Courtesy of Bastrop Advertiser
March 10, 2022
By Bill McCann
I’ve often wondered why voters keep supporting conman, Putin pal, and would-be authoritarian Donald Trump. And Trump apologists and enablers such as indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and grandstander Sen. Ted Cruz. And fanatical Texas U.S. representatives like Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, and Chip Roy, R-Hays County. And cultural warrior Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick who apparently opposes teaching kids about America’s history of racism. And Gov. Greg Abbott, who wants to make criminals out of parents who are trying to do what’s best for their transgender children.
It seems obvious that numerous voters don’t have a clue about who they are voting for. And if they do, they don’t care. Take last week’s Texas primary election for instance. In the Republican primary, Lubbock businessman, Marvin “Sarge” Summers, received about 193,000 votes, or almost 12% of the vote, in an important race for a seat on the three-member Texas Railroad Commission. Most voters probably don’t know squat about the Railroad Commission – which doesn’t regulate railroads but has the crucial responsibility of regulating oil and gas.
There was one hitch. Sadly, Summers died in early February when his SUV hit the back of a truck that had slowed to make a turn, according to statewide news reports. It was too late to remove his name from the ballot, giving citizens the opening to vote for a dead man.
From what I have read about Summers, dead or alive he would have been a better choice than incumbent Wayne Christian, a former state representative who has faced ethics allegations. After approving an oilfield waste dump, Christian got a $100,000 campaign contribution days later from a group affiliated with the dump while the case was still pending, according to news reports. Campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets reports that Christian received more than $838,000 in oil and gas-related contributions leading up to the primary.
Unofficial results last week showed Christian received about 47% of the vote. He faces a May primary runoff against Sarah Stogner, who got about 15%. Stogner, an attorney who represents landowners, has refused to take campaign contributions. She made headlines recently by posting on social media a semi-nude video of herself astride an oil pumpjack. Apparently, it got her enough exposure to make the runoff.
I’m not sure why so many folks voted for a dead man. Some probably voted early and didn’t hear about Summers’ death in time. Some may have known he died and wanted to honor him. It’s also likely that many simply picked his name randomly. Roughly half of his vote total came in person on election day.
Therein lies a problem. It’s unfortunate that many people – not just Republicans – frequently fail to do their homework before voting. Consequently, we sometimes end up with scoundrels, incompetents or extremists chosen in primary elections with low turnouts. (Turnout in last week’s primary was under 20% of registered voters.) We end up with federal, state and local elected officials who will do and say anything to stay in office, while acting repeatedly against the best interests of their constituents.
That’s certainly true in Texas where Republicans have had a stranglehold on statewide elected offices for nearly three decades. Meanwhile, Texas is downright mediocre in serving its citizens. U.S. News & World Report, which uses detailed state by state data to compare performance, ranks Texas 31st overall for 2021. This includes ninth for its economy, 31st for health care, 34th for education, 37th for crime and corrections, and 40th for environment.
Texans deserve more than mediocrity from their state government. But they are dead wrong if they think the situation will improve if they keep voting based on manufactured outrage and false promises from those who seek those votes.
Bill McCann is a contributing columnist for the Advertiser. He is a retired journalist and may be reached at [email protected].
