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 News from Around the Americas | September 2006 
Friedman Wants 10,000 Troops at Border
 Michael Graczyk - Associated Press
| | Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman speaks during a news conference in Houston Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006. Friedman addressed illegal immigration, crime in Houston, state spending and state taxes. (AP/Pat Sullivan) |
Houston - Kinky Friedman, the proudly politically incorrect entertainer running for governor, said he wouldn't put just 1,500 National Guard troops on the Texas-Mexico border, he'd send 10,000.
"We've waited 153 years for the feds to help us," Friedman said. "They haven't yet. We have our own army. I want 10,000 Texas National Guard troops on the border and I want them now."
It was one of four broad policy issues Friedman outlined Wednesday along with crime in Houston, state spending and taxes.
On Houston's crime problem, Friedman said Hurricane Katrina evacuees who relocated to the city and break the law or refuse to find jobs should be sent back to Louisiana.
"I'm just kind of stunned other politicians are not talking about this stuff and are not doing anything," Friedman said.
With campaign slogans like "He's Not Kinky, He's My Governor" and "Kinky for Governor — Why the Hell Not?" Friedman is running a rebel campaign as an independent against Republican Gov. Rick Perry. Also in the race are Democrat Chris Bell, Libertarian James Werner and another independent, Carole Strayhorn, the state comptroller who won that office as a Republican.
On the issue of crime, Friedman said he would give $100 million in state money to Houston to address a spike in violence since Hurricane Katrina.
Friedman also said he would cap state spending at current levels, with any increases adjusted for inflation, population increases and unforeseen disasters.
He said he would abolish the state business tax, which taxes gross business income and was a key element of the school finance reform passed by the legislature in a special session earlier this year. The existing state budget surplus of at least $11 billion could make up any shortfall, he said.
As for the border, Texas has about 1,500 National Guard troops there already. President Bush earlier this year said he wanted 6,000 along the entire U.S.-Mexico border to assist with administrative and construction tasks that could free up Border Patrol officers.
Perry campaign spokesman Robert Black dismissed Friedman's proposals. He said it wasn't clear whether the 10,000 troops Friedman wanted even were available for deployment and that using surplus money "would be fine for about a year, then what do you do?"
A Bell spokeswoman, Heather Guntert, said, "I'd be very interested in someone figuring out the implications of freezing all the spending. It's not a serious response to a serious problem."
Strayhorn spokesman Mark Sanders described Friedman as "a lot of fun" but said the comptroller's campaign is focused on Perry. He said, "It's a two-person race." |
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