Lawrence Person’s BattleSwarm Blog endorses Larry Gonzales over John Gordon in the House District 52 Republican Primary runoff on April 13th. I believe that Gonzales is the better candidate, will have a better chance of winning against Diana Maldonado, and will be a better Representative in the Texas House than Gordon would.
Because both Gonzales and Gordon have been unfailing courteous about answering my questions, I want to make clear that I’m making this decision without any animosity and based solely on the facts at my disposal. I do not know either gentlemen personally, I am not privy to the inner workings of the Williamson County Republican Party, and have no knowledge about either that cannot be gleaned from receiving their campaign literature and searching the internet. And because Gordon has been so cooperative, I feel it only fair to explain the reasons for my decision, and especially which factors were and were not important in making it.
The relative ideological beliefs of the two candidates was not a deciding factor. I do believe that Gordon is genuinely conservative, and should he win the nomination, I would vote for him over Maldonado. I believe that Gonzales is also a solidly conservative candidate, and I find the political differences between them fairly minor. In fact, on two of the issues Gordon points out as differences between himself and Gonzales (opposition to an RRISD bond election, and opposition to public sports subsidies), I would support the same position as Gordon. (On a third, the extension of drinking hours, being of a generally libertarian disposition I would have supported the same postion Gonzales did; I do not think government should have any role saving people from themselves). It is possible that Gordon might, say, pull the voting lever in the state house how I would 95 times out of a hundred, while Gonzales might only pull it how I would vote 93 times out of a hundred. This is, to my mind, too small a difference to worry over.
The recent mailers and the information on http://www.thetruejohngordon.com were not themselves decisive, in that they largely contained information I already knew. Indeed, since I’m endorsing his opponent, I would like to take the opportunity to bend over backwards to clarify which items were not a factor in my decision:
- I’m not particularly bothered by the Randy Staudt lawsuit. Granted, I would be unlikely to do paying work for a close friend, and if I did anything more than a trivial amount of it, I’d certainly get a written contract. (The famous saying is that “A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”) But if someone owed me $7,000, much less $24,000, you bet I would eventually take them to court if they didn’t pay up, friend or not.
- Assuming Gordon’s account is correct, I approve of the lawsuit he filed against Round Rock ISD, as I do not feel any government entity should feel free to violate the open meeting act, especially for a major decision like buying land.
- I don’t care that he’s racked up several speeding tickets. My guess would be that between 1997 and 2004, I probably racked up more myself.
All of that said, however, the sheer number of incidents, as well as the many others covered by http://www.thetruejohngordon.com, do point to the main reason I cannot endorse John Gordon, namely temperament. There’s nothing wrong with being spirited. There are many times when it is appropriate for a congressmen to be combative (see, for example, Newt Gingrich in 1994). However, Gordon seems not merely spirited or combative but abrasive, alienating not just his political opponents, but friends and fellow Republicans. Time and time again he’s proven a very poor judge of his own self-interest, pursuing confrontational strategies when a softer approach might have produced better results, and spending his time and effort fighting needless battles that could have been avoided.
Take, for example, that traffic stop video. If you want to avoid getting a ticket, the first rule is to be polite, friendly and non-threatening. After all, policemen and highway patrolmen are just doing their job. But one thing you do not do is say things like “Let me tell you what officer,” “Believe me, it will go all the way up” and state sarcastically “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Indeed, I would think that anyone over the age of about 25 (much less 60) should know that this approach is likely to achieve, shall we say, sub-optimal results. You’re not going to win a verbal pissing contest with a police officer at a traffic stop, and the fact that John Gordon evidently feels he needs to does not reflect kindly on his temperament or judgment.
You may very well beat a ticky-tacky charge like this in court, but acting like a jerk at the stop itself is pure mule-headed stupidity. Indeed, I’ve never gotten a ticket (or even been stopped) for such minor offenses; the fact that John Gordon has, and gets tickets for them, seems to suggest that he has something of a history with local law enforcement agencies. And while I heartily defend the right of the accused to demand jury trials for traffic infractions, the fact Gordon seems to have done so for every single ticket he’s received suggests that to him, winning is far more important than the time and money involved in going to court. An effective politician has to pick his battles; John Gordon seems to go out of his way to pick fights.
While having a boot put on my car (even in error) certainly wouldn’t make my day, no way would I go all Homer Simpson by taking a crowbar to the boot. Doing something like that suggests that Gordon suffers from dangerous levels of hot-hotheadedness. Nobody is above the law, and acting like you are won’t win you many friends.
Another incident that highlights his lack of judgment is his lawsuit over Alyssa Eacono’s residency requirements. Regardless of the technical merits of the case, it was obvious very early on that Larry Gonzales was going to be Gordon’s major opponent in the District 52 primary. Why spend the time, money, and effort (three of a candidate’s most precious commodities) to attack someone who wasn’t a major competitor? Suing Eacono instead of spending the same effort directly engaging Gonzales suggests very poor tactical sense.
And speaking of engaging Gonzales and poor tactics, I believe Gordon’s decision to make Gonzales’ campaign funding from Bob Perry his biggest attack issue was a major strategic blunder. Do I worry about Gonzales getting so much of his funding from Perry? Yeah. Slightly. A candidate’s financial backers are always a legitimate concern. But it’s not like he’s getting his money from George Soros. If you look at Perry’s campaign contribution recipients for this election cycle, 2008, or all the way back to 2000, the overwhelming majority of his contributions are to solidly conservative Republican candidates and causes (Phil Gramm, John Carter, etc.), with an occasional Democrat mixed in. If Gordon wanted to make Perry’s contributions a significant issue, he should have made the case exactly how and why Perry’s interests were inimical to those of Williamson County voters, not merely expect that an attack mailer showing Gonzales as a puppet would be sufficient to make that case for him.
And speaking of campaign finances, for someone who has spent so much time harping on his opponent’s campaign contributions, Gordon’s base of campaign contributors seems pretty small. If you add up all the individual contributors whose names don’t end in “Gordon” from all five of his campaign filings (7/13/09, 1/3/10, 1/27/10, 2/22/10, 4/5/10), you get a grand total of 35 names (and that includes “in kind” voter information from the Republican Party). There’s nothing wrong with self-financing your campaign, but for someone who’s harped on Gonzales’ contributions from outside the district and has made so much of his efforts building the Republican Party in Williamson County, Gordon supporters inside it seem remarkably thin on the ground.
By contrast, if you look at Gonzales’ reports for the same period of time, you get well over 150 individual contributors. Some of those are from out of district (San Antonio and Houston), and about five from out of state. However, Gonzales has more contributors from Round Rock alone (to say nothing of Georgetown, Austin, or Taylor) than Gordon has total.
I could go on to point out little things like the fact that the news and highlights section of his website still says “Content coming soon” more than a month after the primary as an example of poor attention to detail, but the central issue is still Gordon’s hot-headedness and lack of judgment. Even though the http://www.thetruejohngordon.com website contains little that attentive observers of the race didn’t already know, it is a very effective piece of negative campaigning because it gathers all those individual issues in one place and reinforces doubts many voters already had about him.
By contrast, Larry Gonzales is a thoughtful, intelligent and conservative candidate who has run a very smart (and, until the recent round of attack ads, very issue-based) campaign and garnered a broad base of Republican support. He seems more than capable of doing the job, and doesn’t come with Gordon’s baggage. I’ll be voting for Larry Gonzales in the House District 52 Primary runoff on April 13th, and encourage all District 52 voters to do the same.
Tags: Bob Perry, Diana Maldonado, Elections, Endorsements, John Gordon, Larry Gonzales, Texas, Texas House District 52
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Finally, someone makes the point that Gordon getting a few speeding tickets isn’t the main issue. Its just another glaring example of unadulterated rage and anger exhibited by John Gordon over the years.
Very well thought-out and written. I really appreciate the fact that you were able to address John Gordon’s personal shortcomings without getting too personal, nasty, or mean. I only wish more political commentators would use your tone.
BTW, I voted for Larry Gonzales Tuesday during early voting.
Cheers.
This is the main reason I voted for Larry Gonzales and encouraged all my family in Hutto and Round Rock to support him, too. Larry will take the high road to achieve our shared conservative goals.
I have known Larry for years and completely believe he is the more qualified candidate. Larry has a proven history of being able to work well with others while maintaining and articulating the integrity of his beliefs. He will do very well in representing all of our views.
The conservatives we elect MUST also be effective or their ideology is meaningless. Passion – good, rage – bad. Even one instance of uncontrolled rage, much less a pattern of it, does NOT suggest effectiveness (in anything, much less politics), and would actually hurt the cause. “Raging” conservatives would better serve the cause by toning it down (and certainly not running for office). One bad apple can spoil the whole barrel. Great summary and an excellent public service Mr. Person.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Larry has been running a mostly positive issues oriented campaign, and Larry seems to have the mechanics of modern campaigning down (email updates, a good website etc). Larry also seems to be more a more positive candidate overall – sunny conservatism in the Reagan mode. Maldonado is a terrible representative and Larry G. has the best shot of unseating her.
I have worked with Larry G. for over 3 years and can attest to his ability to grasp the issues at hand and work with others. It would be pretty difficult to find someone at the Cap who has worked with him (either with or against) who has a negative opinion of him. While his driving force may be his conservative core, his ability to listen to the other side and have reasonable discussions are what make him a great find for District 52. Another overlooked issue, is Larry’s respect among those in power at the Cap. It is this respect that should land him a very plum committee assignment(s) once elected. It is from these assignments that District 52 can benefit.
Thank you for saying these words Lawrence. I agree with your sentiments 100%. I would like to add that I think it is very unfortunate that the race had to go negative. But, this seat is too important for the truth to have stayed in the closet and let petty manipulation cost us.
Here’s my assessment of the negatives. The stuff John has been hammering on is simply too weak for the portrayal he gives it. It’s insulting to the constituency that the majority of his campaign spending was anti-Larry instead of the plethora of anti-other things that are relevant to a job in the Legislature. He may have been around a long time, but this is the 9th fastest growing county in the state, and Round Rock is consistently at the top of the fastest growing cities in the nation. So, how can you run a campaign without introducing us to who you are more than you bash the other guy? Bob Perry seems like he has earned the ability to donate large amounts of money to people he trusts. Good for him. Good for Larry for winning that trust. Next?
The Gonzales & anti-Gordon camps took a while to retaliate, probably because no one feels good flaunting anyone else’s shortcomings (let’s hope.) Also, as you said, for people who have been here for a while, or who have done at least some digging into the history of the candidates, most of the info on John is well known by many. But again, those newer constituents of 52 needed to see the collection all in one place to understand the complete picture Mr. Gordon has painted himself to be by his actions over the years.
The questions raised by the data alone are too much to ignore. Believe me, I’ve read over and over Mr. Gordon’s responses searching for their moral grounding, unfortunately to no avail. Let’s take the parking boot example. He points out that the City of Austin technically didn’t have the authority to issue the tickets on the State Capitol property as they had during that time as his response to his unauthorized attempted destruction and thwarting of an Austin taxpayers’ law enforcement device. OK, so technically they didn’t have jurisdiction… Did he know that when he attacked the boot? If he didn’t know, that would make him just a petty fine-dodging, destructive criminal. If he did know about the technicality, then it should have been the perfect opportunity for him to FOLLOW THE RULES and lodge an appropriate complaint or dispute through the proper channels set forth in the law and bring attention to the LOOPHOLE. This would have been a helpful action for the Capitol-Austin intergovernmental operations, and probably would have resulted in his fine’s dismissal, even though he was parked against the rules. Instead he exploited the technical loophole, and further now still hides behind the technicality to avoid confronting the morality of his actions that day.
The rest of John’s long record of similarly personally revealing incidents actually inspires some pity on him. The fact that every one of his responses does little or nothing to address his culpability in any of the incidents (where his anger and self-righteousness are the clear common denominators) tells me that he is still clearly struggling with his own personal demons that in my opinion are the only thing holding him back from really becoming what it is he asserts he already is. He is intelligent, well-spoken when calm, and a hard worker. He still has a chance to do something important to leave the legacy he obviously intends, but it has to start with honesty with himself about his past, otherwise those problems likely never went anywhere, and it would not be appropriate for him to take on this very important responsibility at this time.
Larry isn’t ashamed of the Bob Perry donation, and he proudly defends it. Besides that non-negative, the Gonzales campaign is exactly what this District’s conservatives have been asking for and is exactly what we in 52 need at exactly the right time. The conservative landscape isn’t typically known for diversity. But, that is changing fast thanks to the Federal gov’t. Young people and minorities previously apathetic or just confused across the country and Texas are realizing that they are truly for a smaller government. Larry is an amazingly qualified, proven effective, HISPANIC Republican. He’s definitely not a token presence in the party. He is an example of the surging involvement of a diverse population coming to fruition with the product being a great representative of this area. Larry has the opportunity to move some mountains in Texas, turn some heads, and change opinions WITHIN the GOP.
It’s time for us conservatives to make waves and do something positive and different, not just rewarding the same old “entitled”.
I’ll take the other side of the debate. I’m not going to get into the ticket debate, that horse has been beaten to death.
The net of what is going on is a combination of the we hate John club and a lot of Houston money. If Stephen Casey had that funding it would him vs. John. During the primary time, that $70-90K would have goten him enough votes and they would have been taken from Larry, not John. Those 150 friends of Larry would not have stopped that.
As for who went negative, when, etc. that is open for debate. The negative campaing about John started a long time ago, probably before any candidate even put out a flyer. I don’t think you understand the level of dislike for John from the good ol’ boys & girls club (primarily of Round Rock).
The first 2 so-called candidates who dropped out of the race were a sham. There were negative e-mails flying aorund about John and then before they have to pony up any money or file, they drop out and endorse Larry.
Sorry for the computer glitch, and premature message. to continue… the insiders in the I hate John club then got into the act behind the scenes. If you speak to any of them, they will either speak or agree to anything negative about John, whether or not they have any knowledge.
When you take on City leaders over tax issues and a popular baseball stadium, you make enemies. When you take on RRISD leaders over open meetings and high bond packages, you make enemies. When you take on retailers, you make enemies. When you fight to have a highway moved, you make enemies, etc. Abrasive or not, John was one of the only folks who stood up against the good ol B&G club, and he is paying the price.
As for all of the the talk about how they took 6 or 7 punches, how they didn’t want to run a negative campaign, Mr nice guy, etc. that’s a bunch of horsepuckey. There are not many people who are going to outwork John, and the Gonzales camp on it’s own is not a winner. That campaign was going negative or going nowhere.
Fastforward to today. There has been over $150K dumped into the Gonzales campaign from Houston connections. Yeah, Perry may like Larry. Yeah, Massey may like larry or dislike John. Yeah they can claim no special interest. However, the old adage, if it looks like, if it smells like rules still apply. This amount of money coming into HD52 during the primary is unheard of, and that doesn’t smell good either.
John may be rough around the edges, but he is effective and gets things done. I’d rather have that than someone who might go along to get along. It would be more interesting if Larry had anything of consequence to show for his working for the citizens of the district.
The best part is that a number of the those on larry’s who’s who list and Houston contributors can’t vote in HD52. We’ll have to see if the good ol B&G club and politcal wannabes and the I hate John club can outvote those folks who know John and who have been helped by John over the past 30 years.
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