Wendy Davis continues to tear down Kim Brimer, and we like it…
By Matt Pulle | Monday, September 22nd, 2008
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(And not because we’re taking sides. But because we like to watch someone here actually run a campaign.)
At some point, Tarrant County state Sen. Kim Brimer has to start fighting back, right? Because right now, Democratic challenger Wendy Davis is so kicking his ass. And it’s not just that she has a professional-looking Web site while his remains, like a TXDOT road project, eternally “under construction.”
Although really, it’s 2008, we’re a month-and-a-half away from Election Day, and Sen. Brimer can’t get it together to put up a functioning home page? Come on.
But we digress. The more interesting news is how enthusiastically the Davis campaign is taking it to Brimer while the Republican incumbent lazily sits back and, presumably, smokes his trademark cigars.
This week, Davis’ staff dug up an 18-year-old letter that Brimer wrote begging out of a campaign loan when he was a state representative. The bank in question went under, and the FDIC took it over. The taxpayer-supported agency then asked Brimer to make good on his debt.
A good fiscal conservative Republican like Brimer would have paid back the loan, right? Well, here’s what Brimer wrote the FDIC, according to the Davis campaign:
“I will tell you up front the only cash I can gather is $5,000, and I don’t want to pay legal fees too.”
Oh. Poor child.
Davis staffers also dug up Brimer’s old campaign finance reports from this time that show he repaid himself nearly $50,000 from his campaign account. But … he couldn’t find a way to pay back a loan 1/10th the size?
Anyhow, we placed a call to Brimer’s war room. They finally have someone answering the phones, and we left a message for the campaign manager. Last time, they never called us back. If they do now, we’ll let you know what they say.
In general, Brimer is reluctant to even mention his opponent by name. Her latest attack may at long last rouse him from his slumber.
And no, we don’t think that one bad debt from the early ’90s should derail a respected incumbent. But we’re planning on learning more about Brimer’s loan. More importantly, we’re impressed that the Davis campaign is using it against their passive opponent. Polls show a tight race, and Davis, a former Fort Worth council member, has a Fred Baron fundraiser on her calendar. She’s running an aggressive, well-funded campaign while the District 10 incumbent is relying on a Hail Mary court challenge to throw Davis off the ballot.
If I were in the Brimer camp, I’d be worried. And I’d get that Web site working.
(Above: Wendy Davis in a campaign publicity shot.)
While you rehash and recap old news about Brimer, real investigative journalism is going on over at WFAA in Dallas, where Brad Watson has just aired a story about the NEW controversy Brimer is involved in.
It seems he used campaign money to rent a condo that his wife owns, which is ILLEGAL.
While this joke of a watchdog group reports about Fred Baron’s taste in music, and the use of a survey by the Dallas County Sheriff’s office, that has been around for a decade, and has been used by everyone from the Dallas Police Department to The University of Texas at Dallas, ROME IS BURNING AROUND YOU!!
Where is the actual reporting? All I see is sophomoric humor and failed attempts by wanna be hipsters at being “real reporters.”
You are not fooling anyone, I mean the terms “sexual orientation” and “Lupe Valdez” are right next to each other in the list of tags, how more obvious could you be.
Is this really some sort of ONION type joke website, I don’t get it.
Actually, the Lonestar Project first broke the story about Brimer’s condo speculation in April best I can tell.
http://www.lonestarproject.net/archive/2008-04-21_Brimer_Come_Clean.pdf
Uh, actually you are WRONG.
I am talking about the NEW story about his other condo….
u can go to WFAA.com to see the story that you missed. You seem to have missed the whole Brimer/ Tom Delay money laundering thing too.
brq…no you are wrong …same old story that FW Star-Telegram ran an op-ed piece on saying Wendy ought to find something else to campain on because she was wrong on this issue. The story that they are looking at running dealing wtih Wendy\’s title company doing work for companies that received tax breaks while she was on City Council is new news. Oh yea Wendy is none to pleased the Fred Baron ’s (John Edwards mistress’s sugardaddy) fundraiser is so public, she has actually tried to hide the fact that the vast majority of her money is from trial lawyers who want to kill the tort reform issues that have past the last few years.
Actually you are mistaken,
There is a different issue concerning similar circumstances with another condo Brimer’s wife owns… an entirely new scandal for Brimer… I know it is hard to keep track of them all…
And Davis’s companies have been investigated to death, and no wrong doings have EVER been found, that is the truth about that….
and no one is being fooled by this right wing group running this scam….. Fred Baron is a private citizen who paid for his friend’s girlfriend’s bills…. NO CRIME there and really not that big of a deal…. America has moved on… even the National Enquirer has moved on to Sarah Palin’s past adulterous affairs with her husband’s business partners…..
No one is buying what you’re selling here accept the same old angry conservative fools, but they will keep buying it every time because, well they are idiots hence they vote Republican…. very simple when you break it down actually….
Wrong same condo… if this is new why has the thics commission not loked into it. They reviewed Brimers stuff , approved it in advance and still have no issues when it was condemned by Davis, if she thought there was a problem, why wouldn\’t she file a complaint, because she knows tha answer. Fred Baron is lime, read the Dallas Observer article ewhere it finds himcoaching and telling witnesses what to say. Finally Davis\’ companies aren\’t really her\’s if you look to see the were part of the divorce settlement which since you mentioned it also includes a few adulterous questions. One of whom involved the a VP at Radio Shack whose company somehow got prime riverfront property, by relocating public housing into the Tanglewood, Overton Park area. Davis then removed that Stonegate area from her district and ran for reelction without ever facing those effected voters.
Ears if you think that stuff is interesting….why would Wendy bring in a new campaign manager who was deputy director for a US Senate race to defeat the past president of the NAACP in Maryland, who is also the past political director of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute. Her pro abortion, anti-family values should kill her in the Northside hispanic areas and her track record defeating a very popular and smart NAACP leader should kill her with stop-six and east Fort Worth. I cannot imagine Tarrant County voting for a Senate Candidate that takes advice from someone with that background. Guess that leaves Wendy with the Bike riders…now all of you take out a Fort Worth map…draw a yellow line where Fort Worth has bike lanes..doesn’t take long does it…yea she’s effective.
To: The Texas Democratic Party
Re: Winners
I congratulate our local candidates, Wendy Davis, Chris Turner, Lon Burnam, Marc Veasey, and Paula Pierson.
That was close one, Wendy. What a risk. I thought you were going to lose because you mentioned the name of your opponent too often.
I lost my race against Senator Harris. I have not, nor will I congratulate him. He got lots of money from special interests.
In hindsight, I guess I should have run a negative campaign against him.
He brags about his many years representing Texans, but it is still legal to bribe a judge or justice or justice of the peace in Texas. (See Section 36.02(d) of the Texas Penal Code.)
I have been informed that I was ahead of him in Tarrant County, but I lost out to him in Denton and Dallas counties.
I would like to have the facts, but I do not know where to get them.
Perhaps Senator Harris has never represented Denton and Dallas counties until lately.
I do not believe that Texas homeowner’s insurance rates will be fair until it is illegal to bribe judges and justices here.
Nothing is fair where it is legal to bribe a judge or justice or justice of the peace.
If anyone can read section 36.02 of the Texas Penal Code and claim that it is not legal to bribe a judge in Texas, they are silly.
My wife and I have been involved in litigation since 1996, and we can tell you that there is at least one thing worse than a lying lawyer; that is a judge or justice that believes the lawyers lies instead of looking at evidence.
Again, congratulations, and I hope the winners will get it fixed.
Congratulations to the ones that lost too; I know how you feel; the other day I had all of these plans to do good things for Texas; but now I have to redirect my plans and goals.
Melvin Willms
To: The Texas Democratic Party
Re: Congratulations
Congratulations to our local candidates, Wendy Davis, Chris Turner, Lon Burnam, Marc Veasey, and Paula Pierson.
That was a close one, Wendy. What a risk. I thought you were going to lose because you mentioned the name of your opponent too often.
I lost my race against Senator Harris. I have not and will not congratulate him. He accepted too much money from parties with their own interests rather than Texas interests.
In hindsight, I guess I should have run a negative campaign against him.
He brags about his many years representing Texans, but it is still legal to bribe a judge or justice or justice of the peace in Texas. (See Section 36.02(d) of the Texas Penal Code.)
Senator Harris claims to have introduced the bill that created Section 11 of the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code. That is the statute that allows a person to perpetrate 300 crimes on a person, but the victim can only sue the perpetrator five times.
I have been informed that I was ahead of him in Tarrant County, but I lost out to him in Denton and Dallas counties.
I would like to have the facts, but I do not know where to get them.
Perhaps Senator Harris has never represented Denton and Dallas counties until lately.
I do not believe that Texas homeowner\’s insurance rates will be fair until it is illegal to bribe judges and justices here.
Nothing is fair where it is legal to bribe a judge or justice or justice of the peace.
If anyone can read section 36.02 of the Texas Penal Code and claim that it is not legal to bribe a judge in Texas, they have to be naïve, or a Republican.
My wife and I have been involved in litigation since 1996, and we can tell you that there is at least one thing worse than a lying lawyer; that is a judge or justice that believes the lawyers lies instead of looking at evidence.
Again, congratulations, and I hope the winners will get it fixed.
Congratulations to the ones that lost too; I know how you feel; the other day I had all of these plans to do good things for Texas; and now I have to redirect my plans and goals.
Melvin Willms
Former candidate for Texas Senate District 9