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June 17, 2004
Featured Speaker at First State
Democratic
Convention Event Cancels at Last Minute
By
Mike Hailey
Capitol
Inside Editor
HOUSTON - If you're an imaginative Texas Democrat who's
seen a silver lining in every dark cloud that's hovered
above in recent years, then you might find it encouraging
that the featured speaker at the first official State Democratic
Convention event in Houston this week won't be speaking
here at all.
New Mexico Lieutenant Governor Diane D. Denish
late Wednesday backed out of plans to speak at the Texas Democratic
Convention's Kick-Off Reception on Thursday evening. The abrupt
cancellation was necessary because "certain events came
up in New Mexico" that Denish was "obligated"
to facilitate, a spokeswoman for the lieutenant governor told
Capitol Inside. The Denish aide provided no other details
other than to mention that the lieutenant governor had spent
the past two days flying around New Mexico. But certain
events that would tend to keep an official of Denish's political
stature busy have indeed come up in New Mexico during the
past few days. New Mexico Democrats learned Wednesday, for
example, that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee
John Kerry will be in Albuquerque on Tuesday
for a fundraising event. New Mexico Democrats are hoping
to put together a second Kerry event while the Massachusetts
senator is in town.
Kerry's stop will come on the heels of a series of meetings
that Democratic Party's national platform committee has
decided to hold in Santa Fe this weekend. The state's top
ranking Democrat - Governor Bill Richardson
- is expected to have considerable influence over the platform-writing
duties as the chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention
in Boston next month. The New Mexico governor also is on
a list of possible vice presidential running mates that
Kerry is considering. In addition to whatever out-of-state
demands Richardson might face as the national convention
boss, the former energy secretary has spent considerable
time out of his home state since taking office at the start
of last year. The Albuquerque Tribune reported that Richardson
was out of state one out of every six days during his first
six months in office. The governor just returned from a
five-day trip to Asia where he promoted New Mexico's renewable
energy technologies in Japan and South Korea.
When Richardson is out of state, Denish serves as acting
governor. It was not clear, however, if the lieutenant governor's
decision to cancel her trip to Houston had anything to do
with possible Richardson out-of-state travels. Denish is
a former Democratic state chair who used to own a fundraising
and research firm. She won the state's number two job in
2002 - the year Richardson was elected governor.
Texas Democrats might feel a slight bit of envy over the
success the Democratic Party's top leaders in New Mexico
have enjoyed in recent years. But they should look at it
this way: Four years ago, the featured speaker at the Texas
Democratic Convention's Kick-Off event in Fort Worth was
then Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. Two years after that,
Texas Democrats suffered their most humilating defeat at
the polls ever, losing control of the Texas House while
failing to win a single statewide office despite a ticket
that won national acclaim. So if Richardson's appearance
turned out to be bad luck, maybe the no-show by Denish bodes
something positive for the next major statewide election
in Texas in 2006.
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| Dennis Speight and ex-State Chair
Bob Slagle listen to SDEC debate at Houston convention |
June 17, 2004
Ex-Partnership Finance Director
in Position to be Youngest Officer Ever for Democrats
in Texas
HOUSTON - The Texas Democratic Party is on the verge
of electing its youngest state party officer ever
on record. That's Dennis Speight,
who is uncontested so far in a bid for the position
of vice chair of finance - one of the top three state
party posts in Texas.
But while the former Texas Aggie is only 28 years
old and looks even younger, Speight is not exactly
new on the Democratic political scene in Texas. In
fact, he's been a fixture in state party politics
his entire adult life and a significant amount of
time before that. Speight, whose grandmother served
on the State Democratic Executive Committee, led the
Texas Young Democrats as its president for several
years. He worked as finance director for the Texas
Partnership, which concentrated on re-electing state
House members when former Speaker Pete Laney
was in charge of the lower chamber. Speight says he
raised more than $1.6 million for candidates in the
past two years.
The ex-TYD leader currently works as an aide to State
Rep. Chuck Hopson of Jacksonville.
He worked for State Rep. Dan Ellis
of Palestine before joining the Texas Partnership,
which disbanded after the GOP won control of the House
in the 2002 elections.
Republicans have charged that the Texas Partnership
engaged in the same type of fundraising activities
involving corporate money that the GOP has been tied
to during an ongoing grand jury investigation into
the 2002 House elections.
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