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Texas runoff--GOP candidates get nasty about past records
by Joseph Earnest May 26, 2014
Newscast Media HOUSTON—Several feuds have been building up in Texas political ads leading up to Tuesday's lieutenant governor runoff election. Both Senator Dan Patrick and the incumbent David Dewhurst have released ads attacking each other, including mental health records of Senator Patrick that were leaked to the public, by an unknown attorney.
Medical records extracted from a criminal and civil case, reveal psychiatric hospital stays in 1982 and 1986 in which Senator Patrick needed sitters around the clock for being severely depressed. The information, according to Jerry Patterson who too was running for lieutenant governor, was not leaked but has been in the public domain for the past 25 years.
Patrick fired back and accused Dewhurst of using Patterson as a surrogate to release his private medical records. In a statement, Patrick said, "Dewhurst started the day denying any involvement in the release of my medical records. His hapless surrogate, Jerry Patterson, removed all doubt in an afternoon email misfire where he clearly stated that it was Dewhurst's idea," the statement reads.
Patterson says, the chain of custody of the documents is not the important issue, but whether "Dan Patrick is the most fit to serve in arguably the most powerful position in the state."
The Houston Chronicle reported an unflattering picture of Patrick revealing that Dan Patrick was lying and attempted suicide twice. The Chronicle concluded: "After hearing their story, and Dr. Moldovan's expert evaluation of the now public domain records, as well as his analysis of several episodes of Patrick's legislative career, I'm inclined to agree with them, at least about the part that Dan is currently lying and continues to be deceptive about the state of his mental illness condition in the 1980s and perhaps today." (pop-up)
Meanwhile, the attorney general race between Rep. Dan Branch and Sen. Ken Paxton is just as nasty, with past records being dug up. Paxton was leading, but somehow during "opposition research" where a candidate hires a research team to find dirt on his opponent, it came out that Senator Paxton was fined in the past by the Texas State Securities Board for violation of securities laws.
Police unions that had previously endorsed Paxton, upon learning this new development, pulled their support from him, giving the momentum to Dan Branch who was previously trailing. Branch says he is the only one of the two who is most qualified to hold the position of attorney general, because he is authorized to offer legal opinions in both the 5th Circuit and the Supreme Court, unlike his opponent who is not authorized to argue in either one of those venues. The attorney general's office is like a big law firm that works with 700 lawyers from around the State of Texas.
The runoff vote is scheduled for Tuesday May 27, which will then lead to the general that will be held in November, against Democrats. Add Comments>>
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