Volume 59, Issue 9  - October 16, 2006

Kinky ‘not dropping out’ of race
By Isis Lopez
Staff Writer

Elizabeth A. Perez/Collegian

Richard “Kinky” Friedman addresses students, staff, faculty and community members in the SET-B Lecture Hall. Friedman, who is running as an independent candidate for governor of Texas, was on campus Wednesday.

He claims that “if you vote your heart and your conscience, you’ll never waste your vote.”

Richard “Kinky” Friedman, the country music singer and independent candidate for Texas governor, asked students Tuesday to vote and support him in the Nov. 7 election.

“What I’m trying to do is to get that 29 percent [voting rate] up to about 40 percent or more and then we will win the election,” Friedman told an audience of about 100 people in the SET-B Lecture Hall. “And young people are going to be a big decider here. … If you don’t vote, don’t bitch.”

He said Chris Bell, the rival Democratic candidate, called him that day.

“Chris Bell just called me, he wants to talk; he wants to have a meeting,” Friedman said. “I don’t know what Chris wants, but I suspect. He’s seeing that an awful lot of Democrats are voting for us this time, and I happen to know that an awful lot of Republicans are [too]. We like to keep them confused as much as we can.”

Bell asked Friedman to drop out of the race, according to a news report posted Wednesday on Friedman’s Web site, www.kinkyfriedman.com.

A statement on his Web site Thursday reads that “by assuming that all Kinky supporters would support Bell if the Kinkster were to drop out (a crazy notion to begin with) is to grossly underestimate the breadth and depth of the support Kinky has from Texans of all walks of life.”

Calls to Friedman on Thursday for comment were not returned.

Friedman told the audience he wants to decriminalize marijuana, increase education funding, and legalize gambling casinos in Texas.

Asked how he would help students who do not qualify to for financial aid, Friedman replied:

“I’m hearing the story all over the place, you know, about young people that need the money. …The best thing I can do probably is [with] the kind of people that I appoint. … What you’re telling me sounds like a pattern. We’re not helping the good people, and the ones that really show promise. … We’re rewarding people through some kind of bogus bureaucracy that really are probably never going to graduate and if they are, they’re never going to do a damn thing.”

He was asked about his stance on immigration and border safety.

“We have to recognize that we need some kind of immigration policy,” Friedman said. “I thought the wall might be a good idea.”

He said that Jesse Ventura, the former Minnesota governor, professional wrestler and actor, “convinced me it’s not a good idea.”

“Jesse’s attitude is that 10 years from now, we might want to get out of here,” Friedman said. “And I understand that. So, you see I’m not a flip-flopper, but I’m open, I’m open to change, and God knows we need change. And I say the border is a line that needs to be protected and needs to be protected like any country or any state that protects their border. Mexico does, we don’t; we’re wide open for some reason. I mean, I changed my mind on the fence; I may change my mind on the National Guard.  But I will face the problem directly.”

Claire Baker, a resident of Rangerville, told Friedman she sees a lot of Border Patrol officers in the Valley, and asked what he would do to better the “military strangle.”

“Every day, every day, there are Border Patrol [and] police … you try to get from here and go up to Austin to visit your daughter in college, you are check-pointed,” Baker said. “Turn the Rio Grande Valley back into a beautiful place where people can come and go and not be like in a Third World, ’cause it’s not the people that make it a Third World it’s the laws that make it a Third World.”

Friedman agreed.

“You’re right, the laws are the problem,” he said. “It’s why I’m calling for decriminalization of marijuana.”

Friedman told the audience to ask an FBI or DEA agent if “off the record, have we lost the war on drugs? And should we decriminalize marijuana?”

He said the answer would be yes.

Friedman is campaigning against Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the Republican incumbent; Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a Republican choosing to face Perry as an independent; Bell; James Werner, the Libertarian Party candidate; and James "Patriot" Dillon, a write-in candidate.

Also speaking Tuesday were Eddie Gonzalez, Cameron County treasurer, Carlos Cascos, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Gilberto Hinojosa; and Rolando Olvera, 138^th District Court judge. All are Republicans.

The event was part of the “Meet the Candidates” series sponsored by the League of Student Voters.