The Chron endorses Jay Kleberg for Land Commissioner over his no-show opponent.
Jay Kleberg
This year’s campaign for land commissioner is a battle over the job description for the state’s oldest public office. The Texas General Land Office manages disaster relief, helps with school funding, leads the Veterans Land Board and stewards the state’s 13 million acres of public land.
Between state Sen. Dawn Buckingham, a Republican, and Democrat Jay Kleberg, voters have a choice between starkly different visions. Buckingham, 54, has focused her campaign on border security, combating inflation and “fighting the Green New Deal.” Kleberg says the job ought to be focused on the basics of the office — “anything else is a distraction,” he has said on the campaign trail — and he believes Texas ought not run away from clean energy or from responding with urgency to climate change.
In an interview with the editorial board, Kleberg, 44, contended that his opponent’s focus areas are her way of angling for higher office. Buckingham declined to participate in the meeting.
“The message I deliver to people is that I actually want to do this job,” Kleberg told us. “It’s an expansive enterprise. It doesn’t have to be a political steppingstone. It doesn’t have to be mired in politics. Whether it be land management, education, veterans, coastal protection or energy, these are things that I think most Texans can rally around.”
We agree, and that is why we support Kleberg’s candidacy.
You can find my interview with Jay Kleberg (and also Janet Dudding) here. It’s easy to believe what he’s saying about what he wants to do as Land Commissioner. For what it’s worth, Dawn Buckingham is quoted in the piece saying something to suggest she would not try to screw Houston and Harris County out of future federal relief funds, which is better than what we have now – admittedly, a very low bar to clear. The Trib has a profile of the candidates and overview of the race, in which Buckingham also did not participate; she does appear to have deigned to respond in this Chron story on the race. I dunno, you want a job, you should be willing to talk about it. I’m just saying. Anyway, vote for Jay Kleberg.