Sam Houston
Democrat Sam Houston filed for attorney general Thursday, promising to return the office to it’s basic functions of “serving all Texans” rather than “partisan lawsuits and constant disputes with the federal government.”
The Houston Democrat said specifically he wants to increase efficiency of the office’s current responsibilities such as child support enforcement, representing state interests in lawsuits and applying “hesitation” in litigation which use state resources.
“I do not think the office needs to be used to brag about suing the federal government,” he said.
He also said utilizing resources to improve the Consumer Protection division and solve open records request disputes fairly and quickly, particularly with technology-related requests, is a priority.
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“All of their campaign slogans are the same thing: the 10th amendment, gun control, and commitment to defeating the Affordable Care Act,” Houston said. “I don’t hear a lot from them on how to improve everyday claims or improve the Consumer Protection division… these types of responsibilities have been forgotten.”
Houston announced his intent to run a couple of weeks ago. He’s got his website and Facebook page up, so check them out. Everything he’s saying here is correct and sensible and likely to win the approval of newspaper editorial boards, but next to the fire-breathing (and mouth-breathing) rhetoric coming from the Republican side of the race, it’s not very exciting. I don’t want him to change what he’s saying, but I do think he will need to throw some punches, and be very direct about the failures of the incumbent Attorney General – which will of course have the added benefit of helping Wendy Davis – and the need for a complete change of direction. With the possible exception of David Dewhurst, every Republican running for statewide office will be new to that office. One way or another, this is a change election. That can work well for the Democrats, but it will be best if they’re reinforcing each other’s messages. Sam Houston is in a key place to help do that. BOR has more.
Also officially filing is Steve Brown, our candidate for Railroad Commissioner. Brown made his candidacy known recently as well, and also has his webpage and Facebook page up. Did you know that the Railroad Commission deals with abortion and textbooks, by the way? It’s totally true. Maybe instead of proposing to change the name to the Texas Energy Commission or some such, we should call it the Texas Abortion and Textbooks Commission. Anyway, if you want to elect a member of the Railroad Commission that plans to focus on the things that the Railroad Commission actually does, then check out Steve Brown.