For all the talk of who is or might be running for this or that in 2006, here’s one person who’ll be sitting it out: Henry Cisneros.
“I have no plans to run for office in 2006,” said Cisneros, 57.
Cisneros told reporters that his business life and raising his 17-year-old son would be disrupted by a run for office or service in a presidential Cabinet if John Kerry wins the White House from President Bush.
Cisneros was secretary of housing and urban development under President Clinton.
He said he wants to find a role in public service without the disruptions of running for or serving in office.
Cisneros said he wants to focus on his business for “the next couple of decades.” His company finances construction of homes for low-income families.
[…]
Cisneros said he has urged former Texas Comptroller John Sharp to run for governor in 2006.
Cisneros was not the only focus of statewide politics at the Democratic National Convention.
A pair of lame-duck congressmen, Chris Bell of Houston and Jim Turner of Crockett, were floating themselves as possible gubernatorial candidates. Turner said he also might be interested in running for Senate.
Houston lawyer Barbara Ann Radnofsky also spoke to the delegates about her desire to run for Senate. And convention Chairman Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico promoted former U.S. Rep. Ken Bentsen of Houston as a possible 2006 candidate for Senate. Bentsen lost a 2002 Democratic primary bid for Senate.
It’s hard for me to read an article like this and not think about what could have been. Henry Cisneros was a rising star, and justifiably so. San Antonio owes a lot of what it is now to his vision from when he was Mayor in the 80s. It’s a shame that he won’t be serving the public in an elected office someplace, but it’s entirely his fault that this is the case. I’m glad he’s found a way to serve the public anyway, but it’s still a great waste as far as I’m concerned.
Sharp is done running for state-wide office. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he ran for Congress out of Victoria someday….
“Chris” sounds rather too hopeful in his comment that John Sharp “is done running for state-wide office.”
Sharp’s primacy among Texas Democrats remains strong. If he chooses to run for Governor (or Comptroller?) he will be the instant frontrunner — a proven vote-getter, outstanding public servant, and moderate whose values are the values of most mainstream Texans.