October 30, 2004

Katy Hubener Campaign Calling Voters
with Message from Allen's Stepdaughter

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

If you felt relieved that it was time for the campaigns to finally go positive for the final few days, you might be in for a big surprise this weekend if you live in Grand Prairie.

With three days to go before Tuesday's election, Democrat Katy Hubener's campaign today began reaching out to voters with a robo call featuring the pre-recorded voice of a woman who identifies herself as the daughter of the Republican opponent, State Rep. Ray Allen. The calls, which are slated to go out on Sunday and Monday as well, are not the sort of thing a parent wants to hear from their child - especially if they're running for re-election to public office.

Reminding voters that ethics has been a central issue in the race, Christian says that Hubener has run a clean campaign while Allen "has gone against his Christian values" and "resorted to lying about his personal life, his ethical violations" and his Democratic opponent. Christian goes on to say that she believes Allen's "time is up in Austin" and hopes the voters will "bring my father home" while sending Hubener to the Legislature in his place when casting ballots on Tuesday. Christian, a married mother of four in Granbury, does not elaborate in the recording on the reference to Allen's personal life.

The issue of ethics that Christian brings up is a vague reference to reports that Allen has hired employees and equipment from his state office staff to help run his private consulting business. Allen says the private business arrangement has been cleared by ethics officials and experts in Texas. Hubener's campaign has also accused the incumbent, who is the House Corrections Committee chairman, of making money off the private prison business after sponsoring legislation to increase prison privatization in Texas. Allen says that's false, noting that his only client is a national trade group that supports prison industries in both public and private facilities without advocating one approach over the other.

The automated call is going out to voters who've been identified as independents or Republicans who are more likely than others to cross party lines on a down-ballot vote. It comes at a time when public sensibilities have been heightened by the Travis County grand jury investigation that has led to recent indictments against three Republican operatives. Prosecutors have been conducting a preliminary review of a complaint that was filed against Allen by an unidentified source, but they've indicated that they are not likely to make a decision on whether to launch a full-scale probe until after the November election.

The robo call is a risky tactic - defying the conventional political consultant wisdom that negative advertising has the potential to backfire when it's the last impression that a voter has of a candidate at the time they cast their ballots. Many campaigns have already pulled all negative ads and shifted to positive messages for the final few days.

Hubener is firing the shot at a time when Allen will have almost no time left to respond to the charges. Republicans will likely see the robo call in the Grand Prairie race as the political equivalent of a Hail Mary pass - a desperation attempt to come from behind with time running out and nothing to lose.

Allen ran a low-key campaign for much of the summer but has been raising substantially more money in recent weeks than Hubener and appearing at more events than he did earlier in the campaign. Allen is generally considered the favorite to win on Tuesday, but it's difficult to gauge how the automated call from the stepdaughter or other developments could affect the race.