Gilbert will run for Agriculture Commissioner, endorses Shami

In our conference call (just completed) Hank Gilbert stated that he would switch from the gubernatorial contest to a re-challenge of Todd Staples for commissioner of agriculture, and endorsed Farouk Shami in the Democratic primary.

My best to Hank, his family, and the campaign's staff.

Update: From the link above ...

“In August when I made the decision to enter the race for Governor, it was to provide the leadership and bold ideas this state needs. At the time, I believed I was the only candidate who could win and carry a tide of Democratic victories from the state House to the courthouse,” Gilbert said.

“With recent entries into the race, it’s become clear that there are now two people seeking the support of Democrats who can continue this fight to victory and allow me to return to the race for Agriculture Commissioner,” Gilbert continued.

“One of them I’m proud to support as a friend and fellow Texan, a man who will serve the citizens of this amazing state faithfully and provide them with the leadership to overcome any challenge. It’s my honor and privilege to endorse Farouk Shami for Governor of Texas ..."

“Farouk will force the transformation of Texas into a global leader in education, renewable energy, civil rights, and transportation,” Gilbert said.

Update II: Other reactions ...

Ross Ramsey at the TexTrib:

He said he endorsed Shami over Houston Mayor Bill White on the basis of trust. "I was raised to be a man of principle. I was taught that a man's word is his bond... On two separate occasions throughout this campaign, he gave me his word that he was going to stay in the Senate race," Gilbert said. "I never would have got into this race had I thought that he or John Sharp was going to get out of the Senate race and into this race.

"To me, it's a trust issue... I told him, 'Bill, you violated my trust.'"

Karl-Thomas Musselman at Burnt Orange Report:

I feel that endorsement serves as a distraction from what I view as encouraging and exciting news that Gilbert will remain a strong candidate for an office in which he will excel in running. It remains to be seen if it will have much impact on the race ...

Charles Kuffner of Off the Kuff:

... Hank Gilbert announced that he was dropping out of the Governor’s race, and will run instead for Ag Commish, which is where he started out. He also endorsed Farouk Shami for Governor. Whatever – next summer at the convention, when White is the nominee, no one will remember that.

Wayne Slater at the DMN's Trail Blazers:

... Gilbert says he's convinced that (Shami has) the state's interests at heart and "can make the difference for people of this state, to pull the wagon out of the ditch." While he clearly has differences with White at the moment, Gilbert is considered an unalloyed Democrat by party loyalists.

White in for governor (and other filing news)

Even though he still hasn't said so himself (that is to be tonight, downtown), the Chron says Bill White is a candidate for governor:

Mayor Bill White will formally enter the race for governor today, instantly becoming the Democrats' best hope of winning a statewide office in seven years.

White, a three-term mayor who is balding and known for something of a bland personality, is expected use self-deprecating humor to tell a Hilton Americas crowd of supporters that he knows he is not a “perfect candidate” but is someone who can get things done.

Hank Gilbert will have a statement today at noon...

Gilbert's campaign says he will conduct "a virtual press conference with Texas media to address his status in the race for Governor of Texas." The Democrat's staff sent the notice out at midnight, offering no clues as to what's going on. Other Democrats have been talking (constantly) about the shape of the party's ticket if White's in the race for governor. Gilbert, who ran four years ago for Agriculture Commissioner, could stay put, get out, or move into another statewide race. The most likely landing spot? Probably land commissioner, or another run at agriculture.

I think that lieutenant governor is equally likely, but I have no inside information; just playing a hunch. With all of the policy work Gilbert and his campaign have done, I would hate to see that go by the wayside. So I am hoping this man will aim high. Whatever he decides to do, Hank Gilbert will have my unqualified support. In my book he would be as valuable to Texans if elected to serve in any capacity as my friend David Van Os.

Yesterday -- the first day for candidates to file for the March 2010 primary -- brought Rick Perry in along with a gaggle of other Republicans. On the good guys' side, first to file were Barbara Ann Radnofsky (attorney general), Jeff Weems (Texas Railroad Commission, against Republican incumbent Victor Carrillo, presuming his surgery for a benign brain tumor last month does not preclude him from running for re-election), and Bill Burton (Commissioner of the General Land Office). Two more unknowns also filed for governor:

Dr. Alma Aguado, a San Antonio physician, says she's switching from the U.S. Senate race to the race for governor — still running as a Democrat. She's got a federal campaign account going — it had a $750 balance at the end of September — but hasn't run a state report yet. That filing isn't due until next month. William Corwin Dear, a private investigator from Mt. Calm, filed to run for governor, too.

The Texas Tribune has all this news and good explanations ...

It's also possible for candidates to move once they've filed. They can change races, pull out, you name it. It's a one-month biennial festival of political ambition, bluffing, chicanery, and rumor. It culminates when the doors close on January 4th and the parties stop accepting filings, and there's almost always something expected at the deadline.

Candidates file with the state parties if they're running a race in a district that crosses county lines. Statewide races cross all of them. But lots of urban and suburban candidates have districts that don't cross the lines; they can file in their county party offices. The state parties put the filings on the Internet; local offices have varied levels of skill. So the lists we've got are incomplete, because not all of those local parties have distributed the information.

The Republican Party of Texas lists its candidate filings here. The Texas Democratic Party's list is here. We'll add links for other counties, and to a comprehensive list we'll compile from those, when they open the spigots.

This reporting is what the Trib folks should really do well, and I look forward to their extensive coverage.

Finally, this off-the-wall speculation from Gardner Selby about Grandma Carole Many Names ...

I kiddingly speculated some time ago that I wouldn’t be surprised if Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn, the 70-year-old former Austin mayor twice elected as state comptroller, ran next year as a Democrat for governor.

That no longer looks even remotely likely with Houston Mayor Bill White poised to join the gubernatorial field.

But maybe she’s looking at another statewide office.

White, expected to say Friday that he’s shifting his political sights from the U.S. Senate to the Democratic nod for governor, confirmed Thursday that Strayhorn has tried to reach him.

Asked if he’d welcome Strayhorn to the Democratic ticket as, say, a candidate for her former office of state comptroller, White weaved. (The only Democratic figure otherwise believed to be eyeing the state comptroller slot: former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson.)

Take a pass, Grandma.

War. What's it good for?

The Bible has a liberal bias

At least according to conservatives.

The Gospel of Luke records that, as he was dying on the cross, Jesus showed his boundless mercy by praying for his killers this way: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

Not so fast, say contributors to the Conservative Bible Project.

The project, an online effort to create a Bible suitable for contemporary conservative sensibilities, claims Jesus' quote is a disputed addition abetted by liberal biblical scholars, even if it appears in some form in almost every translation of the Bible.

The project's authors argue that contemporary scholars have inserted liberal views and ahistorical passages into the Bible, turning Jesus into little more than a well-meaning social worker with a store of watered-down platitudes.

"Professors are the most liberal group of people in the world, and it's professors who are doing the popular modern translations of the Bible," said Andy Schlafly, founder of Conservapedia.com, the project's online home.

Yes, he's related. Continuing from the AP link ...

This liberal slanting, Schlafly argues, ranges from changing gendered language - Jesus calling his disciples to be "fishers of people" rather than "fishers of men" - to more subtle choices, like the 2001 English Standard Version of the Bible, which uses "comrade" and "laborer" more often than the conservative-friendly "volunteer."

And this from the Right Wing Watch link (the original source's link, the Nashville Tennessean, appears to have expired):

The most radical change in the Conservative Bible might be dumping two passages of familiar Scripture.

One is the long ending of Mark's Gospel, which includes verses about snake handling and the story of the woman caught in adultery. Neither is found in most of the oldest Greek manuscripts used to translate the Bible. Schlafly says that adultery story, in which Jesus says, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" should be cut because it portrays Jesus as being soft on sin.

"It's a liberal addition, put in by people who wanted to undermine the reality of hell and judgment," he said.

Now I frankly had more than enough quarrels with Christianists without learning of this devolution.

The "best" part is the substitution of 'Pharisees' with 'intellectuals', and also 'liberals'.

Conservatives have their own news network to tell them how to think; they are vigorously denying and reinventing their own science as it relates to climate change and evolution; why, it's simply a "logical" extension to find them rewriting the Bible in their own (craven, misguided mental) image.

The Locke campaign's self-immolation

We're nearing the merciful end of a bad campaign run by a really bad candidate and some truly awful staff.

Parker campaign manager Adam Harris called the claims from Tejano Chair Sandra Puente and black Dems' leader Gabrielle Hadnot "twisted and misleading." Using the same spreadsheet from which Locke's team compiled its findings, Harris calculated that more than 71% of the Controller's Department staff is composed of minorities.

As Martha notes, one day the candidate says this:

“I am not going to go into issues of race, issues of sexuality ...”

And the next day his campaign says this:

“It is unacceptable that in this day and age, a citywide elected official would employ such discriminatory hiring practices,” said Sandra Puente, HCTD Chair. “Annise Parker is not someone we can trust to lead our city. The leadership of her office does not reflect the great diversity of our city.”

Imploding in a foul-smelling morass of lies, bigotry, and disgraceful conduct is no way to run for political office, people. You highly paid out-of-towners can now be dismissed to pack up and move on, and you locals need to line up to be deloused.

Update:

A day after black and Hispanic groups criticized Annise Parker's record of hiring minorities in the city controller's office, the diversity record of her runoff opponent's law firm has been called into question.

A January 2007 report compiled by four minority attorney organizations shows that Andrews Kurth, the law firm in which Gene Locke is a partner, scored a "D" under a formula the groups developed to assess minority representation in 21 of Houston's largest law firms.

The report, which was emailed anonymously to me, showed that Locke, an African-American, was one of 116 minority partners -- 5.2 percent -- at Andrews Kurth in 2006, when the figures were gathered. The scoring formula gave greater weight to partners than to lower-ranking attorneys. Winstead Sechrest & Minick had the highest proportion of minority partners at 17.4 percent.

The overall score for Andrews Kurth was 64 on a scale of 100, the sixth-lowest among the firms included. Weil, Gotshal & Manges was the winner with a score of 100.

Kimberly Devlin, a senior strategist for Locke, said his campaign didn't issue the statement criticizing Parker and would have no comment on the law firm diversity report.

Poor Sandra. Muse has the coup de grace.