Governor Perry and Top Texas Conservative Groups Endorse Black State Rep James White over Mike Tuffy Hamilton in HD 19 Republican Primary Election

The Governor of Texas, along with other high ranking Republican officials, will be stopping by Southeast Texas soon. They will be coming here to endorse State Representative James White in his re-election big to the Texas House of Representatives against Mike Hamilton in the HD 19 Primary Race which includes Hardin County, Polk County, Tyler County, Jasper County and Newton County. Texas Comptroller Susan Combs has already endorsed James White.

James White is one of the few minority (black) elected officials in the Texas Legislature. That is not why he is getting so much support though. James White is getting so much support because he was a “rock star conservative” in his first term as a Republican State Representative.

James White looks young and possibly not set in his conservative values, but the truth is that he is older than he looks and he is well grounded in his conservative Republican principles. Think about this, James White was an Army officer who served in Berlin under President Ronald Reagan and James White was even in Berlin when the Berlin Wall came down. He is now a rancher, a teacher and an East Texas Conservative Republican State Representative.

He got into the Texas Legislature by challenging and beating long time East Texas Democrat State Representative Jim McReynolds. He did not stop there though. He pushed forward and boldly stood for Conservative Christian values during his entire first term. When many State Representatives went along with the establishment and voted Yes to Joe Straus as Speaker of the House, James White stood up and voted no. Joe Straus is a RINO Speaker of the House. He was elected to be the speaker by the Democrats. Straus has been supported by Planned Parenthood and he has even funded and supported Democrats to beat Republicans. Voting against Joe Straus was the first conservative vote by James White, but it was not his last.

James White finished the legislative session with one of the top Conservative voting records out of all of the State Representatives in Texas. He was not a representative that goes to Austin and then you rarely hear about what he is doing because he blends in with the crowd. James White made waves and stood strong for conservative values against the establishment and he will continue to do so.

James White has garnered impressive top Conservative Voting Scores and/or endorsements from all of the most trusted conservative organizations in Texas, such as Texas Right to Life (http://www.texasrighttolife.com/legislators.asp), the Texas Eagle Forum (http://texaseagle.org/legislative-scorecard/2011-scorecard.html), the Heritage Alliance (http://www.heritagealliance.com/tcr/tcrhome.php), Texans for Fiscal Responsibility (http://www.empowertexans.com/2011-fri-taxpayer-champions/), and the Young Conservatives of Texas (http://www.yct.org/wp-content/uploads/ratings/YCT_82nd_Session_Ratings.pdf).

Mike Hamilton has told me that the reason Susan Combs is endorsing James White is because Bob Perry (a wealthy Texas home builder) and Texans for Lawsuit Reform have given large contributions to both Susan Combs and James White. Hamilton asked me to look into that and post it on my blog. To be fair to Hamilton, I did look into that connection. What I found is that Bob Perry and TLR both contribute to most Republicans in Texas. In fact, Mike Hamilton has received well over $80,000 from Bob Perry and also large amounts from TLR. The idea that Susan Combs is endorsing James White based on contributions from Bob Perry or TLR is something I do not think is right because Bob Perry and TLR have also contributed tens of thousands to Mike Hamilton too.

I am a little upset that Mike Hamilton and James White are facing each other. Mike Hamilton is not a bad guy. I have had some issues with Mike Hamilton over the years like when Hamilton recently authored a bill to try to bring casinos to Texas and when he voted for Straus to be Speaker of the House (Straus gets his family money from gambling businesses and would greatly benefit from Casinos in Texas). Overall though, Mike Hamilton is a decent guy whom I have known for some time. He is not as good of a conservative or as willing to stand up and be outspoken as James White though. I don't like to play politics or vote for someone because they are my friend or because they have been in office for a long time. I always vote for the best guy and the best guy in this race is James White. That is why I have also made my final decision to endorse James White for State Rep over Mike Hamilton. I have no ill will towards Mike Hamilton. I think Joe Straus is using Mike Hamilton. Joe Straus is attempting to oust Conservative Republican James White by putting Hardin County into James White's new district. Joe Straus knew that Mike Hamilton (one of the Chairmen under Straus) was planning to move from Orange County to Hardin County after redistricting. Straus wanted to try to get James White out of the legislature so Straus put James White in the same district as Mike Hamilton. Mike Hamilton ultimately was the one to make the decision to move to Hardin County to face James White. Hamilton could have stayed in Orange County and would have run against State Rep Allan Ritter. Ritter is only 50% conservative and there are even Democrats with a higher conservative rating that Ritter. Hamilton would have easily been the better conservative in a race against Ritter and I would have campaigned hard for Hamilton to beat Ritter. I wish Hamilton would have stayed in Orange County. Hamilton did not decide to stay in Orange County though. Hamilton decided to move to Hardin County and face Super Conservative Republican James White. That was a bad move because James White is the better, more exciting Conservative Republican.

I, along with Governor Perry, other Statewide leaders, and the top Conservative and Republican organizations in Texas, have or are going to endorse and support State Representative James White in the Texas House District 19 Republican Primary Election on May 29th, 2012

Sincerely,
David Bellow