La Revancha - Precinct 2

County Commissioner David Stout filed for reelection yesterday. It was a bit surprising because while I said a while back that he wasn't going to run for county judge because the support just wasn't there, he sent out a press advisory to the media that had language that gave every indication that he was going to run for county judge because he spoke about taking the lead on issues such as providing affordable access to healthcare, veterans affairs, economic development and other issues. It pissed off the media because he sorta tricked them into showing up for what would otherwise be a none-story.

The problem is I don't think any of that stuff in his release is actually true. He wasn't even on the court for the vote to expand healthcare access through the clinics, that was Lewis. Lewis voted against that and it was probably his biggest political mistake and still something that can be hung over his head, but Stout can't take credit for it.

I don't know of anything Stout has taken the lead on while a commissioner other than Do-ruhn-gui-toe and ducks at Ascarate. That is kind of why he doesn't have support for county judge and has to fight to keep his seat in the first place.

So its a rematch between Stout and Lewis. No one else will get in this race, so no run-off.

Here's the tale of the tape on these guys.

Commissioner Lewis still has a bad voting record to deal with on a range of issues. That hasn't gone away. He still has EPISD lurking in the background that Stout never really took advantage of when he was a candidate against Lewis. But, Lewis is also a very different candidate now. For one, he's actually working it more than he did when he was the incumbent. He has already been block walking and hitting doors since earlier this month. Also, he's a Forma candidate now. So his materials aren't that really long boring shit he had last time and he retired that fugly old logo that Morris Pittle did for him in the last election that looked like Bart Simpson and Joseph Stalin had a baby. His stuff is clean and refreshed. And so is he. No more black shirts. He looks like a Commissioner now. He's always had a command of his issues, but he's more succinct in his presentation now. His candidate make-over has been a success.

Commissioner Stout has the better voting record on policies, but he hasn't been a leader except on issues that are not good issues for him. His support has withered away. He no longer has the campaign team he did before when he squeaked out a close victory over Lewis by less than 50 votes. So who is he going to get now, especially now that he's up against Forma? He's gonna have a money problem too. Its going to be difficult to get campaign contributions to build up enough resources to fight off Forma. Forma is going to blast him with a negative message and unless something drastic changes, he's not going to have anything to be able to fight back with. Stout started late and now has to play catch-up.

Last time things got pretty heated between the two because they both brought up one another's arrest records. I doubt they repeat that now.

But I do want to hear the two of them square off on policy. Four years later and very different ideas about the role of county government from the two of them should make for some good policy conversation.