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The Starr Report
The betrayal of the Texas Democrats’ grassroots activists
By Linda L. Starr
Online Journal Assistant Editor

June 4, 2002—First, the grassroots activists in the Texas Democratic Party had a forced purchase of the gubernatorial nomination thrust down their throat. I say forced purchase because the real Democrat who ran, Dan Morales, was outspent 40 to 1, to the tune of some $22 million by Tony Sanchez. One could not turn on a television without seeing a Sanchez commercial every 10 minutes. Uneducated voters in the primary only saw the name, not the political history of the candidates.

Tony Sanchez was the third highest contributor to George W. Bush and the nation’s highest individual contributor. Further, Sanchez was heard publicly boasting at the CWA caucus of the AFL-CIO convention in January of having contributed another $100,000 to the Republican National Committee “for the fight in Florida.”

Delegates at that convention say Texas AFL-CIO President Joe Gunn forced an endorsement for Tony Sanchez by refusing traditional voting methods in a hotly contested race, instead opting for a voice vote which allowed non-delegates witnessing the event to also vote. Angry delegates were screaming “No! No!” at the results of Joe Gunn’s interpreted tabulations. The irony of these facts were not lost on lifelong Democratic voters and activists. Outrage grew among the grassroots until a firestorm was about to erupt.

Lifelong Democrats who opposed Sanchez being thrust down throats are being pressured to get on the unity bandwagon. Most can’t support Sanchez, particularly in light of the political facts of Sanchez’s activities, and still look themselves in the mirror, as they view support of Sanchez as a sale of their souls. As a result of these events, record numbers of Democrats are reporting their intent to stay home on election day in November rather than vote a straight Democratic ticket. Some report an intent to write in names of others for these races.

The so called “dream ticket” includes Sanchez and John Sharp, who betrayed Democrats in 1998 when he divorced himself from the Democratic Party during his campaign for lieutant governor. The sad truth is if massive numbers of Democrats stay home on election day, that leaves the other candidates on the ticket without enough Democratic voters turning out to defeat their Republican opponents. Blame for this turn of events is being laid at the poor leadership under Molly Beth Malcomb as state party chair.

The Sanchez purchase of the nomination has left massive disgust among lifelong Texas Democrats, a fact ignored by the Sanchez/Sharp campaigns and denied by the Texas Democratic Party communications director, Mike Hailey. The split this so called “dream ticket” is causing in the Texas Democratic Party goes right through the heart and soul of grassroots voters, much deeper than those in power realize. The opposition to Sanchez is growing, not diminishing as has been claimed by Sanchez/Sharp supporters hoping to sway dissenters into voting a straight Democratic ticket. Though blame is being leveled at Dan Morales for his last minute bid for the gubernatorial nomination, a claim made by the Sanchez/Sharp supporters, the truth is there is a growing disgust with Sanchez. Dan Morales was recruited to run as an alternative to Sanchez who viewed as a Republicrat by lifelong Democrats, certainly not a Democrat in any traditional meaning of the word.

Unity is a word being bandied about by those in power, but openly disavowed by the grassroots who are outraged and appalled at the state of the party today under Molly Beth Malcomb’s leadership. Her record of wins in 29 elections, during her four-year tenure, is zero. Her 100 percent failure rate is unacceptable to lifelong Democrats who know that Republicans can always win a campaign based on money, but Democrats win based on grassroots voters and activists getting out the vote.

Which brings us to the real reason for the withdrawal of the invitations to the Democratic National Committee representatives to speak at the state convention in El Paso. The campaigns of Sanchez and Sharp are so fearful of losing their tenuous hold on the party that they are terrified of any Democratic National Committee representatives appearing to overshadow their Lovefest in El Paso. It speaks volumes of their fears of delegate dissent and rebellion on the convention floor, and the anger against the Sanchez/Sharp campaigns that is growing daily.

The growing anger is so pervasive, a grassroots effort to challenge Molly Beth Malcomb, the incumbent state party chair, was formulated and put into action. The challenger had been working grassroots members for months in an effort to gain support for himself over another candidate the grassroots preferred. When the powerbrokers in the party realized they actually faced losing the state chair to the challenger, so great was the growing rancor among grassroots Democrats that the challenge was derailed by a personal phone call from Sanchez requesting the challenger to withdraw.

An insider reports the challenger, having made a secret deal with Sanchez to follow Molly Beth Malcomb when she leaves office to pursue her own interests, immediately succumbed to the pressure exerted by the gubernatorial nominee. To describe the erupting outrage among the challenger’s supporters as anything less than pouring gasoline on flames is like saying Hiroshima was a small chemical plant explosion. The anti-Sanchez/Sharp feelings have erupted to gargantuan proportions. Instead of quelling growing dissent, Sanchez has guaranteed open rebellion at the convention.

Democratic activists feel their challenger for the party chairmanship sold out to big money interests because of lies, failure to inform them of what was going on, and a promise to deliver their votes to Sanchez. That was a promise the challenger was not empowered to make and it has split the party even further than before. Grassroots Democrats see this as an outrage for Sanchez to interfere in the election of a state party chair.

For some time, the state chair has been denying reports that leaked out of party headquarters that claimed she was being forced to withdraw the invitation to the DNC representatives who had planned on attending the state convention in El Paso. Witnesses report that Joe Gunn was screaming at a crying Molly Beth Malcomb until she capitualed. Grassroots activists see this as more interference from those desperate to elect Sanchez rather than a real Democrat, a distinction only grassroots activists seem able to make.

Today, it has been falsely reported in newspapers across Texas that there were scheduling conflicts. Fury over that newest revelation has angered even more delegates who are spending considerable amounts of money to go so far for a convention at the farthest point in the state from the center. It has left the El Paso hosts in a terrible position. Most delegates, including the earliest supporters of Sanchez/Sharp, are openly furious they are being denied their right to a full state convention, which normally includes DNC representatives each year. The only opposition to DNC representatives Senators Tom Daschle and Joe Lieberman and Democratic National Chairman Terry MacAuliffe attending, came from Sanchez and Sharp.

The grassroots Democratic activists, who normally contribute money and time, and who volunteer to support their party, are feeling betrayed by the power brokers and their own challenger to Malcomb. What the Sanchez/Sharp camps do not realize is that the challenger was not the first choice to run for state chair, but was simply the most vocal in promising not to quit, no matter what Sanchez/Sharp offered. The Sanchez/Sharp campaigns are about to have a very rude awakening. The rumor circulating now is they hope to squelch open dissent by preventing spectators and guests from attending the convention.

Massive numbers of delegates are now saying the Sanchez/Sharp campaigns are behaving like an extension of the Republican Party. It is felt this is no longer a Democratic convention, because some eligible Democrats were denied delegate status by a few district chairs who hoped to stack the deck in favor of Molly Beth over the challenger, and are denied even the tradition of attending. With Molly Beth Malcomb’s history as a Republican, and the history of Sanchez in his massive campaign contributions to Republicans to defeat Democrats, grassroots activists are seeing this as another betrayal of Democratic Party principles, ideals and behaviors. They are asking what happened to a true Democratic Party of the people, by the people and for the people of Texas? Republicans took control using money as the leverage and have turned the Texas Democratic Party into a bunch of Republicrats, so dubbed by the grassroots in dissent. No wonder grassroots Democrats feel betrayed and angry.