board. she is part of the conservative group that files regular objections to materials in textbooks, specifically text that includes positive references to gays.

however, i will totally agree that grusendorf's fliers are disgusting and offensive. i guess kent would lay blame for our failing schools on mexican immigrants and chilren of immigrants. what a doofus.

Posted by: anna at March 2, 2006 01:22 PM