Giving a Name to Texas GOP Primary Politics

In the end, an important political race may be decided by something as simple (and potentially dangerous) as which of two common names -- Smith or Green -- sounds better to most Republican primary voters.

For political insiders, however, the race between Texas Supreme Court Justice Steven Wayne Smith and challenger Paul Green offers an entertaining look at how Gov. Rick Perry is letting his pique at Smith put him at odds with leaders from the far-right wing of his own party, which he normally has courted.

The governor probably won't shoot himself in the foot, but he will need the support of many of Smith's supporters if he faces a serious challenge for his own renomination in 2006.

Perry and his main hatchet bearer, chief of staff Mike Toomey, are intent on punishing Smith, who had the audacity to unseat a mid-term Perry appointee to the same Supreme Court post two years ago.

Smith also had the right name, or, more to the point, his opponent -- Xavier Rodriguez -- had the wrong one in the 2002 race. Hispanics have made inroads into the Texas Republican Party, but unknown candidates with Hispanic surnames still face huge obstacles in GOP primaries.

(The latest to try is another mid-term Perry appointee, Texas Railroad Commissioner Victor Carrillo, who faces three Republican opponents in this year's race.)

Smith is clear about his conservatism. And Republican voters who knew anything about him two years ago knew he was a staunch opponent of affirmative action, a stance that isn't going to hurt any candidate in a GOP primary.

Until then, his main claim to political fame had been his role, as a lawyer, in putting together the so-called Hopwood lawsuit, which challenged minority racial preferences in admissions to the University of Texas Law School. The case resulted in a 1996 federal court ruling and a related opinion from then-Texas Attorney General Dan Morales that barred Texas universities from using racial preferences in student admissions.

The restrictions were lifted by a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Michigan case last year.

Smith claims endorsements from an array of socially conservative, hard-right leaders, including Cathie Adams, president of the Texas Eagle Forum; Tim Lambert, a Republican national committeeman and president of the Texas Home School Coalition; U.S. Rep. Ron Paul; and leaders of at least two anti-abortion groups.

The lineup is so conservative that Smith's campaign treasurer, former congressman and Railroad Commissioner Kent Hance, hardly a liberal, finds himself, comparatively, in the most unusual position of occupying the campaign's "left" wing.

It has been suspected that Perry or Toomey or someone else in the governor's camp had a hand in recruiting Green, a nine-year veteran on San Antonio's 4th Court of Appeals, to challenge Smith. Green and Perry's people deny that. But Green says the governor has privately assured him of support, and he expects Perry to make his endorsement public before the campaign ends.

What's more, the governor and Green share the same political consultant, David Carney. And Green's campaign treasurer is Austin banker James Huffines, who chaired Perry's 2002 campaign steering committee and co-chaired the governor's 2003 inaugural.

The Texas Supreme Court spends a lot less time on hot-button political issues, such as abortion and school vouchers, than it does refereeing disputes between plaintiffs lawyers and consumers, on one side, and corporate defendants, doctors and their insurance companies on the other. And an initial check of Green's record on the 4th Court indicates that he would fit easily into a high court majority that usually sides with corporations and their insurers.

During his limited tenure, Smith hasn't emerged as a champion of consumers either, which should also make him acceptable to Perry. But, Smith noted, "I beat the governor's appointee, and the word I got was that I should be punished."

The Republican primary will decide the election because no Democrat is seeking the seat. If the race, despite the governor's best efforts, comes down to a simple matter of names, which would sound the best to Republican voters?

"I think Smith," said a Smith supporter. "Green sounds like an environmentalist."

Name	City	Occupation	Party	Phone
Texas Railroad Commission
Robert Butler	Palestine	Retired State Employee	Rep	(903) 922-5355
Victor G. Carrillo	Austin	Railroad Commissioner	Rep	(512) 463-7131
Douglas G. Deffenbaugh	San Antonio	President, Oil & Gas Service Co.	Rep	(210) 496-0612
K. Dale Henry	Mullin	engineer	Rep	(325) 985-3576
Bob Scarborough			Dem	1/2/2004

Here's another email I received from the Smith campaign:

Supreme Court Justice Steven Wayne Smith spoke Monday at a North West Austin Republican Women lunch meeting at Chez Zee Cafe.

Though Justice Smith’s opponent, San Antonio Appeals Court Justice Paul Green was invited, he did not appear.

Tuesday evening, Justice Smith drove 65 miles to speak to a crowd of over 300 Comal County Republicans at the spacious Guadalupe Valley Telephone Cooperative auditorium in New Braunfels, less than 35 miles from downtown
San Antonio, where Justice Smith’s opponent works. Though Justice Smith’s opponent, Paul Green, was invited, he did not appear.

Thursday, Justice Smith traveled more than 200 miles to speak to theTarrant County Republican Forum in downtown Ft. Worth, where he received unsolicited endorsements by State Republican Executive Committeewomen
Shirley Spellerberg and Melba McDow. Green did not appear. Thursday night, Justice Smith appeared at the Legacy “Call to Victory” Republicanevent in Austin, at the Westover Hills Church of Christ hosted by State Republican Executive Committeewoman Pat Carlson and Committeeman Bill
Crocker. Green did not appear.

In response to Green’s non-appearances, Justice Smith’s campaign manager David Rogers said, “I thought this guy was running a real campaign. Maybe I was wrong. This is getting to be a little like ‘Where’s Waldo?’ Only
this time, the question is ‘where’s Paul-o?’”

Justice Smith, the Texas Supreme Court’s leading advocate of judicial restraint, is also an outspoken advocate of judicial free speech,prudently exercised. “I intend to share my conservative message, that,unlike the liberal elite, I believe policy issues like abortion, education funding, and homosexual rights should be decided by the
Legislature, not the courts.”

Smith, who is supported by virtually every significant grassroots conservative who has made an endorsement, firmly believes in connecting with his constituents. Many leading state Republicans, including former National Committeeman Tim Lambert, Congressman Ron Paul, former
Congressman and Railroad Commissioner Kent Hance, State House Judicial Affairs Committee Chairman Will Hartnett, and former Texas Solicitor General Greg Coleman, have endorsed Justice Smith for re-election.

Justice Smith is best known as the attorney who filed, litigated and won the Hopwood case that ended racial preferences at Texas universities from
1996 through 2003. Justice Smith has served on the Supreme Court since Nov. 20, 2002, and has been in the majority over 95% of the time since joining the Court.

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