Election reflection
The runoffs were good to most incumbents, even those with questionable ethics.
After a Tuesday election night of otherwise happy incumbents, challenger Briscoe Cain went to bed with a new lucky number: 23. As in the 23 votes that gave the Deer Park attorney a victory over seventerm state Rep. Wayne Smith in the primary runoff.
It was a down-and-dirty battle to be the Republican nominee for District 128 in east Harris County. That race offered voters little insight about the future of their state, but they did learn that Cain once attended a costume party dressed as “gay Hitler.” Thanks to those attack ads, national media outlets had the pleasure of telling their readers that Texans voted yes on gay Hitler, but no on gay Obama.
That’s right, Mary Lou Bruner lost her race in the Republican primary for State Board of Education, District 9. The conspiracyminded candidate made headlines for her bizarre beliefs, such as the earnest claim that the president once worked as a gay prostitute to support a drug addiction. It is a sad sign of the times that there’s a sense of surprise in her loss. But we’re glad to see that Texas Republicans have to draw a line somewhere, and everyone should be relieved Bruner didn’t make the cut. Public education in Texas has enough challenges without a board member who believes that pre-K programs are designed to turn kids gay.
At a statewide level, millionaire developer Gary Gates lost his seventh shot at elected office — but who’s counting? — as former state Rep. Wayne Christian became the Republican candidate in an open race for Railroad Commission. Neither man has any specific experience in the oil and gas industry, which the confusingly named commission regulates. Republican voters also chose the experienced Judge Mary Lou Keel over Ray Wheless and the serendipitously named Scott Walker over Brant Webster as candidates for open positions on the Court of Criminal Appeals. By the way, that’s Dallasarea defense attorney Scott Walker, not Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Let this be a lesson to aspiring politicos that a familiar name is the best way into voters’ hearts.
That’s a lesson Democrats learned Tuesday when perennial candidate Grady Yarbrough overtook Cody Garrett in their party’s primary for Railroad Commission.
It wasn’t all bad news for local Democrats, who wisely chose former City Councilman Ed Gonzalez to face Sheriff Ron Hickman in November’s general election. And in the race for Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace, primary voters elected Eric William Carter, who has a law degree, over Tanya Makany-Rivera, who doesn’t. There’s more to the position than an ability to practice law, but someone who sits on the bench should at least have that minimum qualification.
If only Democrats also held their candidates to a minimal ethical standard.
Judge Elaine Palmer was victorious in her primary for the 215th District Court despite being sanctioned by the Texas Ethics Commission and receiving a low rating in the Houston Bar Association’s qualification poll. Questions about Hillary Green’s conflicts of interest didn’t impede her easy victory in the primary for Precinct 7 Justice of the Peace. Jarvis Johnson was charged with evading arrest when he served on City Council, and now he’s the candidate for Mayor Sylvester Turner’s old seat in House District 139. And state Rep. Ron Reynolds, who faces a year in prison for barratry charges, narrowly defeated his challenger to hold onto his candidacy in the Missouri Cityarea House District 27.
Tuesday posed an opportunity for Democrats to clean out their rogues’ gallery of questionable candidates and seize the virtuous high ground at a time when statewide Republicans face their own moral and legal challenges. That cause will have to wait another election cycle, but at least none of their candidates have been caught dressing up as gay Hitler.