Selfinflicted wounds

Some Republicans obviously are not as confident of Gov. Rick Perry’s reelection as the governor and some polls seem to be. That is why, of course, a Republican consultant in Arizona (the Border Phobia State) went to the trouble of arranging a petition drive to get the Green Party on the Texas ballot in November.

Remember, Perry was reelected with only 39 percent of the vote in 2006 because his wealth of unpopularity produced a wealth of opponents – one Democrat, two independents and one Libertarian. The more opposition, the merrier for our incumbent governor, because it reduces the number of votes he needs to win another four, long years.

A Green Party gubernatorial candidate, any Green Party gubernatorial candidate, will siphon votes from Democratic nominee Bill White. And, that will be bad news for educators, health care professionals, working class people and anyone else (including environmentalists) who believe that state government has a positive role to play for everyone, not just a privileged few.

According to The Dallas Morning News, which broke the story, it is unclear who actually paid for the Green Party’s ballot petition drive. But it was arranged by an Arizona political consultant and funded through Take Initiative America, a nonprofit corporation in Missouri.

The funding arrangement even may be illegal under Texas law. But the Green Party seems eager to accept the gift and the ballot access, even though the whole arrangement, if successful, will continue to hinder the environmental cause in Texas. Yes, I am one of those people who believe Ralph Nader, the Green Party’s 2000 presidential candidate, helped give the White House – and control of federal environmental regulations – to George W. Bush for eight years.

Political behavior, unfortunately, is not always rational. Nor, obviously, is it always ethical. It would seem that a selfrespecting political party would not willfully let itself be played for a fool. But issues and advocacy aside, the first goal of a political party, even a minor one, is to get votes. And the Green Party can’t get votes in Texas this year if it is not on the ballot.

We can only hope that if the Greens get their candidates on the ballot, they don’t end up shooting themselves – and a lot of other people – in the head.

Let us imagine for a moment that the environmentally friendly Al Gore had won that razorthin presidential race in 2000 and had been in charge of the Department of the Interior for the eight years during which the Bush administration established a lax regulatory climate.

Maybe Interior would have had a tougher regulatory mindset when BP filed for the necessary federal approvals for that drilling site in the Gulf of Mexico. You know the one.

It would be unkind – and maybe unfair – to suggest that the Green Party contributed indirectly to one of the biggest environmental disasters in history, but….

Here is a link to one of the Dallas News’ stories:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/060810dntexballotfolo.1e6ec0a.html

0 Comments

There are no comments yet

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *