Houston Chronicle editorial board, hypocrites.
But near the end of our interview, it was Goodwin — the even-keeled Realtor — who delivered the killshot.
As usual in our screenings, we asked the candidates to ask each other a question. Vélez asked Goodwin whether she’d agree to debate him. “Absolutely,” she said.
Then it was her turn. Who, she calmly asked Vélez, are his representatives in the Texas House and Senate?
He looked lost for words. He said he’d just moved and that his district had changed.Pleasantly, as if discussing the weather, she asked who’d represented him in his old district.
Vélez said that with redistricting, it was hard to keep track.
Redistricting didn’t affect the Texas House and Senate, Goodwin pointed out. Only the U.S. Congress.
“Sylvia Garcia,” he said, as if remembering a name he was groping for.
“She’s in the U.S. Congress,” Goodwin replied — which is to say, not in either the Texas House or Senate.
Goodwin continued to listen to Vélez politely. She left it to us to draw the obvious conclusion: He doesn’t know the basics of the Texas Legislature, much less the intricacies of the Senate snakepit that he proposes to run.
But
“Voters don’t even know who the incumbent is.”
Challengers hoping to unseat incumbents will often claim that voters plead ignorance when asked who currently holds the position, and that this is proof of some sort of grand political failure. In reality, the current White House resident aside, politics is not a game of Hollywood squares and the average Houstonian can’t recall exactly who their state representative is without looking it up. Go even further down the ballot and you’ll hit names that only the most political obsessives would be familiar with — justices of the peace, probate court judges, railroad commissioners and the like. Typically the general anonymity of elected officials isn’t a sign of failure, but a sign of success. After all, scandal and corruption are often what catapult politicians into the general consciousness. A career of effective public service, on the other hand, only makes a politician famous to those who live the life of a policy wonk. The better standard isn’t whether the average voters know the name of any one politician — it is whether the politician knows the concerns facing their voters.
They chose Goodwin over Velez because he didn’t know who his State Senator and State Representatives are. But then turn around and claim that, because they say those elected officials are so good, no one knows who they are.
For a few years, I have compiled a list of persons whom I believe will be the best choices. Most times, the people I select do better, at least the state-wide candidates. Some people think the Chronicle’s choices are the best qualified. If they only knew how inept the opinion writers are.
The Editorial Board is full of itself. A reporter was surprised that I thought so little of them. She asked me why. That was an easy question; most are journalism majors who are good at writing, but not at thinking as well as they write. I told her it was a woman; law offices are full of journalism majors, they are the secretaries who type what the Attorneys tell them. The best attorneys do not waste their skills in becoming perfect grammar experts; English majors do.
I did not pick Goodwin; she is not better qualified. But I do think she will win the primary. White people still make the decisions for us, darker-skinned people.
Velez better represents the values of Texans. The working men and women, Goodwin is one of the elitists who know best, that is two cents on that matter.
