Texas' Oldest Newspaper Endorses Kinky

"Galveston County - The Daily News -Texas' Oldest Newspaper Since
1842" endorsed Kinky Sunday.
(see the article online here)

Vote for Kinky — why the hell not?
By Dolph Tillotson
The Daily News

Published October 22, 2006
The Daily News endorses Richard “Kinky” Friedman, independent, for governor of Texas.

Having said that, let us acknowledge two points. One, it is not likely Friedman will win. Two, by conventional standards, Friedman’s background does not qualify him for the highest elective office in Texas. If he were elected, it’s not certain that he could get much done in the Legislature.

So why vote for him?

We find ourselves in agreement with Friedman on most issues.

He favors legalized gambling in Texas. Given the right legislation, we may also favor it, and we certainly would not be willing to dismiss it out of hand as some other candidates do.

Friedman favors reforming Texas education by reducing the rigid adherence to standardized tests as the sole measure of success. Those tests have simply not produced better-educated Texas students — just students somewhat more adept at taking specific tests but arguably less adept at everything else.

Friedman is for smaller, more efficient government.

He is for stricter control of the Texas-Mexico border.

He is for broader health-care guarantees for the poor, especially for children.

Friedman is for maximum personal freedom for all Texans. Translate that to mean he’s for gay rights and against the Texas ban on gay marriage.

But, having said all that, Friedman’s real strength is much simpler. It lies in what he is not — he is not a traditional, party-affiliated, lobby-financed Texas pol.

He is not Rick Perry or Chris Bell or Carole Keeton Strayhorn, all of whom are running multimillion-dollar campaigns paid for by people who expect something in return.

Realistically, it is quite likely that Rick Perry will win the race, in spite of the fact that he has been a very lackluster governor.

If you were interested in educational reform, he failed you.

If you were interested in property-tax reform or border security, he failed you.

If you were interested in more efficient, more cost-effective government, he failed you.

It is unusual for newspapers to urge readers to use their precious vote as a protest. But in this case, it’s justifiable. It is high time Texans told the politics-as-usual crowd in Austin that we are angry. We feel abused and ignored.

If Rick Perry wins with 50 percent of the vote, he’ll feel pretty comfortable.

If Rick Perry wins with 32 percent of the vote, he and other statewide politicians will understand that voters are paying attention. They’ll just have to see that people are tired of empty promises and a state run by the rich and the self-interested.

The only way to make your vote count in the governor’s race is to vote for the one legitimate protest candidate in the race.