[And he's leading 67% in a Chronicle readers poll, too.]
Kinky Friedman announces run for governor By R.G. RATCLIFFE / Houston Chronicle
SAN ANTONIO -- Musician, author, jokester and occasional politician Richard "Kinky" Friedman stood before the Alamo today to officially launch his independent campaign for Texas governor.
"We're gypsies on a pirate ship, and we're setting sail for the Governor's Mansion," said Friedman, who calls himself 'The Kinkster.' "I'm calling for the unconditional surrender of (Governor) Rick Perry."
Friedman, 60, made his announcement in the predawn darkness while appearing on Don Imus' In the Morning show on MSNBC. Attired in a black fringe leather western coat and black cowboy hat, Friedman puffed on a large cigar throughout, looking all the world like the Groucho Marx of the West.
Friedman is taking his gubernatorial announcement tour to bookstores across Texas as well as some in New York, Virginia, Minnesota and Georgia to also promote his new mystery novel Ten Little New Yorkers, scheduled for publication March 8. He is set to appear March 25 at Murder by the Book in Houston.
To get on the Texas ballot as an independent, Friedman will have to collect 45,540 signatures between March 8-May 11, 2006, from registered voters who did not cast a ballot in any party primary or runoff. Friedman said he will use volunteers to collect the signatures and is predicting success.
"We're definitely going to win this booger," Friedman said.
Political insiders dismiss Friedman's run for governor as little more than a joke or a publicity stunt.
"There'll be no surrendering," said Luis Saenz, political director for Perry's Republican re-election campaign. "Kinky definitely has the potential to enliven the debate and after watching him on the Iman show it appears the Democrats are not the only ones who've been smoking something."
Jason Stanford of the Chris Bell for Governor exploratory committee said, "Kinky's funny, but Rick Perry is a joke." Bell, a Democrat, lost his re-election campaign for Congress last year.
Friedman said no one should consider his run as just a laughing matter.
"Humor is what I use to attack the windmills of politics as usual," Friedman said.
Friedman said teachers, policemen and firemen have been left behind in a state that is first in the nation in executions and trailing in education funding. He supports the legalization of medical marijuana and wants to increase public school funding through casino gambling. He also wants a return of non-denominational prayer in school.
Friedman also is a champion of Max Soffar, a former death row inmate from Houston whom he believes was wrongly convicted. Harris County prosecutors are considering a retrial for Soffar.
"I'm not anti-death penalty. I'm anti-the-wrong-guy getting executed," Friedman said. "Two thousand years ago we executed an innocent man named Jesus Christ. The question is: what have we learned in 2000 years?"
At the height of the redneck rock music era in 1970s Austin, Friedman and his Texas Jewboys became an outrageous hit with audiences nationally. His songs included They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore and Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed.
He gave up music to write humor books and mystery novels, plus a column for Texas Monthly.
Friedman sees himself as an intellectual version of a political outsider like actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who won the California governor's office. Friedman had little good to say about Perry.
"This governor is more interested in ironing his shirt than ironing out the problems Texas has," Friedman said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle.
Friedman said he uses humor to make people feel uncomfortable in an effort to challenge them to think about sometimes unpleasant topics.
"The anti-wussification campaign is primarily against political correctness," Friedman told the Chronicle. "It's sad, people are afraid to say Merry Christmas. Particularly me. I'm a Jew."
This is not the first time Friedman has mixed literature an politics.
He ran in the Republican primary for justice of the peace in his home turf of Kerr County in 1986 shortly before publishing his first mystery novel: Greenwich Killing Time, a who-done-it set in New York City with a detective named Kinky Friedman.
Friedman ran for office with a promise to keep Kerrville out of war with Fredericksburg. The campaign was a bust, with Friedman losing to a woman named Pat Knox by 2,002 votes to his 917, with a former bail bondsman running third at 802.
But the novel was a success and launched a series of Kinky Friedman detective stories. A 1994 novel, Armadillos and Old Lace, moved the setting from New York to his father's Echo Hill Ranch, where Justice of the Peace Pat Knox recruited him to solve some local murders.
Knox in 1986 chided Friedman for making a joke out of a race for a serious public office. But today, she says Texans need to look beyond the performer to see the serious Kinky Friedman.
"If he throws his name in the hat and should he get elected, you would be surprised. He'd do a terrific job," Knox said. "I don't think it's a joke or a publicity stunt. His heart is in the right place. He's very serious about the people of the state."
For all of his cynical wisecracking, Friedman also has had a serious side. He was a Peace Corps volunteer, and his father, Tom, a University of Texas professor in educational psychology for more than 50 years, ran Echo Hill as a summer camp for children in a Jewish social setting. Kinky now runs Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch in Medina.
Friedman said he plans to have no political consultants, just spiritual advice from his father, who died two years ago.
"It's not a political campaign. It's a spiritual one," Friedman told the Chronicle.
NEWS POLL Does Kinky Friedman stand a chance of becoming governor?
Yes, he's the only candidate making any sense.:
67% No, he's a joke.:
14% Who cares, it'll be fun to watch.:
20%
Total Votes: 2797 (as of noon 2/3/05)