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Home Front: Politix
Political Gambit: Dems Plan On Running LTG Sanchez (ret.) For Senate In Texas
2011-04-17
Democrats appear to have recruited retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez to run for the U.S. Senate in Texas, setting the stage for the party to field a well-known candidate in the 2012 race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, a Democrat, confirmed that Democratic Senate campaign chief Patty Murray, D-Wash., was referring to Sanchez on Thursday when she said Democrats were close to announcing a candidate in Texas.

Sanchez, reached by phone at his San Antonio home, asked where the reports of a Senate run came from and then said, “I can neither confirm nor deny.”

Sanchez, the former top military commander in Iraq who was left under a cloud from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, would not discuss the Senate race.

Already, LTG Sanchez is emphasizing that heÂ’s going to be more to the right than the average Democrat:

“I would describe myself as during my military career as supporting the president and the Constitution,” Sanchez said. “After the military, I decided that socially, I’m a progressive, a fiscal conservative and a strong supporter, obviously, of national defense.”

“Sanchez himself wrote and signed a 2003 memo that included specific interrogation tactics approved for use despite noting that they may violate the Geneva Conventions. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sanchez denied signing off on these interrogation methods.”
Posted by:Anonymoose

#12  Michael Williams is a Commissioner on the Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates the oil and gas industry. It is the stateÂ’s oldest regulatory agency. Elected statewide three times, he was elected to complete an unexpired term in November 2000. In November 2002 and 2008, they re-elected him to full six-year terms. He was initially appointed to the Commission by then-Governor George W. Bush in December 1998 to fill a vacant seat. Williams served as Chairman of the Commission from September 1999 to September 2003 and again from July 2007 to February 2009. He is the first African American in Texas history to hold an executive statewide elected post.

Williams serves as the Chairman of the Governor’s Competitiveness Council. He also chairs the Governor’s Clean Coal Technology Council, represents the Governor on the Southern States Energy Board and is a member of both the National Coal Council and the Interstate Compact Commission. Williams also serves as the Railroad Commission’s “point person” for the agency’s regulatory reform and technology modernization efforts.

The son of public school teachers who earned degrees in math and the husband of a mechanical engineer, Michael is the creator and co-sponsor of the “Winnovators,” a summer camp for 6th through 12th graders to inspire the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians.

An advocate of alternative energy, Williams is championing the conversion of Texas public and private fleets, especially school buses, from diesel and gasoline to environmentally cleaner, cheaper and domestically produced natural gas and propane through his “Breathe Easy” initiative.

Michael is the immediate past Honorary State Chairman of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Texas. He initiated the Texas response against the tragedy in Darfur. Williams also narrates short stories for children of all ages, including the visually impaired and those with special needs.

Previously, Williams served as general counsel to a Texas high-tech corporation and “of Counsel” with the law firm of Haynes and Boone, L.L.P. He also has served in a volunteer capacity as the General Counsel of the Republican Party of Texas, the chairman of the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, on the Board of Directors of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Our Mother of Mercy Catholic School.

A devout conservative, Michael helped get out the vote for Republicans as Chairman of Texas Victory 2004 and 2006, has served as Convention Chairman and Platform Committee Chairman at Republican Party of TexasÂ’ State Conventions and was one of the original board members of the Texas Christian Coalition. He is also a life time member of the National Rifle Association.

He also had the pleasure to serve as an adjunct professor at Texas Southern University in the School of Public Affairs and Texas Wesleyan School of Law.

In 1990, President George H. W. Bush appointed Williams to be Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education, a position previously held by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Former President Bush previously appointed Williams as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He had policy oversight responsibility for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Customs Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Williams also served in the Department of Justice as Special Assistant to Attorney General Richard Thornburgh.

Williams served as a prosecutor in the Department of Justice under President Ronald Reagan. In 1988, he was awarded the Attorney General’s “Special Achievement Award” for the conviction of six Ku Klux Klan members on stolen military weapons charges. Early in his career, he was an assistant district attorney in his hometown of Midland, Texas.

Williams is a proud alumnus of the University of Southern California where he holds a bachelorÂ’s, a masterÂ’s and a law degree.

He is a member of Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Arlington, Texas. He and his best friend, Donna, celebrate 24 years of marriage.
Posted by: Jinese McGurque4032   2011-04-17 23:51  

#11  Problem for him is he is up against a solid Republican field - including one who has won state wide office in Texas more than once, and has bona fide in-office fiscal conservative credentials: Michael Williams (Whom I have contributed to from out of state)

Posted by: OldSpook   2011-04-17 22:51  

#10  TW,
I suspect his interest in the Democratic Party is due to bitterness about how his career ended.

As for his responsibility for the scandal, 2 thoughts:
1) It is traditional for the top guy to take a hit for any scandal.
2) The memo to interigators is pretty damning, and his defence is pretty weak.

At the very least he (and others in the chain of command) are guilty of lax supervision. Probably of the "Don't tell me. I don't want to know" kind.
Posted by: Frozen Al   2011-04-17 16:52  

#9  In the miltary Senore Lopez supported the constitution, but now he is a progressive. Texas will over whelmingly vote this Democrat down, just like Texas did to all the other major progressives last fall. Period.
Posted by: wr   2011-04-17 16:30  

#8  Hopefully Sanchez is more like your husband and less like clowns such as Patty "Osama-bin-Laden-builds-day-care-centers" Murray.

Agreed, Barbara. That's why I'm hoping some here can comment knowledgeably about the gentleman. Pappy was a bit cryptic.
Posted by: trailing wife   2011-04-17 15:06  

#7  "The key is remembering that an individual's hard work has to be the response to proffered help."

It strikes me the today's "progressives" think the downtrodden are incapable of doing anything to pull themselves out of their crappy lives, tw, and really don't want them to, as that would lead to fewer guaranteed votes for said "progressives." I don't mind helping give others a chance to pull themselves up, though I'd rather see it done by charities rather than the government, which has proved over the decades that it's incapable of helping anyone but itself (in the form of the people who get cushy jobs "helping" poor people stay poor).

Hopefully Sanchez is more like your husband and less like clowns such as Patty "Osama-bin-Laden-builds-day-care-centers" Murray.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2011-04-17 14:49  

#6  I'd say the two are mutually exclusive.

Barbara, Mr. Wife has long described himself as socially progressive and fiscally conservative. By that he means that he wants to provide the underprivileged help to pull themselves up to the middle class, should they be willing to do the hard work, and within the constraints of funding provided by a reasonable tax and regulatory scheme. He grew up the son of a union steel worker -- his father had a high school diploma, his mother finally got her GED a decade ago. He was bright and hard working, and so was given a place in a research program for high school students that he parlayed through harder work into an education and a career.

I imagine an awful lot of American military people have similar stories, thanks to taking advantage of the opportunities the Armed Forces provide the troops and their families in return for hard work. The key is remembering that an individual's hard work has to be the response to proffered help.
Posted by: trailing wife   2011-04-17 14:32  

#5  Pappy's point makes mine moot. Do we dislike him as much as we did former Secretary of State Colin Powell?
Posted by: trailing wife   2011-04-17 14:19  

#4  "I'm a progressive, a fiscal conservative"

I'd say the two are mutually exclusive.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2011-04-17 14:19  

#3  Two points:

1) This is the kind of Democrat we want. As long as he is serious about the fiscally conservative bit, his socially progressive side won't do the kind of harm that's been done by the socially progressive/fiscally irresponsible Democrats have done. We want the Republicans we elect to be fiscally conservative as well, which too many of them have not been.

2) How much responsibility does he hold for not preventing an atmosphere in which Abu Ghraib behaviour occurred? Managerially he is responsible for not making sure that woman who commanded the prison was doing things properly, but at that level she should not have needed close supervision. In other words, should I hold it against him in terms of his judgement and ability that it was on his watch that it occurred?
Posted by: trailing wife   2011-04-17 14:16  

#2  IÂ’m a progressive, a fiscal conservative and a strong supporter, obviously, of national defense.

Two oxymorons and a potential lie.
Posted by: Pappy   2011-04-17 14:15  

#1  "during my military career as supporting the president and the Constitution"

After the military...I'm a progressive

He brown noses whoever butt he thinks will sign the next pay check.
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Phomoger7360   2011-04-17 13:39  

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