Governor hopefuls Bell, Gammage have similar views, differing styles

12:28 AM CST on Saturday, January 28, 2006

By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News

CORPUS CHRISTI – They might be fighting for the right to come in third – or even fourth – in the race for Texas governor, but that doesn't mean Chris Bell and Bob Gammage are going through the motions.

Rather, they're scrambling to convince voters that the race can be won by a Democrat – if not by the other guy.

They take similar positions on school finance, taxes and social issues. But that's where the similarities end.

Mr. Bell, a former congressman, pitches himself as the "candidate of the future" who has plans to lower school dropout rates and make college more affordable.

AP

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Gammage (left) answers questions during the first stop of his campaign tour in Sugar Land.

Mr. Gammage says he's "a messenger" about a state government that's in bed again with big political donors.

Mr. Bell is almost professorial in his approach, reading from handwritten notes on school-binder paper at the Alamo last week. (He has two sons in grade school.) In five minutes, he was through.

He believes he'll win because Democrats appreciate his courage for jumping into the race last February.

"I was the only one out there carrying the message about the need to continue the fight, not to give up just because 2004 wasn't a banner year for Democrats," he said.

Mr. Gammage is a dynamic speaker who says he felt compelled to run after recognizing there was no Democrat in the race with a "fire in the belly and energy in their blood."

That fervor won over at least one voter last week in Corpus Christi for the former state Supreme Court justice.

American Federation of Teachers employee Susie Luna-Saldana said she was undecided until she heard Mr. Gammage. His passion and sincerity won her over, she said.

The candidates, who will appear together tonight at a candidates' forum in Hurst, are working to wrest an advantage in the March 7 Democratic primary. The third candidate is Houston store manager Rashad Jafer.

Early fundraising reports show Mr. Bell and Mr. Gammage far behind the other major candidates for governor – Republican incumbent Rick Perry and independents Carole Keeton Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman.

Mr. Bell and Mr. Gammage admit they face an uphill battle in red-state Texas – their party hasn't won a statewide contest in 12 years. But they share a stubborn streak.

Mr. Bell, 46, grew up in Highland Park and was once a TV weatherman in Amarillo and radio news reporter in Houston. He's reserved, choosing words – and issues – carefully. He doesn't play to his audiences' emotions. Politically, he just won't quit.

J. MICHAEL SHORT / Special to DMN

Chris Bell, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, speaks in front of the Alamo Jan. 20, 2006.

Twice this decade, he's responded to defeat with a bold countermove.

In 2004, he got thrashed in the race for mayor of Houston, despite raising $1 million. The following year, the former Houston City Council member bounced back, winning an open seat in Congress.

Two years ago, he lost his congressional seat under the GOP-backed redistricting plan that roiled the Legislature. To friends' amazement, he soon began his quest for governor.

"My gut told me people would be looking for change in 2006," he said.

When he jumped into the race, his wife, Alison, was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. She is now "completely clear" and stumping for him, he said.

Mr. Gammage, 67, said he was "getting out of hock" last year, making good money in private practice after putting four children through college. But his anger over Republican, one-party rule pulled him back into the political current.

It was a familiar tug.

The son of a cufflink and wallet salesman, Mr. Gammage said he was just another "child of the '50s" until he had a "political awakening" while in the Army in South Korea in 1960.

In Seoul, he witnessed a revolution led by college students against an authoritarian regime. One lesson stuck, he said: "You can effect change if you're willing to lay everything, even your life, on the line."

He put his budding career on the line as a Houston state representative in 1971 when he joined the "Dirty Thirty," a group that bucked House Speaker Gus Mutscher during the Sharpstown bank scandal.

He saw voters rise up in anger and thinks they should do so again this year.

Mr. Gammage's decision last month to run upset Mr. Bell, who had been cruising to the nomination after several big-name Democrats declined to run.

But even as Mr. Bell says the competition will probably improve his name recognition and sharpen his game, he's trained unrelenting fire on Mr. Gammage in recent days.

He says that when Mr. Gammage served a term as a Houston-area congressman in 1977-78, he cast votes against raising the minimum wage and letting Medicaid cover the costs of abortions for rape and incest victims.

"He was very much out of synch with what I consider to be Democratic values," Mr. Bell said.

Mr. Gammage responded that he cast "a lot of good votes" while in Congress, though he regrets some.

"Are you going to grade my whole political life on two years I spent in Washington?" Mr. Gammage asked. He touts his 23 years in public life, including two years as a state senator and 13 as a judge.

Mr. Gammage acknowledges having to play catch-up. He's been out of politics for more than a decade, and he got a late start. But, he says, Mr. Bell has made little headway.

Both men made tours of South Texas last week, offering glimpses of differing strengths.

In San Antonio on Jan. 20, Mr. Bell mugged for the cameras with a half dozen Bexar County Democratic officeholders and state Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, who heads the Legislature's Mexican-American Caucus. The rest of the crowd of about 20 people included mostly family and friends of the local politicians.

"It's time for a new generation of people to step up to the plate, and Chris Bell is it," Mr. Gallego said.

Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson, who said he endorsed Mr. Bell after former Comptroller John Sharp bowed out, said Mr. Gammage waited too long.

That night, in Corpus Christi, Mr. Gammage waltzed into a hungry crowd of 70 people – nearly void of politicians – who had been waiting more than an hour for him to arrive from Laredo. Still, he made some progress.

Retired teacher Ken Hawkins, who described himself as undecided before Mr. Gammage's talk, said he liked the candidate's experience and candor that "he may not win" this fall if voters don't rise up in anger.

"That's honesty to me," Mr. Hawkins said.

Mr. Bell said he's held his own with Mr. Gammage in two joint appearances. Party loyalists appreciate his grit, the risks he took in starting to campaign last winter, he said.

Both candidates express hope that voters will rise up to punish Austin's ruling Republicans, including Mr. Perry, for inaction on school finance and what they describe as the governor's "corruption."

Robert Black, spokesman for the governor's campaign, responded, "Rick Perry has run the most open, ethical administration in this state's history."

Still, his two Democratic challengers have tried to tie the governor to U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, who has been indicted on state money laundering and campaign finance charges.

"It looks like Rick Perry is taking ethics lessons from Tom DeLay," says Mr. Bell, who while still in Congress filed an ethics complaint against Mr. DeLay.

Mr. Gammage accuses Mr. Perry and Mr. DeLay of running "a corrupt political machine," which he says hurts average Texans by skewing state policy in favor of the wealthy.

"I want to give Texas back to the people who own it – or should own it," Mr. Gammage told his Corpus Christi audience, "and not the special interests who've taken it over."

Democratic gubernatorial candidates Chris Bell and Bob Gammage agree on many issues facing Texas. Where possible, the candidates' complete responses to questions have been used, but some answers have been paraphrased in the interest of space.

State business franchise tax – should all businesses pay?

Bell: Yes. Would consider some exemptions, such as for physicians who treat high volumes of poor patients.

Gammage: Yes. "Virtually all businesses generating profits in Texas should pay their proportional share of the state's tax burden."

Personal income tax – should Texas impose one?

Bell: No.

Gammage: "Only if the people of Texas vote to impose it on themselves," as required by the so-called Bullock amendment to the constitution passed in 1993.

Campaign contributions – should they be capped in state elections?

Bell: "Definitely." No individual should be able to give more than $100,000 per election cycle or more than $5,000 to a candidate.

Gammage: Yes.

"Revolving door" lobbyists – should lawmakers and top executive branch officials be barred from lobbying for two years after leaving state government?

Bell: Yes. "Or at the very least, one year."

Gammage: Yes. "It is part of my Ethics Reform Act."

"Intelligent design" – should it be taught along with evolution in public school science classes?

Bell: No.

Gammage: No.

School tests – should high school students have to pass a competency test to get a diploma?

Bell: No. "They should have to complete and pass their high school course requirements," which should include rigorous final exams on "a tough curriculum."

Gammage: Yes, but a single test should not be the sole measuring stick.

SOURCE: Dallas Morning News research

E-mail rtgarrett@dallasnews.com