Contrary to my earlier speculation, it seems that former Congressman Nick Lampson is indeed thinking about a run in CD22 next year. He has a couple of interesting things to say about such a race and about Richard Morrison.
Mr. Morrison plans to run again, and Mr. Lampson said he deserves another shot."He took him on when it wasn't cool, and now it's cool," said Mr. Lampson, who has been working since his defeat as a consultant to a company that distributes antibiotic lotion, and to another firm that turns soybean oil into diesel fuel.
"The fact that there is so much interest and so many people are making calls tells me that Tom must be on the ropes," Mr. Lampson said. But he added, "If a Democrat beat him, it would be because he lost, and very likely [the Democrat] could not win a second time. I realize that that's a Republican district."
Frankly, I'm not sure that this logic is true anyway. (If it is, by the way, it probably applies to Chet Edwards in CD11 as well, since he ran against possibly the worst candidate the GOP could have thrown at him.) We had Democrats win in some pretty heavily Republican areas prior to redistricting, and I say it has to do with knowing the district, and being in touch with the constituents and in line with their beliefs. Given that, I think if any one of the potential candidates can hold onto CD22 after beating DeLay, it's the hometown boy. We know who that is.
But Mr. Morrison predicted voter backlash on a number of fronts, including the half-million dollars Mr. DeLay paid his wife and daughter for campaign work in the last four years – an arrangement DeLay aides defend as both legal and in line with duties performed."Everybody in Texas understands that Texas is a community property state, and when your wife's making money, it's your money just as well," Mr. Morrison said. "That doesn't play well with the folks in District 22."
Why would you prefer someone who has NEVER been elected to ANYTHING such as city council or school board before getting elected to state representative over folks who have?
That is as lame as can be and as for Richard Morrison living in the district, last year I saw him in Houston at events in Fondren SW (CD-9), east Stafford (CD-9) and Briagate in Houston (also CD-9) and read about his events in The Heights (CD-18) and with MAD Meyerland Area Democrats (CD-7) but never anything in the Sugar Land area.
I actually over the years have seen Gordon Quan at events at the Fort Bend Chamber supporting Sugar Land City Council Members, Fort Bend ISD Board Members etc but NEVER saw Richard Morrison at a Sugar Land Rotary, Sugar Land Exchange Club or Fort Bend Chamber meeting and PLEASE note that no where in the Houston region is there a US Representative whose first job in government was Congress. All of them were former state representatives or in the case of inner-city CD18 former at large council member, the former CD25 Congress Member was a former council member and the new CD9 Congress Member was a former JP.
As I asked Tom Reiser's general consultant when I ran into him when I was a delegate at the Republican State Convention in Dallas in 2002 when Reiser ran against Bell for Congress, is your candidate better or different from all those that HAVE WON and therefore he can unlike everyone else skip those steps?
He didn't think he could skip high school before college, or college before law school or law school before taking the bar so again I still do not understand why you all believe he could skip the other steps other could not.
Posted by: Burt Levine on April 11, 2005 7:04 AMNick was a great representative in Congress. But, Nick is from Beaumont. Even in gerrymandered Texas, Beaumont is still a long way from CD-22.
Posted by: Jeb on April 11, 2005 9:21 AMBurt,
I ran against Tom because there were no other democrats from the 22nd that had the experience in the Tex. Leg. or the desire to run against DeLay. I don't recall that the Constitution requires the type of experience you describe to run for Congress. If the democrats were forced to use your logic, then Tom would never have an opponent.
The reason you saw or read about me talking to people who were not in the district was because my name recognition was nill when I began the campaign and I attended every democratic event that was held to try to build excitement about the campaign. I also picked up volunteers at these non-22nd events. Finally, I believed that the dems needed to be inspired to work hard last elections and I never turned down an invitation when asked to speak.
It is true that I did not attend the chamber type events in Sugar Land. And I admit that was a weakness in my campaign. But I did attend and sponser the Richmond Rosenberg Chamber Chili dinner, the Needville Volunteer Fire Dept. fundraisor and auction,. The campaign had a booth at the Needville Harvest Festival and the Fort Bend Fair where we raffled off a $250 gift certificate to Carter's country. We also had booths at the Holy Rosary Bazaar and the Our Lady of Guadalupe Bazaar. We were in the Fort Bend Fair Parade, the 4th of July parade in Friendswood, the homecoming parade in LaMarque, a parade in Hitchcock, the Galveston County Fair parade in Santa Fe, a parade in Deer Park. I shook every hand on the night of the livestock auction at the Galveston County Fair. I attended a pancake breakfast at Our Lady of Lourdes in Santa Fe. This is only part of what I did. I needed to reach out more, no question and I will.
The most interesting thing about all that I did was that I never saw Tom, except at the Fort Bend Fair parade. My parade team and I walked the whole route, I tried to shake everyone's hand and we passed out flyers. I tried to convey to the crowd that I would be approachable and the people's candidate. Of course Tom rode on the back of a mercedes convertible, very approachable, a man of the people.
Finally, perhaps that's what is wrong with our government now. There are too many professional politicians that are beholded to this special interest or that special interest to make decisions that benefit their constituents. Too entrenched to represent the people, fearful for their own jobs. I'm not, nor will I ever be.
Fight on!
Richard Morrison
To be straight, I think Richard Morrison (and I'm kicking myself for missing both conference calls) just comes across as more genuinely interested in the district. That isn't to say Nick Lampson isn't genuine - he is! - but as noted by previous commenters, Beaumont is a long way away.
I wish Nick Lampson would consider running for something where there is no field, or whether the field is, sad to say, not extremely strong. Two races come to mind - state comptroller (Nick Lampson was, I believe, Jefferson County treasurer); and U.S. Senate (with apologies to Barbara Radnofsky).
Posted by: Jim D on April 11, 2005 11:33 AMHey, if you've ever been to Beaumont, you'd know why he's leaving. :) (Half my family's down there.)
I'm not sure why Nick isn't running in Tx-02 again. Yes, he lost by 10+%, but in part that was due to the national election and a Texas Republican son on the national ballot. Why wouldn't Nick run what seems to be the hard race, as Morrison did?
More importantly, what makes him think that he would do any better in a different district where folks don't know him? I also don't see the need of what seems as squandering Democratic talent. One of the men would lose and not be in a race against a Republican. Quite frankly, I think that loser would be Nick. Worse, we could see a primary that leaves the winner exposed for the November race. Spending lots of money on the primary to defeat a Democrat just doesn't seem to make sense when DeLay is going to have a lot of money, no doubt given the support of fellow Republicans.
The Democratic party lineup is thin in many spots, as Jim notes. Lampson's talent frankly isn't needed in CD02 against DeLay.
Posted by: Tx Bubba on April 11, 2005 5:43 PMI heard that Nick is running in US 14(Ron Paul's district). Ron Paul is not running for reelection in '06'. So that leaves an open area. Nick is pretty well known in Galveston and Brazoria. The only republican that has been floated to run is Kyle Janek. I got the information at the Galveston Dem meeting on Wed.
MKC
Ron's not running for re-election?
That's news to me... =)
Posted by: Chris Elam on April 11, 2005 9:29 PM