December 30, 2005

Frank Sinatra's Daughter-in-Law Takes Aim
at Congressman Ron Paul in GOP Primary

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

Old Blue Eyes hasn't been around for almost eight years, but his family name and memory will be alive and well and on the minds of voters in a Southeast Texas congressional district in 2006.

Cynthia Sinatra - the daughter-in-law of America's most celebrated crooner - plans to challenge U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Surfside Beach on the Republican side in the March 7 primary election in Congressional District 14.

Sinatra - an international lawyer who married Frank Sinatra Jr. five months after his father died in 1998 - is expected to have a substantial amount of money in her bid to unseat the state's most unique and sometimes controversial member of the U.S. House. Len Waterworth, a former engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and ex-high ranking officer at Fort Hood, also plans to seek the GOP nomination in CD 14.

The winner of GOP primary will face Edna rancher Shane Sklar in the November general election unless another Democrat enters the race before the Monday evening filing deadline and wins the nomination instead. Sklar is a former Independent Cattlemen's Association of Texas official who worked for Democratic U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards of Waco.

The former Cynthia McMurrey, who's been involved in high-profile cases at the international war crimes tribunals in The Hague, had a law office based in Houston but has been a resident of Wharton about 60 miles away since she and Sinatra were married at her father's home there after being linked romantically for years. The younger Sinatra led his father's band until the legendary entertainer's retirement - and he put together his own band for shows in recent years in venues such as Las Vegas.

While it will have nothing to do with who can best represent the sprawling coastal congressional district, CD 14 voters can expect to hear from each other in the next few months how the son of the famous singer and actor was kidnapped in 1963 and held for two days until the family paid a ransom of almost a quarter of a million dollars for his release. They will reminisce about the Brat Pack, the elder Sinatra's connections to John F. Kennedy and his family, their favorite Sinatra movies and tunes and other bits of history and lore that they learned long ago and haven't forgotten since.

This all adds up to instant name identification for a challenger who's last name as a result of her marriage may be more well known already in the district than the incumbent who's represented the district in Congress for the past nine years and eight years in the 1970s and 1980s before the current stint. Sinatra the candidate won't have to look far for a wealth of information that past Paul opponents have dredged up through the years if she plans to try to portray the incumbent as an eccentric extremist who's more in tune with the Libertarian Party than the GOP the way other contenders have when running against him.

Paul, a physician who ran for president as a Libertarian candidate in 1988, has voted independently in Congress and has been targeted before by the Republican Party in primary races as a result of his refusal to toe a partisan line on key votes. There's no indication yet whether the state GOP will take sides in next year's CD 14 primary battle.

But while the sister-in-law of Nancy Sinatra and Tina Sinatra has the potential to be Paul's worst nightmare as a primary opponent, the congressman and former White House contender has shown before that he's no pushover at the polls no matter which party's taking aim. Mainstream Republicans rallied behind incumbent Greg Laughlin, who'd been a Democrat until switching parties, when Paul filed to run against him in the 1996 primary election in hopes of winning a return trip to Congress.

Paul, who critics refer to as Dr. No, forced a primary runoff after claiming 32 percent of the primary vote compared to 43 percent for Laughlin. Paul came from behind to end the ex-Democrat's career as a congressman with 54 percent of the runoff vote. The GOP establishment wanted to go after Paul again two years later but couldn't find a viable candidate. The Democrats thought they had a potential CD 14 winner in former Matagorda County Judge Loy Sneary, who Paul went on to beat with 55 percent of the general election vote in 1998 and 60 percent in 2000. Paul's closest race came in the 1996 general election when he garnered 51 percent of the vote against Democrat Charles (Lefty) Morris and a third party candidate.

While Sinatra is familiar with the spotlight, this will be her first foray into politics as a candidate.

Waterworth has the potential to be a formidable contender in the Republican battle in CD 14 as well. In addition to his military experience, Waterworth is a member of the Greater Houston Partnership and has ties to powerful business interests in Southeast Texas. This is also his political debut.