Dec
4
Written by:
Andy Hogue
12/4/2009 12:02 PM
Democratic candidate for governor Hank Gilbert announced he is switching races during a telephone conference at noon.
As he did in 2006, Gilbert announced his candidacy for Texas Commissioner of Agriculture.
After announcing his withdrawl from the gubernatorial race, Gilbert endorsed Houston hair care product businessman Farouk Shami for governor.
Gilbert expressed his excitement at returning to the campaign for ag commissioner -- a decision he said he made with his family at 10:30 p.m. last night, before his son was scheduled to compete in a Future Farmers of America state leadership contest in Huntsville. He said a run for ag commissioner is a more winnable situation -- particularly with prospective Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White's anticipated announcement this afternoon (see blog for update).
"It's a race I'm familiar with, and one in which I've been involved with ..." Gilbert said, with hopes his supporters would be just as enthusiastic during his short run for governor.
On the Shami endorsement, Gilbert said the candidate can "make the changes to the state that are necessary to make."
"I sat down and talked with Farouk -- he believes everyone is equal until proven otherwise. I honestly believe he's a man of his word. The man built his own fortune, and spent the majority of his life working," Gilbert said, praising his business savvy.
Gilbert said he is not supporting White because, in Gilbert's words, "you violated my trust."
"People might say I'm a bit naiive, but I was raised to be a man of principle ... On two sepearate occassions when I ran into Bill White and he complimented me on my job in running for governor, and he gave me his word he would stay in the [U.S.] Senate race. Otherwise, I would have never gotten into this race," he said.
Gilbert took a swipe at the performance of Ag Commissioner Todd Staples, Gilbert's Republican rival in the '06 general election. "I don't think it [the office] has changed any in four years. They [voters] are still not impressed."
Gilbert said Staples ran on platform of expanding alternative energy, but said he has done little to that end. He also said Staples has not helped Texas wine producers to operate independently of regulations which allegedly favor wine distributors.
Staples was not yet reached for comment by time of posting.
"... [We need to] get the wagon out of ditch and get this state back on the road to prosperity," Gilbert said.
UPDATE: (12:53 p.m.) The Austin American-Statesman's Corrie McLaggan aptly noticed that Gilbert took a swipe at Shami on one of his subsidiary Web sites, "The Scoop":
>>However, as of now, Gilbert’s Web site, thescoop.hankgilbert.com, still has an item taking shots at Shami. It says that Shami, who has said he’ll put $10 million of his own money into the primary, is trying “to buy his way” into winning the Democratic nomination. “Sadly, Texas has already seen enough of the ‘government as business’ approach, and Shami’s won’t be any different,” Gilbert’s Web site says [via the Statesman's Virtual Capitol blog at 12:18 p.m.].
Meanwhile Shami gladly accepted the nomination. He wrote in a press relase:
>> "I am deeply honored to receive the endorsement of Hank Gilbert. Hank ran an excellent campaign and we share a remarkably similar vision for Texas. The policies Hank formulated and put forth in this race mirror many of my own ideas and beliefs and I will be carrying forward many of his ideas through the remainder of my campaign and into the Governor's office next January [...] The support Hank amassed in his race represents a significant portion of our party's grassroots, progressive base. I look forward to earning their support in the coming weeks and months as I continue my campaign for Governor of Texas."