HELP for Julian Castro, Progressive Young Latino in SA Mayoral Runoff

[LocalDem]

Friends, I am hoping DUers will come to the assistance of my friend Julian Castro. Julian came in first in the May 7 San Antonio mayoral race but is now in a dogfight for the June 7 runoff.

As a young (30) year old City Councilmember that represents the West Side of San Antonio, Julian is badly outfunded by his 70-year-old millionaire opponent, and his opponent is likely to get the backing of San Antonio's business interests.

Please join me in helping grow the Democratic "bench" in Texas by putting Julian Castro in the Mayor's office!!

http://www.dembench.org
http://www.castroformayor.com

[salib]

1. Hey! City elections in San Antonio are "non-partisan", remember?

And, honesty is still the best policy. Castro is NOT a Democratic candidate. The candidate who was supported by the VAST majority of "business interests" has already been eliminated. And, Castro gets his share of those just as Hardberger does. Either of them could seek future Dem candidacies.

The Dems are terribly divided down here, especially with a Dem chair who will nnot even call a meeting of the Precinct Chairs, knowing he will be thrown out! We do not need to drag this race into the party when the part cannot even be involved.

[LocalDem]

2. Castro speaks for progressives

I respect your view about the non-partisan race, but can't agree about where big business stands. The Express News has an article up right now with the header "Business leaders backing judge in mayoral runoff." (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/stories/MYSA051505.1B.castro.27597ef99.html)

And at 70, Hardberger won't be seeking any future Dem candidacies. At 30, Castro is a bright, hardworking guy who would be a leader of the state for a long time to come.

[carpetbagger]

3. Castro's not that great a catch.

He manages to stick his foot in his mouth on a monthly basis. we've got no city manager right now because he supported one candidate, then when he held his finger to the wind decided that the salary he and the other councilmembers offered was too high, and reversed his support.

He also retracted his support on a development, after the fact, that almost had sensitive land developed in a very pavement-intensive way. (our water supply is an aquifer that gets almost unfiltered rainwater from areas just outside our city).

This guy would get eaten alive in a statewide race, or even a regional race. He's pretty much a vacuous product of the local democratic machine, but he's got nothing but the novelty of being one of two young twins in politics.

I may vote for him yet over fellow democrat Phil Hardberger, but it won't be the happiest vote I've ever cast.

If you want to look at someone for the democratic bench, go with District 8 councilman Art Hall. He was re-elected without a runoff in a republican part of town. http://www.sanantonio.gov/council/d8/

And before you accuse Art Hall of being a DINO (such as the term can be used in nonpartisan elections, and you wouldn't have called him that after the smear campaign in the last election), remember that only Radle, Castro, and Hall voted for the anti-Patriot Act resolution.