Another Endorsement For Kinky

Kinky has picked up another newspaper endorsement. The Amarillo Independent has endorsed Kinky. Their editorial is reprinted below:


• For governor, which presented the editorial board the toughest decision reaching consensus, we reluctantly back Richard “Kinky” Friedman.

Let’s first dispose of those who don’t deserve to sit in the governor’s mansion. The Libertarian candidate for governor is a nonentity.

Gov. Rick Perry has shown himself lacking vision and leadership, selling children down the river with cuts to the Children’s Health Insurance Program, not intervening in Tom DeLay’s gerrymandering of congressional districts and continuing to foist the falsehoods on the public that there has been property tax reform and that teachers are getting a big raise.

Meanwhile, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, flying the false independent flag, is not much better. Strayhorn has switched major party labels, revealing her to be an ambitious political chameleon whose advertising tells us nothing we can trust. Unfortunately, we are sometimes judged by the company we keep and Strayhorn’s sons, Mark McClellan and Scott Mc- Clellan, have been part of the corrupt Bush administration.

That leads us to the difficult choice between Democratic Party nominee Chris Bell and Friedman. Bell has electoral experience, serving as a representative from Houston in the U.S. House. His seat was gerrymandered out of existence, an unfortunate event and a loss for the Houston area. We like Bell and we like some of his stances. But Bell’s Web site is obtuse and connecting up with the candidate to get a real bead on him, even for a friendly media outlet, is difficult. It’s also too bad that this candidate lacks charisma, something needed for the bully pulpit, because Texas governors don’t have much else to offer in the way of power.

That leads us to our endorsement of Friedman. Is Friedman’s candidacy a joke with his repetitive stump speeches and oneliners? Maybe, but Friedman seems serious about this campaign and, frankly, reflects what we believe Texas needs. His positions on the issues make sense to us, making him more libertarian than anything else and we believe that is a good thing. He is flamboyant, will attract media attention, and if he plays his cards right in Austin, will be able to use the bully pulpit. Friedman has a greater chance of shaking things up than Strayhorn, that one not-so-tough grandma.