Texas Black-Latino Coalition Team for Governor-Senate

Kendall Clark kendall at monkeyfist.com
Wed Apr 10 18:13:52 PDT 2002


On Wed, Apr 10, 2002 at 07:05:06PM -0400, Nathan Newman muttered something about:
> Well, Texas may very well show whether a real rainbow coalition approach to
> turnout can retake state office in Texas. With the nomination of Ron Kirk
> (backed by gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez), Texas may end up with one
> of the most interesting elections in the country this fall. I for one would
> love to see Phil Gramm replaced by a Dem in Bush's own home state.

Having suffered under Ron Kirk's mayoral terms in Dallas for years, I have a hard time considering him in the Senate. He's indistinguishable from a moderate Republican, which is what he seems most proud about himself.

I used to hold my nose and try to find *something* about him to like, but the rich corporate lawyer that he is came to the fore when he helped kill the local Living Wage campaign I participated in, which he did in a really nasty, underhanded way.

Ron Kirk is surely proof of the idea that you have to be very conservative as a non-White to attain state or federal office in or from Texas. He's also, from what I can tell in Dallas anyway, vastly more popular with White developers and corporate types than with the African American community. How that plays out in Houston will likely decide the race, I think. John Cornyn is in my view a very weak candidate, so Kirk does have a chance, but it's pretty long. Lots of white Democrats will vote for Cornyn.


> At a press conference, Kirk asked to be judged on his record as a former
> Dallas mayor

I agree, he should be judged that way; it's a *terrible* record, including lots of pimping for a horrible Olympics bid and a very developer-friendly, boondogglesque Trinity River development project.

However, there is some pleasure to be had at hearing the Republican whining about race.

Kendall Clark, a radical marooned in Dallas



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