Monday, October 07, 2013

Will Mostyn fund Medina?

Robert Miller.

An ancient Arabian proverb says the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The concept is that two parties, opposed in most respects, unite against a common opponent. In Texas, it has aligned Steve Mostyn, a passionate liberal and prolific contributor to Democrats, with Debra Medina, a libertarian Republican now contemplating a run for governor as an independent in 2014.

Mostyn began supporting Medina because she opposed Gov. Rick Perry in the 2010 Republican primary. Mostyn also created the Back to Basics PAC and contributed almost $4 million in 2010 to attack Gov. Perry.

I trust Miller's hunches and sources and instincts and whatever else he uses to blog with when it comes to Republicans. I have to question virtually everything he writes when it comes to Democrats; his track record is poor in that regard. He's actually trying to follow money that hasn't been donated (yet).

(A)ccording to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Medina “has received millions of dollars in pledges on the condition that she instead run for governor as an independent.” It doesn’t take a Rice graduate to figure out the source of those pledges. Steve Mostyn and his wife, Amber, are fervent backers of Sen. Wendy Davis and her gubernatorial campaign. It is a time-honored political tactic to entice other candidates into a race to siphon votes from the frontrunner, in this case Attorney General Greg Abbott.

I beat Miller to the punch on this last week, and the news first appeared over two weeks ago in the TexTrib, which credited Harvey Kronberg's Quorum Report for breaking it.  Miller, then, is spitballing here by throwing the Mostyns' name in; they have a ton of money set aside for political causes, but they also have a lot of folks in line with funding requests in 2014 besides Davis.  There's BGTX and there will soon be LVDP and other Democrats on the statewide ballot in due time.  I don't think even Steve and Amber are made of that much green.

Speaking of Green, Miller's scolding of Medina rings extremely hollow considering that Republicans have ALWAYS played this "muck with the other primary" business, and his morality appears to have been misplaced during those times.  If you read those links you'll pick up on my own disgust with the tactic; I wasn't much of a Green at all until well after then.

I'm still convinced, as I wrote previously, that Medina wants Greg Abbott to tell his benefactors to cut her a fat check to keep her in the comptroller's race.

It would make a great deal of sense for the Mostyns to pledge money to Medina, if for nothing else than it seems to piss off Republicans.  So I actually hope I'm wrong and Miller is right (I mean correct).

Update: Miller has appended his post with an unequivocal denial from the Mostyns' representative.

I want to state unambiguously to you that your post claiming the Mostyns have committed financial or political support to Debra Medina -- should she choose to run for Governor in 2014 -- is incorrect.

To be clear, the Mostyns have not spoken with Ms. Medina about any campaign for any office in 2014. Neither they, nor I on their behalf, have suggested that they would provide any kind of financial or political support to Ms. Medina in a 2014 gubernatorial run.

The Weekly Wrangle

With the kickoff of the Wendy Davis for Governor campaign last week, a Houston mayoral debate coming this week, and a nice fall cool snap, the Texas Progressive Alliance is feeling pretty damn good about now as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff shared a personal story from a friend about how Obamacare and the insurance exchanges will make a big difference in his life.

In the Houston suburbs live some of the absolute worst conservatives in the United States, and the Associated Press found one and told his miserable story. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs knows that when Republicans can't tell the difference between soil and dirt, ignorance is the biggest hurdle to Wendy Davis' chances of being elected governor of Texas.

Texas Leftist knows that blame for the current government shutdown rests ENTIRELY on the GOP's shoulders. But just in case anyone is unsure, Rachel Maddow has an epic takedown as proof positive. Do today's Republicans even believe in government??

Neil Aquino wrote about militarized police at his new blog, All People Have Value. All People Have Value is part of Neil's new website, NeilAquino.com.

Noah Horwitz at Texpatriate began a series of intermittent updates on the state of the Texas governor's race. He published three this week, the first of which appeared last Wednesday.

David Dewhurst tries to obfuscate about the racist DPS checkpoints in the Valley. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme and every other sentient being in the Valley knows he spews BS.

Over at TexasKaos, Libby Shaw names names. It is on you, Ted . Give it a read.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

John Coby invites Ted Cruz to join his new club.

Concerned Citizens wants to know what the 2014 election is going to be about.

Juanita introduces us to the next Republican member of Congress from Texas to make a fool of himself on TV.

New Media Texas posts video conversations with three Houston mayoral candidates.

Nonsequiteuse reminds us that there are many ways to volunteer for a campaign.

BOR analyzed Proposition 6, the water infrastructure amendment, as part of a series of analyses of the nine constitutional amendments on the ballot this year.

And finally, Blog con Queso published a recipe for Dr. Pepper sheet cake. Because you can't get any more Texas than that.