Is Craddick’s finger in Paris’ political pie?
September 4th, 2008
The Paris News
Mary Madewell
(Originally Published on January 20, 2008) - Midland Republican Tom Craddick, in the campaign of his life to retain power as the first Republican Speaker of the Texas House, contends on a regular basis he does not try to influence local representative races on his behalf.
We have long begged to differ. Evidence to support our conviction came last week when noted political guru Harvey Kronberg of The Quorum Report revealed Craddick tried to solicit a challenger for Paris Democrat Mark Homer, up for re-election for his sixth term from District 3.
In an exclusive interview with Bill Priefert of Mount Pleasant, chief executive officer of ranch equipment company Priefert Manufacturing, The Quorum Report confirmed what we have suspected all along.
“Speaker Tom Craddick personally tried to recruit a challenger for Rep. Mark Homer (D-Paris) last month, according to the man who was on the receiving end of the phone call,” Kronberg reported.
Kronberg stated that Priefert said he was first approached to run for Homer’s district first by the father of political consultant Jason Johnson and then by Johnson himself. Then about a month after his conversation with Johnson, Priefert said Craddick called to ask if he would run for the District 3 seat.
Craddick spokeswoman Alexis DeLee disputed any assertion that the phone call was an attempt to recruit Priefert, Kronberg reported.
“She said that Craddick was asked by an unidentified third party to give Priefert a call ‘to talk politics,’” Kronberg stated in a Jan. 14 report.
According to Kronberg, Priefert said that Craddick did not go into a detailed pitch about why he should run.
“Priefert agreed to take the weekend (the call was made on a Friday) to think about it,” Krongberg’s report states. “He contacted him on Monday to let him know he was still not interested.”
Priefert told Krongberg he is too busy to consider running for office right now, but Krongberg said Priefert left open the possibility that he might run in the future.
In the meantime, and at the eleventh hour, Kirby Hollingsworth, R-Mount Vernon, filed in the Republican primary to challenge Homer for the third time in November’s General Election. Homer narrowly defeated Hollingsworth in 2004 but won the district by 58.8 percent in 2006.
When asked about being influenced to run by Craddick supporters, Hollingsworth denied any connection, saying instead that he had received phone calls from supporters both inside and outside the district.
Hollingsworth has said he believes he has a good shot at unseating Homer during this presidential election year, just as he almost did during the 2004 campaign.
How much support Hollingsworth receives, if any, from political action committees and others that support known Craddick “soldiers” in other districts should prove interesting. It will also be of interest from whom Homer’s financial support comes as we “follow the money trail” going into November’s election.
Contributions to political campaigns must be reported quarterly to the Texas Ethics Commission.
As of a Jan. 15 required reporting day, Homer had $130,595.27 cash on hand with $125,000 outstanding in loans to the campaign. The last required report (Jan. 12, 2007) for Hollingsworth showed $8,299.40 in outstanding loans with a zero balance of contributions on hand.
The next report required of Homer and Hollingsworth is a personal financial statement due Feb. 11 and a semi-annual campaign finance report due July 15. Because neither candidate faces a primary opponent, a Feb. 4 campaign finance report is not mandatory. All candidates must file again Oct. 6 (30 days before the General Election) and Oct. 27 (eight days before.)
Mary Madewell is the interim managing editor of The Paris News.