December 7, 2006
Democrats
Fight Back
By
Jack D. McNamara
We were delighted by some old-style politics Saturday night.
The occasion was a Democrats’ rally in Brewster County at the Holland
Hotel’s Rio Grande Room. About a half hundred of the faithful
grassroots gathered on short notice to welcome a delegation promoting
the candidacy of Ciro Rodriguez for election to the 23rd District of
the U.S. House of Representatives.
There were several supporters present, including Mrs. Carolina
Rodriguez, the candidate’s wife, and Ft. Stockton Mayor Tony Villareal.
But the top billing of the evening went to former Texas Attorney
General Jim Mattox, whose political career ended in the early 1990s
when he failed in an attempt at winning the governor’s office.
Mattox is a block, a bull of a man with a face that reminds us of the
comedian Buddy Hackett. He was open collared, witty, and cowboy booted
Saturday night.
Mattox said the Democratic Party had asked him to come out of
semi-retirement to support Rodriguez and he had done so because he
cares about democracy and has known Ciro Rodriguez for 20 years.
“Can you remember U.S. prestige abroad at a lower level?” Mattox asked
rhetorically. “Never once!” he answered himself among universal nods of
acknowledgement.
Mattox referred to the mess in the Middle East and said we went in
because the President and the Vice President “lied” openly; they said
things they knew were not true.
“History will reflect that ‘W’ already had a plan for the Iraq War when
he entered office,” Mattox said. The Bush Administration was heedless
of the cost, fully intending to use Iraqi oil.
Mattox then logically cited the billions of dollars in favors to the
oil and pharmaceutical industries and Kellogg Brown Root contracts. “We
need to bring America back,” he said.
He then took a pause and said, “I’ve been known at times to run pretty
aggressive campaigns …”
While the audience snickered Mattox took a breath and changed
rhetorical gears.
“Bonilla will not talk about being a Republican, he will not talk about
his voting record and his identity with Tom Delay and he will not talk
about Iraq. He (Bonilla) finally found South San Antonio,” said Mattox,
mocking Bonilla. Bonilla avoids the fact that he is a right-wing
Republican responsible for massive deficits, said Mattox.
“The reason Bonilla is in office is because we haven’t done our jobs.
If people here know him (Bonilla) they will vote him out … there’s not
much time,” Mattox emphasized. “We’re gonna have the money to get it
done!”
Mattox paused again and said he was “delighted” to be here. “We’re
asking Democrats from all over the state to come in here and help.”
Perhaps the central question of this race has always been whether any
Democrat could get adequate support and financing to make a credible
run for the office. The presence of the old warhorse Mattox answers the
support question.
In the past week, also, Rodriguez television ads have been appearing in
this area. Mrs. Rodriguez said that only Saturday morning she received
a $5000 campaign contribution from House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi’s
Political Action Committee (PAC). The San Antonio Express News has been
reporting the campaign fund status of both candidates and over the
weekend reported Rodriguez was behind Bonilla only about 10 to 1 —
$900,000 to $91,000. Bonilla had more than $2 million to spend even
before Rodriguez was the winner among 6 other candidates on November 7.
But the new money and support for the Rodriguez campaign is coming from
the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee which was so successful
in the November 7 election.
We may have a real race for the election finale now scheduled for
December 12 here in the 23rd District. Which would be a change from the
hopeless mismatches over Bonilla’s seven previous runs since he won
election in 1992.
In 1992 Bonilla defeated Albert Bustamente, a San Antonio Democratic
incumbent who was on his way to federal prison.
Republicans in the ‘90s had high hopes for increasing their numbers
among Hispanics. In 1992 Henry Bonilla became the first Hispanic
Republican of Mexican American heritage in the U.S. House of
Representatives. He remains the only one now, fourteen years later.
For recent elections, Bonilla was favored by a gerrymandered district
drawn in 2003 by Republicans in the Texas Legislature. But all that
changed in June when the U.S. Supreme Court declared that Bonilla’s
23rd District violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act. The Court directed a
wide-open primary to be conducted November 7 with a runoff if none of
the candidates achieved 50%. Bonilla got only 48%.
So out here at the end of nowhere on a cold December 2 we observed the
local Democratic infantry soldiers rallying for the last battle of the
2006 elections. County Chair Dale Christophersen was the master of
ceremonies and City Councilman Avinash Rangra hustled the signs and
snacks. Several precinct chairs were present and working.
Not a single one of the countywide elected officials, all of whom run
as Democrats, was present. Too bad. They missed the chance to see a
member of an apparently extinct species in action — Jim Mattox,
fighting Democrat.
There will however be further opportunity. On Monday at a press
conference in San Antonio Bonilla slimed Rodriguez with allegations
that the Democrat was insufficiently rigorous in the Global War on
Terror (GWOT). Station WOAI broadcast the damaging allegations Monday
night. But by midnight Monday the Rodriguez campaign had fired back in
a bylined story by Greg Jefferson and Joseph Stroud (“Bonilla hits
Rodriguez re terrorism matters,” MySanAntonio.com). The story shows the
allegations are sourced on right wing attack hacks. “One more
unfortunate, though predictable, political stunt by another Washington
politician,” said Rodriguez’s spokesman. •
(Also
published in the Big Bend Sentinel of Marfa, Texas December 7, 2006.)
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