McKenzie's Failed Lesson Plan

Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Opinion Columnist William McKenzie

So many tangents to look at in this column by DMN's William McKenzie. In it, he looks at what the primaries mean for both parties and the state overall. I'm not sure he's got a good read on either the GOP or Dem side.

For the GOP, Mac looks at the Leininger 5 and declares "[t]he good guys are starting to win the raging battle within the Texas Republican Party." Mac says that Leininger won two out of three in his targetted State Rep races, therefore, a "defeat." What Mac misses is that those two votes replace two voucher opponents (Blake & Casteel) with presumptive voucher advocates. Even if one adds Dianne Patrick's ouster of Kent Grusendorf to the mix, we're up one vote for voucher advocates. Factor in the retirement of Bob Griggs. Factor in Ray Allen's replacement in a special election with another GOP State Rep. That may not be quite enough votes to overcome the 74-70 loss that vouchers took in the last regular session, but it hardly ranks as a "defeat" for Leininger. Maybe not a cost-effective win, but still. Last I checked, the number of "good guy" Republicans got smaller while the "bad guy" wing gained, even if more slowly than the likes of Leininger would have liked.

Will a few other State Reps look at what type of money a Jim Leininger might dump into a race against them and re-think their vote? Again, I'm not sure that the GOP side of these races is anything less than a measured victory for the far right. We'll start to see when the more contentious votes come up on the floor. The first of those ought to be a vote for House Speaker.

As for Mac's take on the Dem side, I think the man just plain ignores reality:

Texas Democrats are in a heck of a mess when a complete unknown, Maria Luisa Alvarado, finishes first in Democratic balloting for lieutenant governor.

Again, this comes down to the fact that, when certain writers see an Hispanic leading the pack, they assume it's all those "stupid Hispanics" dialing/punching/scantronning the name that sounds closest to theirs. Nevermind that every single name on the ballot for Lite Guv qualify as an "unknown." It's only when it's an Hispanic name at the top (or, admittedly, the more Anglo-friendly-yet-high-in-comic-value name of Gene Kelly) that has some old-line Dem spinning in his grave. And nevermind that Bob Bullock can take as much credit as any person, living or dead, for the ascendancy of the Texas Republican Party. It was Bullock's final nail in the coffin (via his support of Bush in 1994 and 1998) that sealed that fate.

More disconcerting is Mac's statement of Maria Alvarado: "she has no qualification to occupy Texas' most powerful office." William McKenzie ought to be flat-out ashamed at that statement. It begs the question of racist intent. He makes no statement with regard to Barbara Radnofsky ("a smart, experienced lawyer") despite the fact that her name recognition is equally low. Nor is the same statement made of Ben Grant, whose ten years in the State House of Representatives somehow gives him a pass on the "qualifications" side. McKenzie ought to check the State Constitution before registering such one-sided insults. He'd also do well to review the Jacksonian ideals of public service. Maria Alvarado is qualified ... and if she wins the nomination, more power to her.

Basically, what Mac misses in a more macro scale is that the bench for the Democratic Party has been decimated by a variety of means - some self-inflicted, but many not. There's not exactly a long line of Dems waiting to run statewide. The folks with the deep pockets aren't interested in dropping a small fortune on Dem candidates - Walter Umphrey and Art Schechter (among others) are busily writing checks to Carole Strayhorn instead. They aren't dead ... but some of them just don't have a clue about what it takes to rebuild. The ones on the ballot and travelling the state, at least, are doing their part and offer an alternative. Reporting the horse-race aspects of the contests, as Mac does, only deepens the very fractionalizing effect that he bemoans.

McKenzie attempts to pivot the statewide situation to the point that "that's why few Texans look to the Democrats in the Legislature." He allows for an exception to one notable Dem - Scott Hochberg. But when the Dems get wins on votes for voucher programs and school finance, it's hard to suggest that that coffin is nailed shut. The numbers for Dems in the State House ought to pick up by a few seats. That would make two consecutive cycles of gains (add to it the pickup of Donna Howard, which should hold in November). The House delegation has managed to show a marked increase in party discipline this past series of sessions. It's what's allowed the Hochberg 14 and the Leininger 5 to make the noise they've made in the past year. If we were dead in the House, you'd see a far more compliant brand of Republican mavericks in the House.

Somewhere in the process, though, McKenzie's entire column just should have been introduced to a shredder. The Dallas Morning News would have been better for it.