Kinky: 'New Texas revolution is coming' 08:52 AM CDT on Friday, May 12, 2006 By WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN - Entertainer Kinky Friedman declared himself a serious candidate for governor Thursday with 169,574 signatures - four times the number he needs to challenge Gov. Rick Perry in November.
"Fix your bayonets now, because the new Texas revolution is coming, folks," Mr. Friedman told supporters from the steps of the secretary of state's office.
Mr. Friedman, a singer and mystery novelist running as an independent, delivered his petitions with a flourish.
He arrived at noon amid a flotilla of vehicles that included a pink trailer bearing a giant cowboy hat and a red, white and blue vintage car emblazoned with a Kinky Friedman logo.
Flanked by supporters holding boxes of petitions, Mr. Friedman opened an envelope in the style of Oscar night and announced the number of signatures to the cheers of about 100 people.
"It's a big number," he said. "It tells me that it is not, as Rick Perry's staff said, the 'Keep Austin Weird Crowd.' It's the 'Keep Austin Honest Crowd.'"
Thursday was the deadline for delivering signatures to the secretary of state to get on the November ballot. Fellow independent candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn turned in 223,000 signatures on Tuesday.
When a reporter noted that Mrs. Strayhorn had more signatures, Mr. Friedman joked: "Of course she got more signatures than we did. She got all her ex-husbands to sign."
At the same time, Mr. Friedman said he and Mrs. Strayhorn represent "a lot of people who are very unhappy with what's going on in Texas."
Mr. Friedman said he hopes his independent candidacy will transcend a partisan politics that has left some people in both parties disillusioned and disengaged.
"There's a feeling that the Republicans have left Ronnie Reagan way behind as the Democrats have left JFK," he said.
Supporters waved handmade signs, one of which said, "Republicans + Democrats = Sheep."
Mr. Friedman said he seeks to steer a middle ground between "the far-right religious wing" of the GOP and "a far-left politically correct wing" of the Democratic Party.
"It's real easy to say what I stand for," he said. "I stand for prayer in school. I stand for getting the politicians out of politics. And I stand for really focusing on the two big problems that face our state: education and immigration."
Asked about the school-finance measures under consideration in the Legislature, Mr. Friedman said he opposed using the budget surplus to fund public education rather than a permanent source of money, such as casino gambling.
State law requires that an independent candidate submit 45,540 signatures from registered voters who did not vote in the primary. The secretary of state must certify the petitions.
A spokesman for Republican Secretary of State Roger Williams, who knocked Mrs. Strayhorn's petitions as disorganized, praised the Friedman effort.
"The organization they turned them in certainly makes the process easier," said Scott Haywood, who predicted it would take five to six weeks for certification.
Also on the November ballot will be Democrat Chris Bell.
No independent has been elected governor of Texas since Sam Houston in 1859.
After delivering the petitions, Mr. Friedman, wearing a black frock coat and carrying a cigar, waved goodbye to the crowd.
"May the god of your choice bless you," he said. "And onward through the fog."