Posted on 07/28/2010 10:51:38 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Exactly one year after it became an issue in his Senate campaign, Bill White — now the Democratic candidate for governor — is still explaining his past membership in a controversial group called Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
The issue was not raised by his Republican opponent, Gov. Rick Perry, but by another Democrat who stands by his statements.
White said he has a good record on guns. "I have a 'B-plus' rating from the NRA," he said.
The Texas State Rifle Association confirms it gave White a "B" prior to the primary. But opponents claim White doesn't make the grade politically because of his previous membership in the Mayors Against Illegal Guns organization.
"Bill White joined that group full well knowing that it was an anti-Second Amendment group," Gov. Perry said.
White, a former Houston mayor, said he joined the group in 2006. It had been founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg with the understanding it supported laws that would keep stolen guns from criminals.
Then the group published an ad on July 21 last year urging Congress to crack down on legally concealed weapons crossing state lines.
White said he opposed that position. "I quit the day that I saw some ad that was shown to me by somebody at City Council table in USA Today where my permission was, I never gave permission for them to use my name in an ad," White said.
But a spokesman for the MAIG group told the Austin American Statesman that White quit on July 28, 2009 — one day after fellow Democrat John Sharp pointed out White's membership.
Sharp opposed White in the possible Senate race at the time, and claimed White couldn't be elected.
"If Republicans are allowed to talk about this, there is no way in the world you carry Texas; you certainly don't carry East Texas," Sharp said in a July 31, 2009 interview with News 8.
On Tuesday, Sharp told News 8 he still believes it's hard for a candidate who favors gun controls to get elected in Texas.
The Perry campaign says White is lying about the date he quit Bloomberg's group, and calls him anti-gun.
But White, who owns firearms, says he's against any further restrictions. "I support Second Amendment rights, period," he said.
Maybe when hell freezes over!
That’s gonna leave a mark.
Her opposition to concealed carry hurt Ann Richards deeply when she was running against GW.
we really need to keep this seat hopefully we can also keep CA and regain Florida. NY seems like a lost cause
the more Governorships and state legislatures we take or hold this year the more likely it is that we will have a House majority from 2012 on to 2022 (hopefully we grab the majority in the house this year as well).
The problem is the TX GOP like FL is infested with open-border RINOs.
“But White, who owns firearms, says he’s against any further restrictions.”
Many Democrats own guns but don’t want the peasants to. They are hypocrites, just like John Kerry who likes taxes as long as he does not have to pay them.
TX GOP is infested with open-border RINOs.
Rick Perry
Bill White satire:
“I joined the KKK because I heard they were for racial justice. Then, when I saw them lynch a black man I knew I didn’t want to be a part of it so I quit that same day.”
Many DIMs in Texas do have guns...guns sitting untouched and unused in display cases where they can turn and point and say, ‘see, see, i’m for guns’. I’d bet that if you could touch them and tap them you would hear the distinctive sound of plastic.
That's an understatement.
The Texas Legislature was ready to pass a CHL bill, but Ann Richards threatened to veto it: making it a dead issue in the Senate.
That effectively sunk her re-election campaign. I remember bumper stickers saying "Veto Richards".
The Republican revulsion to Clinton was a significant factor in the 1994 mid-term elections, but I don't think it would have defeated an incumbent governor without gun owners voting en masse (across party lines) against Richards.
A B is failing.
What was the deal with Ann Richards? How did she get elected anyway? I heard a rumor about her rival saying something about rape, but I didn’t think it was true.
Note emphasis.
White knows damn well there are restrictions enough to satisfy any gun-grabber but Sarah Brady!
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