Endorsement watch: Skelly and Hinojosa

As expected, the Chron gives thumbs up to Michael Skelly in CD07.

Michael Skelly for U.S. Representative, District 7: For a diverse range of communities stretching from the Texas Medical Center and West University Place to the far northwest suburbs of Houston, the representative for District 7 must balance many interests and service priorities. The Chronicle urges voters to support a political newcomer, Michael Skelly, an entrepreneur and family man who built Horizon Wind Energy, one of the largest such companies in the nation.

His life offers an appealing American story -- an Irish immigrant who came to the U.S. at the age of 2 with parents who had little money but plenty of determination. Skelly graduated from Notre Dame and Harvard Business School with the assistance of loans and grants.

Skelly supports Metro's plans to build light rail on portions of Richmond and Westpark. He opposes federal restrictions on stem cell research and pledges to push for expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Skelly believes the best way to achieve independence from foreign oil is to push development of alternative energy sources but opposes windfall profits taxes on industry and supports expanded domestic drilling.

Though they didn't bother to mention incumbent Rep. John Culberson by name here, I'd say you can take the penultimate paragraph above as the main reasons for the endorsement. Well, that and the fact that the Chron has a fairly long history of disagreeing with Culberson, who will no doubt ignore every other endorsement the Chron has made to tout this as further evidence of the paper's eeeeevil liberal bias. Because in the end that's all that ever really matters.

The Chron also endorsed Republican incumbents Kevin Brady and Mike McCaul for CDs 08 and 10, respectively, in order to provide exceptions that prove the rule. I'm not sure why they endorse in CD08, which covers Montgomery County, and not CD14, which includes parts of Fort Bend, Brazoria, and Galveston Counties; it's the only office that doesn't touch Harris County in which they offer a recommendation. Ron Paul is unopposed this year so it's not that big a deal, but they did the same thing in 2006.

As for McCaul, this may be the weakest recommendation I've ever seen:

In a district designed to elect a Republican, former Texas deputy attorney general Michael McCaul has been a good fit during two terms in office. He has focused on homeland security issues.

Although McCaul has criticized his Democratic opponent, attorney Larry Joe Doherty, for negative campaigning, a McCaul Web site pushes its own line of questionable attacks against Doherty. We hope if elected to another term McCaul better practices what he preaches.

Yes, the old "endorse him and hope he follows our advice for the next term" strategy has such a good track record. Whatever.

The Chron also finishes up in the county courts by recommending the appointed Republican incumbent judge in Probate Court #1 and the Democratic challenger in the other:

Robert Hinojosa for Family District Judge, 312th District, unexpired term: A family lawyer with 36 years' experience, the Democratic Hinojosa spent a year as judge of the 308th Family District Court before losing the post in a 1994 Republican sweep. He has served as associate judge in City of Houston Municipal Courts and as judge advocate in the Air Force. He is able to preside over cases in Spanish as well as English.

With five more days for making endorsements left, the remainders are now the following:

1. Railroad Commissioner

2. State Senate, District 17

3. State House, District 133

4. District Clerk

5. HCDE Trustees

6. Justice of the Peace, all precincts

7. Constable, all precincts

Quite the exciting race to the finish, isn't it?

Posted by Charles Kuffner on October 29, 2008 to Election 2008