Filing news: Miscellania

Not a whole lot of filing news today. Matt reports that we have another Democratic contender for State Senate, an activist from Dripping Springs named Kathi Thomas, who filed yesterday to run against Sen. Jeff Wentworth in SD25, which covers north Bexar County plus Kendall, Hays, Comal, Guadalupe, and a piece of Travis (see PDF map). It’s about a 63% GOP district, but since it covers a big piece of CD21, it’s nice to have as many Dems running there as possible.

Also in the State Senate, Carlos Uresti made his filing to challenge Sen. Frank Madla in SD19. He had a few endorsements to announce in his press release:

Uresti was endorsed by Mr. Bill Sinkin, the longtime San Antonio financial and community leader.

“We have all been impressed by Representative Uresti’s work on the crisis confronting our Child Protective Services,” Sinkin said. “He is exactly who we need to take the lead for our children.”

Also backing Uresti as he filed his official candidacy were San Antonio City Councilman Roland Gutierrez, longtime Reeves County Judge Jimmy Galindo, Pecos County Commissioner Oscar Gonzalez, Southside Independent School District board member Andrew Herrera, former President of Southside ISD School Board Tony Uriegas, and the President of the Harlandale ISD, Victor Resendez.

“Carlos has the energy to get the job done for our district,” said Councilman Gutierrez.

“As a legislator, Carlos has been involved in our schools from the beginning,” President Resendez said. “Unfortunately, we have rarely if ever heard from his opponent.”

“This campaign is the difference between a new direction and more of the same old politics that haven’t worked for our children,” said school board member Herrera. “It is critical to elect new leadership at this moment in our history,” said Mr. Uriegas.

Reeves County Judge Galindo and Pecos County Commissioner Gonzalez agreed that Madla has been non-responsive to the needs of their community.

“Carlos Uresti understands the unique challenges facing our region,” Judge Galindo said. “He knows that we can do better and has already visited us in the western part of the district to listen to our concerns.”

SD19 stretches from Bexar County out to El Paso. It’s a moderately Democratic district; Carlos Uresti won the piece of it that covers his former HD118 by a 3-1 margin, but that represented less than 15% of the total votes cast there in 2004.

Staying in Bexar County, here’s Larry Stallings’ statement on filing in HD122.

Now seems like a good time to thank all the folks who not only said they support Larry Stallings, but have acted on that with their time in gathering signatures, giving money, educating the candidate on so many issues critical to the folks in HD 122. A savvy steering committee is taking shape, with lots of expertise to help not only prepare Larry for the campaign, but to help him after he is sworn in as the new representative from 122 in ’06. We have toll road experts, education experts, a taxation and budget pro, and some medical folks are on board too, to help us speak to the complexities of health care delivery in the District. Larry also has his own “band of brothers”, including Treasurer Terry, who are retired military members who not only plan to work on his behalf, but watch his back during the campaign. They are all, every one of ’em – Republicans. We have also had the informal advice of a number of political consultants, for which we are very grateful, for we couldn’t have navigated the murky waters of setting up a campaign in just under 6 weeks without them advising us along the way.

I’m going to enjoy watching that race. Good luck to you, Larry.

Meanwhile, the campaign in CD23 for Rick Bolanos got off to a stumbling start.

In a maneuver that rival Rick Bolaños called a “low blow,” U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla’s campaign treasurer sought to short-circuit the El Paso Democrat in cyberspace earlier this month.

Treasurer Jill DeYoung registered at least four Web addresses that included Bolaños’ name on Dec. 9 — the same day the San Antonio Express-News reported his interest in the District 23 seat, according to a search of Internet domain-name registrants.

She got control of rickbolanosforcongress.com, rickbolanosforcongress.net, rickbolanos.com and rickbolanos.net. Registering a domain name essentially establishes ownership rights over it, keeping it out of others’ hands.

“You know what? It’s pretty dirty — it’s dirty politics,” Bolaños said. “A Web site gives you the ability to raise money and to put your platform out there. … It’s kind of a low blow when somebody does something like this.”

Bolaños, who so far is the only Democrat to file for the District 23 seat, said he’s hiring an attorney to determine whether to take legal action. He’s also considering filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission.

Officials with Bonilla’s campaign could not be reached for comment Friday. But Frank Guerra, a strategist for past Bonilla campaigns, said the tactic of snatching up domain names isn’t unusual.

“That’s pretty standard for political campaigns,” he said. “Campaigns routinely purchase domain names so that it takes away one of their (opponents’) weapons.”

Bolaños said he learned of DeYoung’s move this week when his campaign tried to register a domain name.

Despite the nuisance, he said he found the action somewhat encouraging. “I seriously think they wouldn’t have done it if they didn’t think we have some name recognition,” Bolaños said.

Link via The Jeffersonian. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: This is not a dirty trick, and while it does not speak well of the people you have advising your campaign when it happens, the ultimate responsibility rests with the candidate. Only you know for sure that you’re going to run for office. As soon as you do – hell, as soon as you start leaning that way – register whatever domain names you think you may want. Don’t give your opponent a chance to do it for you. One the cusp of 2006, there is simply no excuse for this.

Completing our tour of Bexar County, Andre and Eddie have updates on Ciro Rodriguez.

That’s about all I’ve got for today. Monday will be the busy day. Lyn will be liveblogging from HCDP headquarters, so keep the Houston Democrats site in a window, or drop by and see what’s happening for yourself.

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