August 5, 2004

Senator Hutchison is Top Contender
for Coveted Mr. South Texas Title

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

Republican U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison may have found the ideal time and place to kick off a race for the governor's mansion: Laredo, Texas in February 2005.

Based on the word coming out of the border city on Wednesday, the state's senior senator has emerged as the top candidate to help Laredo celebrate George Washington's birthday as the next Mr. South Texas. A selection committee reportedly moved Hutchison to the top of the list after she expressed an interest in holding the title within the last week or two.

According to sources, the show of support for the senator came a few weeks after some of the selection committee's members vowed to fight any present or future attempts to award the highly-coveted title to Governor Rick Perry, who may face a primary challenge from Hutchison during a re-election bid in 2006.

Hutchison wouldn't be the first Republican to receive the ceremonial designation of Mr. South Texas in an area dominated by Democrats. President George W. Bush was Mr. South Texas one year when he was still governor. Other honorees include former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm, former Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher and former Texas Governor John Connally. But most of those choices caused a fuss - something that Hutchison would just as soon avoid as she ponders whether to run for governor two years from now.

The selection of U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla a year ago as the 2004 honoree sparked a barrage of criticism from local Democrats who at the time were incensed over the Congressional redistricting effort that was in full swing at the Texas Capitol. One of the key movers and shakers in the Washington Birthday celebration festivities - Laredo National Bank President Gary G. Jacobs - defended Bonilla's selection despite saying that he'd made it clear to the San Antonio congressman that he didn't approve of efforts by Perry and Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst "to cram this redistricting bill down the voters throats." That wasn't enough to appease the local Democrats' wrath, however, especially when they learned that Bonilla had appeared with Dewhurst at a press conference a day before he accepted the Mr. South Texas honor and declared that 11 state senators were doing a disservice to Hispanics by boycotting a special redistricting session during a month-long holdout in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Jacobs, a former Mr. South Texas himself, reportedly led the effort to bestow the honor on Hutchison for the celebration in February next year. The competition's rules bar the committee from awarding the title to a candidate who's on the ballot that year. In the event that Hutchison runs for either governor or re-election in two years, she would not be eligible for the Mr. South Texas of 2006 title that will be chosen next August.

Hutchison as Mr. South Texas would probably be an easier sell as far as the general public is concerned. While Bonilla was in the middle of the redistricting fight last year, Hutchison was dodging questions about whether she backed the GOP push to redraw U.S. House lines. The senator has been involved in high-profile efforts to secure more funding for the University of Texas Health Science Center and for improvements in the colonias along the border. She's sponsoring a bill this year to designate El Camino Real - the oldest trail in Texas - as a national historic trail. El Camino Real links the border between Laredo and Eagle Pass to Natchitoches, Louisiana.

But some members of the selection committee appear to feel like the number one justification for choosing Hutchison is because she might run against Perry, who called the Legislature into three special sessions until it finally approved a new Congressional map. About half of Laredo's population was shifted to Bonilla's district, which stretches almost all the way to El Paso and appears safely Republican as long as he's running in it.

A significant number of Laredo residents are also still upset with the governor for his aggressive advertising campaign against local businessman Tony Sanchez during the governor's race two years ago. Sanchez, who had strong support in his hometown, was staggered by accusations that drug money had been laundered through a savings & loan he once owned. Sanchez has been telling friends and supporters that he wants to run again for governor in 2006.

The Mr. South Texas honors in 2003 went to a pair of brothers - Dr. Francisco Cigarroa, the UTHSC president and world-renown surgeon, and Dr. Ricardo Cigarroa - a Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board member who established the Laredo Medical Foundation. The list of Mr. South Texas honorees over the course of the title's 54-year history includes former Governors Ann Richards and Dolph Briscoe, former Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock, former University of Texas football coaching legend Daryl Royal and hometown State Senator Judith Zaffirini.