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Kinky Friedman says he's running against ‘apathy'
Gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman accepts several gifts Thursday with local flavor during a campaign stop at the Eldorado Country Club. The Lions Club presented Friedman with cigars, a bottle of wine and an armful of T-shirts.
McKinney Courier-Gazette/Robert James Hughes
By DANNY GALLAGHER, McKinney Courier-Gazette
Author, musician, humorist and Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman said that he's not just running against Republican incumbent Rick Perry, Democrat Chris Bell, Libertarian James Werner or Independent Carol Keeton Strayhorn, or “Grandma” as he called her.
“It's more Kinky Friedman vs. apathy,” he said. “If enough people vote, we will win this race.”
Friedman, who spoke to the McKinney Lions Club on Wednesday at Eldorado Country Club, said he is counting on the vast majority of people who didn't vote to put him in the Governor's Mansion come November, and he hopes to do that by addressing the issues that he believes matter to Texans.
“The fact that the governor has been able to ban gay marriage, that's really affected all of our lives, hasn't it?” Friedman said. “I can go to the Hill Country and talk to the most redneck on this planet and they understand he has taken our eye off of the ball. It's just a political trick. It's an easy one. Everyone's against gay marriage, so just do that instead of dealing with hard problems like education.”
Friedman said if elected, his priorities on education would be to “appoint people to education who've actually seen the inside of a classroom,” let volunteers from the Texas Peace Corps teach arts, vocation and “life experience” in schools, and eliminate the TAKS test
“That's not educating kids, and if you don't believe me, ask a high school kid,” Friedman said. “He's not sure if the Civil War took place here or in Europe. That wasn't on the test. It's really penalized special [education] kids, too, but all those kids have been penalized.”
He also said he believes using legalized casino gambling with local options that let cities decide whether or not they want to have it would provide a better stream of educational revenue than a lottery system that just puts dollars “into politicians' pockets.”
“We will have $6 billion-$8 billion a year going to education in a permanent revenue stream,” he said. “This is not a one-time election year thing like Perry and the [Texas] Legislature did.”
He said the government needs to do more to address illegal immigration. He proposed his “Five Generals Plan” in which he would put a Mexican general in charge of a part of the border and pay them $10,000 out of a $2 million fund for every immigrant that is caught trying to illegally cross the border.
“Do you know Rick Perry has never picked up the phone and talked to [New Mexico Governor] Bill Richardson or [Governor] Janet Napolitano of Arizona or anybody about immigration?” Friedman said. “He's afraid of offending Hispanics, that's my charge, that's what I believe...and in doing so, he's offending a lot of Hispanics because the ones I talk to pretty much agree with me...Too many people have died trying to become citizens, and too many people have waited a lifetime and not made it,” Friedman said. “I suggest calling as much attention to the border as we can until we solve this situation.”
He also called for Texas to become less dependent on dwindling sources of oil and gas -- or as he called it “dinosaur wine” -- and more open toward renewable resources such as biodiesel, which he said offer benefits such as “[paying] less at the pump and the price never spikes and it's all biodegradable,” he said.
He added that switching to biodiesel would make Texas “No. 1 in something besides toll roads, executions and property taxes” and he already has someone in mind to head up the initiative.
“In a nutshell, I want Willie Nelson to be head of a new Texas Energy Commission,” Friedman said. “People find that very humorous, but I must tell you I believe very strongly that musicians can run this state better than politicians. We won't get a lot done in the morning, but we'll work late and we'll be honest.”
Contact Danny Gallagher at danny.gallagher@scntx.com.
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