August 27, 2004

Hubener Wins Howard Dean's
Support in Battle Against Allen

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

Texas House candidate Katy Hubener picked up a key endorsement Thursday from former Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean in her bid to unseat State Rep. Ray Allen of Grand Prairie.

Hubener, a Grand Prairie Democrat, became the fourth Texan to join "Dean's Dozens," a growing group of candidates who are backed by the former Vermont governor's Democracy for America (DFA) grassroots organization. DFA has also endorsed Sugar Land Democrat Richard Morrison in his attempt to oust U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay from Congress. State Supreme Court candidate David Van Os and Harris County constable candidate May Walker also have the support of Dean's nationwide organization.

In announcing his support for Hubener, Dean called her bid for the House "an incredibly strong grassroots effort" marked by a door-to-door campaign across the Dallas-area district. "After years as an environmental activist, Katy Hubener is turning her attention towards the universal issues affecting Texas," Dean said in an appeal for support for Hubener among his legions of still-loyal supporters in the North Texas area. "Katy is a true progressive leader and with your help she will make a difference in Austin."

The pitch from Dean could provide a boost for Hubener's fundraising efforts and volunteer force while injecting her campaign with some of the grassroots enthusiasm that characterized the one-time perceived frontrunner's White House race. But Dean's endorsement could cut both ways in House District 106 - a largely blue-collar district where environmentalists and progressive politics might not be as popular as in some other parts of the state. The district's per capita income is lower than the statewide average - and while the poverty rate is lower than it is on average in Texas - there are less people with college degrees and high school diplomas in HD 106 than there are on average across the state.

Allen's supporters will argue that his endorsement from the Texas Association of Business' political action committee, BACPAC, will carry more weight than the Democrat's support from Dean's Democracy for America. Curiously, though, the powerful business organization did not list the Allen-Hubener matchup as one of the 17 "hotly-contested" House contests featuring one of its preferred candidates in a close race. That could be because TAB's PAC doesn't think the HD 106 race will be that close.

Some Republicans, however, are concerned that Hubener will be able to capitalize on a recent report that suggested that Allen - a six-term lawmaker who chairs the House Corrections Committee - had been running his private consulting business and his campaign with the help of state employees who work for him at his state office. Allen denies any wrongdoing in connection with the report, which was published this week in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.