Swinford Resigns - Will Go For The Money

Republican State Rep. David Swinford, House District 87 representative from the Texas Panhandle, had already announced that he would not run for re-election. He did not run in his party's primary last Spring and was set to retire when his term expired in January. He will be replaced by either Democrat Abel Bosquez, Republican Walter Price IV, or Libertarian James Hudspeth.

But those dollar signs just kept getting bigger and bigger in his eyes and he finally couldn't stand it any longer. On August 26th, Swinford sent a letter to Governor Perry in which he said he would retire on August 31st. He said in the letter, "After much discussion and consultation with District 87's leaders, community leaders and good friends, I have decided the greatest parting gift to my constituents would be to retire early."

I won't dispute that his retirement is indeed a gift to the residents of the Panhandle, but that's not why he's retiring early. In a word it's -- MONEY. He was set to take a lobbying job (after all, there's only 1500 lobbyists in Austin), but now he's also been offered a job as a consultant. He's still trying to decide which one he wants to take, but you can be sure it'll pay 10 or 15 times his salary as a state representative (at a minimum).

Swinford has spent 20 years representing the Panhandle in Austin and has made a lot of political friends. He could be very valuable to someone wanting something from the legislature, and he's planning to get the big bucks while the getting is good.

Frankly, this sort of thing shouldn't even be allowed. It has a definite stink of the unethical. Representatives (and senators) in the state legislature should not be allowed to become lobbyists or "consultants" for several years after they leave their elected legislative job (10 years sounds about right to me). These legislators were elected to serve the people of their district, not to set themselves up for a high-paying influence-peddling position.

Swinford was also playing party politics with the early retirement. He was hoping to get the governor to call a special election to fill out the remainder of his term -- a special election that would be held on the same day as the general election in November. Since the same person would probably win both the special election and the general election, that person could be sworn in early and would have about two months seniority over other freshmen legislators elected in the general election.

But to my surprise (and to his credit), the governor is not going to call a special election. His spokeswoman says "the timing and the circumstances of Swinford's resignation don't merit it." I have to agree with the governor. A special election held on the same day as the general election would just be an exercise in silliness.

Good riddance to Swinford. Now we just have to see if we can elect someone better to replace him.