Mayor White defends Garcia, Pot Ad being pulled
For those of us who have covered Mayor Bill White ever since before he became Mayor, we know he's a very careful politician. Since the Mayor's post is officially non-partisan, he's careful not to endorse candidates, and doesn't like to show up at too many fundraisers.
That's why many at City Hall's eyebrows went up today after Mayor White went off defending Adrian Garcia. First, the references were fairly obtuse.
"We come from different backgrounds, and on occasion disagree," he said during Council session. "But, we don't indulge in personal attacks or bring extraneous attacks to the table most of the time."
By the time we got to the weekly Mayor's press conference, White spoke more directly. He was unhappy with the ad by Sheriff Tommy Thomas recently began airing. In the attack ad, Thomas' campaign says that Garcia admitted to using marijuana "more than 100 times". Apparently, the campaign got it from an HPD application form, and whatever Garcia wrote, he was referring to things he did when he was 16-17 years old.
The Mayor was not happy, and took the unusual step of defending Garcia at his weekly news conference. "I'm not doing endorsements I'm just telling people that I know he's a person of outstanding character, he's been hard working and a great public servant," said White.
"I think people need to stand up for people when people attack their character if they know him."
Garcia tried to stay above the fray, saying he only attacks his opponent's record, and not his personal issues. He also said he was simply being honest about his teenage years, but he doesn't know where the "100 times" reference is coming from.
As for the Sheriff, his campaign is apparently taking a different spin after some of the push back it's received since the ad's roll out. Mainly, the ad is being pulled. Mary Easterly of the Thomas campaign told me over the phone this afternoon: "Despite Garcia's continued attacks on Sheriff Thomas, Our Campaign has made the decision to go into the last days of the campaign with only a positive ad, the latest ad wills stop in the morning."
Once again, White says he's not endorsing anyone. Though, it's a pretty good non-endorsement.
Hurray for Mayor White's endorsement of good politics!
Posted by: Lonnie Vara | October 29, 2008 at 06:29 PM
MAYOR WHITE IS A STAND UP GUY.NEED MORE PEOPLE LIKE HIM. MY VOTE GOES TO ADRIAN GARCIA...
Posted by: BILL WILLIAMS | October 29, 2008 at 10:26 PM
This just goes to show the type of person Tommy Thomas is.I was always taught that if you know something is misleading and you say it anyway it is a lie plain and simple. Is a liar someone we want running our Sheriffs Dept. How can you trust that he is serving our interest.
Posted by: Theophilus Fontenot | October 30, 2008 at 02:37 AM
Thanks to our great Mayor for standing up for Adrian Garcia!
What other lies and promises has Tommy Thomas told the voters??
Posted by: Kelsey | October 30, 2008 at 07:14 AM
and why wouldn't White pull the ad, his daughter got away with a crime, so criminals run the city????
Posted by: yahoo | October 30, 2008 at 11:54 AM
I feel Tommy has done a great job, and also feel all of this BS about the guys filing the lawsuit was just another way to line thier pockets and make Tommy's department look bad! AS for the emails, why wasn't each and every employee's email exposed? One can bet there would be some racist emails within their emails, but oh no their's was not checked, that wouldn't be PC right!? Emails can only be checked if you are White!
Posted by: Carol | October 30, 2008 at 12:02 PM
No telling what lies and promises Thomas has made or said. I can tell you this tho, I've lived in the district Mr. Garcia "represents" while serving on city council. I'm certain the lies and promises Mr. Garcia has made outnumbers the lies and promises Tommy Thomas has made. Nice to see he went crying to Mayor White. It's too bad the people that he was elected to "represent" don't have anyone to turn to.
Posted by: Denise | October 30, 2008 at 01:26 PM
Wow, of course White stepped in. He is an honest and stand up guy. However, Tommy still believes in slavery by using Inmates to fix his ranch, deletes e-mails, lies about Garcia, oh and ..not a smart move by Tommy since his son is a known and booked drug user. He should not bring up dirt if he does not want it out. Under Tommy 10 fine deputies have died! 5 of them by gunfire! What did he do to fix the problem..retrain? NO...absolutely nothing was done!
Bye Bye Tommy...and the Good Ole Boy Crew
Posted by: oldyellerer | October 30, 2008 at 08:51 PM
I think Mayor White did the right thing, sometimes people choose to look the other way but, Mayor White showed Harris County that he does not approve of Tommy Thomas lies. I hope Tommy can move on and realize that his attitude toward minorities will not be tolerated in Harris County. Goodbye Mr. Thomas, and may God change your heart and give you His wisdom. Goodluck to you!!!
Posted by: Katherine | November 07, 2008 at 09:09 PM
i do not like liars or illigal immigration.
Posted by: raquel | November 30, 2008 at 03:01 PM