If you paid any attention to the Kay Bailey/Rick Perry bloodbath of a primary, KBH was quickly labeled a Washington DC big spending liberal who was not a social conservative either. The Perry team did a fabulous job of putting a label on her that stuck like a cheap suit. Kay Bailout was the battle cry that sunk the USS Hutchison faster than the Titanic.
Well, seems we have a Kay clone (and well we are replacing Kay aren't we?) in Tom Leppert. One significant reason Mitt Romney got zero traction (not his Mormon issue) was because of his record of flip-flopping. While running for Senate, he famously said he was no Reagan/Bush Republican when trying to out-flank Ted Kennedy's liberalism. You Tube videos were widely circulated showing just how he tried to be more liberal than the liberal icon himself.
Tom Leppert, while not on video, has his own flip-flopping problem. As Mayor of Dallas, he voted to increase taxes on the citizens in his very first budget. That was then, now he is the fiscal hawk using the mantra that we cannot afford to raise taxes. We could then, but not now? He pushed for and got passed the issue where the City of Dallas would build and own the new Convention Center hotel, a big government solution that only came about because he went after and got Obama Stimulas money.
And now he has sold out the gay community in Dallas. Apparently one of the first things he did was march in the Alan Ross Freedom Parade, aka the Dallas Gay Pride Parade, right after becoming Mayor. In fact, pictures are out there of him smiling while wearing a rainbow colored ribbon with the parade information on the meda. (Not to mention the fact that his hire for Chief of Staff was the openly gay former WFAA report Chris Heinbaugh) Problem is, you won't win a Republican Primary in Texas while being a gay pride parade marcher and supporter of gay marriage. What's one to do, oh yea, flip-flop on the issue and that's exactly what Tom Leppert has done.
One thing though, the gay community doesn't like this all-of-a-sudden change from the former Mayor. From the Dallas Voice "Later, of course, we discovered that the Tweet wasn’t the half of it: Leppert came out on his campaign website against both same-sex marriage and civil unions. (In other words, he believes your relationship is shit.)"
So is an elected official who was pro-tax, pro-big government, and pro-gay marriage now anti-tax, anti-big government, and anti-gay marriage going to survive the Republican Primary or should he simply run as a Democrat and not flip-flop? Texas GOP voters get to decide that, hmm.....
