Enriquez's Republican Ties Could Be Big Hurdle

Hector Enriquez, who is a candidate running as a Democrat in House District 75 against Mary Gonzalez and Tony San Roman, is going to have to do some explaining to Democrats about his Republican ties.

I've written previously about the fact that he was showing off his picture with former President George W. Bush at his campaign kick-off event earlier in the campaign.

But as if taking a picture with the most unpopular Republican for Democrats in the country wasn't enough, it looks like Enriquez wanted to make sure he covered all his bases.

As you can see in this screen shot taken from the Texas Ethics Commission website, it looks like Enriquez has provided financial support to the one Republican who might actually be more unpopular than Bush, Texas Governor Rick Perry.

In fact, in terms of state contributions, it appears that Enriquez has provided more support to Republicans than to members of his own party. The report shows a $50 contribution to State Representative Marisa Marquez last year and a $60 contribution to the El Paso Democratic Party.

That brings his total contributions to the Dems to $110.

By contrast, you can see that Enriquez made three different contributions to Republican Governor Rick Perry. Each of the contributions were for $100.

So he donated roughly 3 times as much money to Republicans than he has Democrats. He apparently didn't donate to the Democratic challengers to Perry.

But the ties don't stop there. It goes deeper.

He attempted to get funding by the Texans for Lawsuit Reform. They contribute most of their money to Republicans although they have given to El Paso Democratic members of the legislature like former State Representative Norma Chavez, and current Reps Marquez and Gonzalez.

He has also been endorsed by Republican-aligned organizations like the Texas Association of Business, which not only has a reputation for being anti-labor, but has only endorsed 3 Democrats out of the 200 state rep candidates out there. In fact, if you check out this announcement from the organization, it not only shows their endorsement of his candidacy, but the endorsement of MITT ROMNEY!

Seriously! Check it out, you can't make this stuff up!

And then there's his rhetoric. He says things that sound like a Republican. On his website's home page he says, "Count on me to stand for family values..." and later, "...Help me prove that 'old fashioned' values..."

Sounds very Republican. Even more so when you realize that he takes a page out of the old Carlos Leon campaign page. Mention family values in a race that has absolutely nothing to do with family values when you are facing a candidate that is, or rumored to be, gay.

Carlos Leon did it previously and now Enriquez is doing it.

But now Enriquez has apparently decided to surpass even Leon with the dog-whistle rhetoric. He actually RETWEETS Tweets that mention Gonzalez's sexuality.

For example...former State Representative Norma Chavez, famous for outing current State Representative Naomi Gonzalez's sexuality in a forum, posted this Tweet in which, yet again, she mentions a candidate's sexuality.

As you can see, I point out the part where Enriquez retweeted the post.

I guess its a way to continue waging a whisper campaign without ever publicly doing so.

I spoke with Enriquez at the Clinton event and asked him why he did that (it happened on more than one occasion) and he responded by saying "Ask her why she's putting it out there" and then said, "I have no comment on the issue."