Strayhorn is ready to take on governor (Texas)

[Judi Lynn]

June 19, 2005, 12:55AM

Strayhorn is ready to take on governor
The comptroller announces her candidacy; calls Perry 'do-nothing drugstore cowboy'
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

http://images.chron.com.nyud.net:8090/content/news/photos/04/04/25/strayhorn.jpg

CAROLE KEETON STRAYHORN

Age/Birthdate: 65; Sept. 13, 1939.
Political offices sought or held: State comptroller, since 1999; member, Texas Railroad Commission, 1994-1999; mayor of Austin, 1977-1983; board member, Austin Independent School District, 1972-1977, AISD president, 1976-1977.

Education: BA, with honors, University of Texas, 1961.

Background: Native of Austin; former president, Texas Municipal League; former member, National Petroleum Council; member, board of directors, John Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University.

Personal: Resident of Austin. Married to Ed Strayhorn; four grown sons, including Scott McClellan, press secretary for President Bush; five granddaughters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUSTIN - With the Capitol as a backdrop and a scorching sun beating down, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn turned the political heat up on Gov. Rick Perry on Saturday, formally announcing as a challenger to his re-election.

Strayhorn, saying she will run against Perry in next year's Republican primary, wasted no time in attacking her opponent.

"You know that Texans cannot afford another four years of a governor who promises tax relief and delivers nothing," she said.

"Now is time to replace this do-nothing drugstore cowboy with one tough grandma," Strayhorn told a cheering crowd.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3231687
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[jamesinca]

1. If she is anything like her boy Scottie....

God help TX.

[TwentyFive]

2. She ain't no ANN RICHARDS, that's for sure.

Ann would never raise a son as bad as Scott. That said, she can't be all bad if she calls Rick Perry a do nothing, drugstore cowboy.

[rainbow4321]

15. Oh, Strayhorn is bad, bad, bad...

Least IMHO...but as a UU, I am a little biased. As state treasurer she tried to take away tax exempt status from a local UU church. Claimed since there was no "single" belief in the congregation that they could not be considered for tax exempt. Lawyers and the media got involved, she was forced to back down and finally grant the exempt status. Internationally recognized religion and she dares to say it's not a religion.

She can take her "one tough granny" sales pitch (yes, that is what she is calling herself)and shove it up her wide ass.

http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/003503.html

Never before -- not in this state or any other -- has a government agency denied Unitarians tax-exempt status because of the group's religious philosophy, church officials say. Strayhorn's ruling clearly infringes upon religious liberties, said Dan Althoff, board president for the Denison congregation that was rejected for tax exemption by the comptroller's office.

<snip>
Questions about the issue were referred to Jesse Ancira, the comptroller's top lawyer, who said Strayhorn has applied a consistent standard -- and then stuck to it. For any organization to qualify as a religion, members must have "simply a belief in God, or gods, or a higher power," he said.

The courts have ruled against this "test", and I must say I'm a little disappointed with John Sharp for creating it. That was bad enough, but Strayhorn is vowing to keep fighting it, for reasons unclear to me. Doesn't she have better things to do, like throw rocks at Governor Perry?

[hobbit709]

3. I don't particularly like her

but she does have more brains than our last two governors put together.
After the 2000 election, I said that we were double whammied here in Texas-we not only got bush as president, we got Perry as governor. And she's right about the "do-nothing drugstore cowboy" part.
This could be the most fun Republican primary in Texas since Bill Clements and Clayton Williams duked it out.

[Rowdyboy]

4. Amen...I remember that primary well....My aunt worked for Bill Clements

as his secretary just before he was elected governor. She chose not to follow him, stayed with the oil company and wound up an executive in Alaska. Clements was awful but Clayton Williams was a serious nutcase.

Actually, thinking again, things have gotten so much worse since then that Clayton Williams would probably be considered mainstream in today's White House.

[jobycom]

5. Yes, but didn't that Republican primary have a nice ending?

Clayton Williams, for those who don't know, lost to Ann Richards in 90, after having led in the polls by 12 points two weeks before the elections. Clayton had a habit of shooting himself, not just in the foot, but any old place he could aim his gun. His most famous shot was a press conference in west Texas somewhere. It was raining, so he told the press corp, yeah, the press corp, that the weather was like rape: if it's inevitable, might as well relax and enjoy it.

He was stupid, stupid, stupid. The only difference between him and W, though, is W's father could afford to buy him a Supreme Court decision.

Carol Keeton Rylander Strahorn (and there must have been a McClellan in there somewhere) isn't stupid by any means, but if she's going to take shots like that at Perry... Well, let's just say that Perry isn't as stupid as he appears. This could get fun to watch. And they may do each other to political death before it's all over with.

Now, if we just had a Democrat to run against the winner...

:popcorn:

[chalky]

10. The McClellan is between Keeton and Rylander

Stayed DINO long enough to get elected mayor here in liberal (more so back then) Austin. Soon as she made a name for herself the Democratic party got kicked to the curb. No great loss, either.

And rumor has it that she's behind all the "Perry's wife caught him with a boy toy" stories. Looks like there's gonna be some mud slung down here (wonder if little Scottie's personal life will get caught in the crossfire?). Should be fun to watch.

:popcorn:

[awoke_in_2003]

12. We may not have a democrat...

but Kinky Friedman said he will be running (independent). Maybe he'll reunite the Texas JewBoys to perform at the inauguration :7

[jobycom]

13. LOL Kinky sure knows who to market his stuff, doesn't he?

He may not become governor, but he will become wealthier.

[chalky]

17. Kinky's platform seems to be based entirely on outlawing cat declawing

Maybe he's refined his message since he appeared on Al Franken a few months back, but if that's all he's got to offer me....

[amber dog democrat]

19. He has my vote

All i can say is that we owe EJ Davis a debt of gratitude for all the weak governors since 1873.

May ALL your cats have claws. A clawed chicken in every pot !

No seriously, If I thougt my vote counted in this up coming go around I might, I just might do the responsible adult thing, but I really WANT to vote for Kinky and considering the alternatives, he looks pretty good.

[Gman]

22. My worst fear right now is that Tony Sanchez will run again

right after Strahorn and Perry mortally eviscerate each other and we still end up with a Republican. (Actually we'll have a Republican if it's Perry, Strahorn or Sanchez.)

Remember that Sanchez comes from Laredo, the Mos Eisley of Texas politics. You will never find a more vicious hive of scum and villainy. Right now, someone in Laredo is reading this and smiling.

[jobycom]

24. I don't think Sanchez wants to. But there are other Repub Democrats

Sharp, for instance.

I keep hoping Henry Cisneros will run, but seems unlikely.

Ron Kirk, maybe? He's not the most liberal of Dems, but the most liberal of Dems won't win in Texas. He's got executive experience as mayor, and he's got statewide exposure. It could be interesting.

[shance]

6. Am I wrong? Was she Carole Keeton Rylander a while back?

I could have names mixed up.

[jobycom]

25. That's her, she marries almost as often as Liz Taylor.

Her latest boy toy (that's a joke) is named Strayhorn.

[NoodleBoy]

7. Let the bloodbath begin

Let's see how well "moral" Republicans do with their attack dog spin doctors when they have to square off against each other.

Hopefully, they'll degrade themselves so much over the course of the primary season that maybe more people will realize that politicians driven by a culture of hate aren't the kinds of people who should be in charge of our public institutions.

[ninkasi]

8. I started not to put my two cents worth in

because I'm going to bed, but I guess I will anyway. I'm a native Texan, and the first thing I felt after reading this was...here we go again. In Texas, politics seems to revolve around "tax relief" and not much else.

Our schools are falling apart,classrooms are overcrowded, people are mired in poverty, and we always come in somewhere in the very bottom of states when it comes to measuring things like poverty, health care, education, etc.

There are so many things that can be done to help us overcome all of our problems, but doing them will cost money, and any politician running on tax relief tells me that that politician will also look to slash social services, instead of addressing the problems.

It would be nice if someone would have the courage to say that in order to care of society's vulnerable, it will cost us all some money. We have to make up at the local level for reduced federal money, cut drastically to enable tax cuts for the wealthy.
Why should it be so hard to convey this idea to citizens of a state who also claim to be church going Christians?

There is such a gap between reality and the image we try to project. I have no answers, but get discouraged at the thought of yet another election cycle filled with candidates who do nothing but promise tax cuts, and citizens who are so selfish that they never question how those cuts translate into more suffering and misery for the elderly, the poor, and the children we claim to cherish.

Maybe I just need a good night's sleep.

[Wright Patman]

9. The church-going

are giving to the church. Their pastors see the state as a competitor.

Also, the church can discriminate in terms of whom it helps. What you call 'society's vulnerable' can also be termed 'reprobate sinners' who should receive no aid until they 'repent.'

There's nothing particularly 'Christian' about that. That's why the megachurches are said to be practicing 'Churchianity.'

[TxGran]

16. Chris Bell

Former congressman who lost his seat due to DeLay's redistricting. He was the one that brought DeLay before the House ethics committee.

[MrTriumph]

27. It isn't about tax cuts, it is about who carries the burden

Hey, Texas now carries the burden of mega-property taxes. Sure there is no state income tax, but those giant property taxes ward off business relocations and stunt economic growth. And those big businesses that do come ask for huge tax property tax concessions. The tax system is perverted, anti-small & medium business and unfair.

And don't forget Robin Hood!

[TomClash]

11. who's running on the Dem side?

[Gman]

14. Strayhorn used to be a Democrat in Austin

in fact, she was mayor of Austin at one time. I know some of her old Democrat friends who say she's OK. She does not act like a fundie, nor does she pander to them. You don't hear anything ideological out of her. She runs as a "Grandma" and it sells well with the voters.

[amber dog democrat]

18. I can't think of much good to say about her.

Basically she is a politically grandstanding opportunist with a mean streak.
That said, the more she does to savage governor good hair, the better. She'd be only a marginal improvement but she could weaken Perry enough to help him to lose.

I never liked her and hold her accountable for keeping Austin in the boondoggled STNP that caused our electric bills to jump sky high in return for a share of the out put from a cost over run, defective nuclear power plant.

What can I say? She's a power pig, but I will relish seeing her start to lambaste Perry.
this just reinforces the perception that Repugs can't govern even when they control everything. Besides being the mom of Scotty-mouth, she's always sided with the chamber of concrete here in Austin and presided over a very lame city council.

Her allegiance is towards that what makes her more powerful and influential, not principles. She is more interested in publicity, but she has a sharp tongue, a sharp wit, and a tendency to go for the juglar. I never voted for her but I will agree with her stance on the toll roads and with respect to Gov Gooodhair, " SIC ' EM !!, Carol "

Let the fur fly !

[hobbit709]

20. i haven't heard

that "chamber of concrete' comment in years.

[Chauga]

21. Should be fun to watch them eat each other alive.

[tibbir]

23. Like others have said.....it could become a fun primary to watch.

Then we just need someone like Chris Bell to come along and wipe up with whichever one of them survives.

[rainbow4321]

26. DMN: Strayhorn's White House son staying put

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/062105dntexmcclellan.2b9e34cb.html


The son of Texas comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn joined her campaign for governor Monday, but not the son White House reporters grilled Monday.

Two of Strayhorn's four sons are serving in the Bush administration –White House spokesman Scott McClellan and Dr. Mark McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Their brother, Brad McClellan joined Strayhorn's campaign Monday as campaign manager, her spokesman Mark Sanders said. Brad McClellan had been an assistant attorney general for Texas.

Sanders said it was too early to say whether Strayhorn will get White House backing in her campaign. Later, Scott McClellan said Bush would not be involved in the GOP primary. Scott McClellan said Bush calls Perry and Strayhorn friends. “I call one mother,” he said.