The Texas Observer has a responsibility to the public. Please act like it!

First, he says that voters responded to his message. I’m unaware of more than a handful of campaign appearances that Mr. Thompson made, no editorial board meetings he attended, and never saw a single piece of campaign literature of Mr. Thompson’s. How can voters have responded to his message when he failed to take his message to voters? Yes, he had a website, (good luck finding it with any number of combinations of search terms in Google) but much of it was merely a regurgitation of news items about one or two topics related to the Railroad Commission. His “message” includes almost no substance whatsoever.

Voters, more likely–especially many of the hundreds of thousands of voters who showed up to vote for president with little knowledge of what else may have been on the ballot–responded to the fact that his name was first on the ballot or sounded more familiar to them because it is so generic.

For Thompson to say that either Art Hall or Dale Henry did nothing but talk about themselves is also a fallacy that must be corrected. Dale Henry, for one, talked a great deal about issues.

As for Thompson’s “amateur polling,” I’d love to know what that consisted of. Asking his friends and neighbors who they are going to vote for? How representative of the Texas electorate. I’d love to see the crosstabs for that poll. Plus, when you tell someone who you are and that you are running for Railroad Commission–and then you poll them–what kind of result do you expect?

Further, the claim that voters feared Dale Henry was too close to the oil industry is so laughable it shows just how politically unaware Mr. Thompson is. Dale Henry–from day one–has spoken out against the fact that the energy industry has bought and paid for the Texas Railroad Commission and is the only candidate in this race who has called for a law to prevent RRC members from taking money from the industries they regulate.

For Mark Thompson to say that he is “right” on the issues and Dale Henry is not is like saying that an apple and orange thrown in a bowl equal a fruit salad. It’s perhaps the best example I can think of to illustrate the fact that Mr. Thompson hasn’t a clue what the real issues in this race are. Let’s hear his position on cost-of-service rate increases for natural gas consumers. Of course, since he didn’t know what a runoff election was until a staffer for the San Antonio Express-News told him, perhaps he doesn’t realize that is an issue in this race.

To say that Dale Henry has forgotten “the people” is also laughable. Mr. Henry, unlike Mr. Thompson, has been out campaigning among, “the people,” and will put Texans first when he’s on the Texas Railroad Commission.

If Mr. Thompson is so sure of his knowledge of the Texas Railroad Commission, then perhaps he won’t mind if someone from the Texas Observer would call him up and ask him a few more complicated questions about the Railroad Commission. He may know what an injection well is, but I’d dare say he can’t tell you how to solve the problem of polluting injection wells (for example).

It is also amusing that Mr. Thompson says he “fought” for the people. I’d like to know where and when he did this, in respect to the race for the Texas Railroad Commission. I understand that he has a job and can’t leave it to attend editorial board meetings or make campaign appearances, but how can you be out fighting for the people if all you are doing is getting your name on the ballot and showing up at a smattering of campaign functions?

Sadly, this shows that Mr. Thompson has and will have no chance of unseating Michael L. Williams if he is the party’s nominee. He’s clearly not in a position to run either a legitimate campaign, and he clearly does not have a grasp on the issues any more than he has a grasp on the electoral process. Seriously, how can you be a candidate for public office and now know what a runoff is?

I’m not trying to be rude to Mr. Thompson. Everyone has a right to get on the ballot and run whatever type of campaign they believe is most appealing to voters. However, this year–for the first time–Democrats have a real opportunity to take back a seat on the Railroad Commission. That opportunity will be wasted if Mr. Henry is not the Democratic Party nominee. That’s not being rude, that’s just being blunt.

I also must say that some of the responsibility for candidates like Mr. Thompson (and Gene Kelly in 2006 in the U.S. Senate race) getting in positions where they could be the party’s nominee rests with the media. The media, in favor of the presidential race, all but totally ignored the race for Texas Railroad Commission in the Democratic Primary. The media has a responsibility to educate voters. In this race, aside from a few editorials, the statewide media abdicated its responsibility to voters in favor of the sexy novelty of a presidential race (with the exception of one or two dailies and alternative weeklies). Is that understandable? Of course. Does that make it right? No.

Vince Leibowitz
Campaign Director
Dale Henry for Texas Railroad Commissioner