Texas Democratic Party Piles on Hotze

The TDP gets in on the act, slamming Steven Hotze for recruiting right wing candidates to run against Democratic Texas legislators by email. So, it's not just us here in Houston, appalled that mayoral candidate Gene Locke has sought Hotze's endorsement. We have Austin piling on Hotze. TDP's Ruben Hernandez reminds Democrats that Hotze is an extremist, only concerned with advancing the Republican's harshly partisan agenda. 


And, here is the little tidbit that someone needs to uncover about Locke seeking out Hotze's endorsement. Hernandez reminds us that Hotze's demands money for endorsements. Did money exchange hands between Locke and Hotze?


The TDP email is below. It includes a reminder that Hotze declared DWI laws are in place to enforce morality - then he was arrested for DWI. 

Dear fellow Democrat,

Following the election of 74 Democrats to serve in a more equally divided Texas House during the 2009 legislative session, Texans immediately saw the benefits of electing more mainstream, common sense Democrats to restore balance in Austin.  


Unfortunately, while our responsible Democratic legislators have demonstrated that they will work with anyone - Democrat, Republican or Independent - who is willing to put aside labels and solve problems, the extreme elements within the Republican Party are only concerned with advancing their harshly partisan agenda.


Last week, Dr. Steven Hotze, a self-styled "Christian conservative" from Houston with a history of questionable and improper activities, used a blast email to announce plans that his right-wing Republican group was working to recruit Republican extremists to run in 11 Texas House districts held by Democrats. In February 2000, Hotze's political action committee was fined $5,000 by the Texas Ethics Commission, which was the largest fine in the Commission's history at the time. Hotze has also been accused - by his own siblings and by other Republicans - of demanding contributions in return for endorsements, laundering political funds through his family's business and he was once arrested for DWI despite his sanctimonious claims that DWI laws were needed to enforce morality.


The House Democrats that Hotze wants to defeat have worked hard to do what real Texans do - tackle tough challenges head-on to make our great state even stronger. House Democrats put a roadblock in the path of Governor Perry’s Trans-Texas Corridor, restored CHIP coverage for hundreds of thousands of Texas children, and led the effort to end the freeze on school funding imposed by a 2006 Perry-Republican school finance plan that had forced hundreds of local school districts to consider property tax hikes, teacher layoffs and reduced academic offerings.


Texas Republicans are caught up in a civil war within their Party, struggling to maintain relevancy with everyday Texans while their candidates sing to the tune demanded by the fringe rhetoric of the radical elements that control the Texas GOP today. The Republicans know Democrats can win a Texas House majority in 2010, and people like Steven Hotze will stop at nothing to maintain a Republican majority that will march to the drumbeat he and his extremist allies demand.
We strongly encourage you to support your Democratic State Representatives as we enter the 2010 campaign season.

Your fellow Democrat,

Ruben Hernandez
Executive Director
Texas Democratic Party