Tony Sanchez throws support to Ms Piggy

[NoPasaran]

Remember when he claimed to be a Democrat?

(AUSTIN) – In a show of bipartisan support for her campaign, Independent Gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn announced that former Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez and Republican and former Speaker of the Texas House Rayford Price have signed her petition to place her name on the November ballot..

<snip>

Sanchez said: “Carole cares passionately about our state and cares passionately about issues that are important to Texans, such as education. She has been my friend for over 20 years.

“She is an honest person and an ethical person and she will be a governor who will be very inclusive,” he said. “My family and I have a lot of respect for her.”

http://salcostello.blogspot.com/2006/03/sanchez-price-sign-strayhorn-petition.html

[WestHoustonDem]

1. DINO!

:puke:

[sonias]

2. F**K Tony Sanchez

We knew he was a closet republican when he ran for Governor and he's proven that now. Bi-partisan my ass. He's the same party she is - republican lite. Means nothing. I bet he's still a bush supporter too.

Pendejo!

Sonia

[Czolgosz]

3. I can't believe I actually campaigned for that jackhole ...

[NoPasaran]

4. All I did was vote for him

I think I still have that clothespin.

[Czolgosz]

6. I voted, campaigned, and gave money. Now I need a disinfectant!

[muse]

5. What a jerk

This is just absolutely ridiculous. That man took so much money from died in the wool democrats and this is what he does? Pathetic. I'm furious.

[derby378]

7. Why Carole Keeton Strayhorn will never, never, never, NEVER win

Here's where Tony Sanchez really screwed up. Let's say Strayhorn actually wins the gubernatorial campaign and kicks Rick Perry out of the Governor's Mansion. Who is she going to caucus with?

Does she caucus with the Democrats, who went to extreme measures to try and derail DeLay's redistricting scheme back in 2003?

Or does she caucus with the Republicans whom she just defeated in the elections? How well do you think that's going to play out?

Either way, it's not pretty. So Strayhorn is out. That leaves Bell, Friedman, and Perry to choose from. We know what a slimeball Perry is, and Kinky, though undeniably charismatic, plays as Republican-lite and is receiving campaign funds partially from Republican operatives in Texas who hope that Kinky will draw votes away from Democrats.

Thus, Chris Bell is our only real choice, and a fine choice he'll make, too, if he would just get his own campaign in gear, already.

[efhmc]

8. This is past disgusting. This is georgebush level wrong!!!!

[jobycom]

9. Wanna really get into a conspiracy theory?

Background on Tony Sanchez. His father founded IBC (International Bank of Commerce) and he's something of a hero in Laredo and parts of the Valley. Sanchez was a Bush supporter until he decided to run for governor in 2002. His conversion away from Bush was never convincing, and he ran a very weak campaign. Some speculate he wanted to lose, others that he was insurance, in case Perry blew it, so that Bush would have a supporter in the Governor's Mansion. Others just think Sanchez was exactly as he seemed--a conservative Democrat who saw a chance to become governor.

IBC is a very Republican company, and their leaders are mostly, if not entirely, active Republicans. This is hardly surprising in Texas. The leaders of this bank were big Cuellar supporters, too.

In 2004 Henry Cuellar, a Bush supporter and appointee who ran as a Democrat, lost in the initial count of the primary vote to incumbent Representative Ciro Rodriguez. A recount (mandatory, I think) gained several hundred votes for Cuellar (a huge number in a local election), and he took the lead. These new votes came from two counties--Webb (Cuellar's home county) and Zapata (Cuellar's wife's county). Rodriguez did not pick up any significant new votes in his strongholds, interestingly. The votes in Zapata County were curious. Earlier that evening the counting machine had malfunctioned, and the votes had to be counted by hand, including by a batch of volunteers recruited at the last minute. During the recount, the votes were retallied, and Cuellar gained 300 new votes from two early voting ballot boxes. They weren't new ballots, apparently, just votes that had not been included in the original tally.

There was no way these votes were tampered with, officials claimed. They spent the entire night after the election locked up--in the Zapata IBC branch...

Oh yeah, and the Webb county votes? Cuellar picked up 117 new votes in the initial recount. Then someone realized that there were 115 more votes counted than ballots cast... I'm not sure how that finally turned out. Cuellar is credited with winning by 58 votes, so some of his new votes weren't counted, I take it. Just enough to give him the victory.

Anyway, I hate conspiracy theories, but this is a fun one. Some places are just made for political scandal, and south Texas is one of them.

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. I just say Last Man Standing last week

It was an interesting look into Sanchez's campaign. I especially liked how it focused on the State Representative race and Rick Green's downfall.

[sonias]

11. That's the only reason to watch that film - to see Patrick Rose win

Just goes to show you that good old fashioned leg work can win a race, even from an incumbent. Rick Green was a slime ball, probably still is in his private life.

If I had the original source material, I would edit out all of the Sanchez footage and let it all be about Rose v Green.

Sonia

[liveoaktx]

12. I watched that last year... after, I was glad I never voted for Sanchez

who seemed to believe if he threw enough money out, he'd win by default. Not that I liked the choices that year for governor, anyway.