Hank Gilbert for Texas Agricultural Commissioner

I know many, if not most, of you don't pay attention to a lot of races and skip candidates you know nothing about. You are not going to learn about the other candidates through the media, someone has to tell you or you will have to look it up on your own. One candidate you should find out about is Hank Gilbert.

In order for the ruinous one-party rule by the Republicans to be removed from this state the lesser known candidates of the Democrats have to be good. Except for that bit about lack of money and except for that other bit about a virtual media blackout of Democratic candidates, the Democratic Party have the best slate of candidates in years. Because the establishment politicians thought the races were unwinnable this year, the big-money, corporate-connected candidates mostly stayed away. This time it is not a choice between Republican and Republican-lite. Instead you have candidates like Hank Gilbert, who said "I'm a cowman becoming a politician because I'm sick of politicians."

Hank Gilbert is a lifetime operator of a family agribusiness and an agricultural teacher who knows what needs to be done at the Texas Agricultural Department. He is also a solid Democrat. This summer he has mostly been campaigning in rural areas with David Van Os against the Austin Republican bureaucrats, mega-millionaires with agendas, special interests, and near-monopoly corporate giants preventing a fair deal for the little guys. A plain-speaking guy who just wants the job so all the things that the Agriculture Department are supposed to be doing for the people of Texas actually get done. "Agriculture first - politics last."

I saw him speak at BBQ dinner at Drexler's in Houston with David and was impresse because he looked like the type of guy who should be running the Agriculture Department, not some corporate large agribusiness lobbyist. This was the event where David Van Os saw Janette Sexton's slogan "For the People, for a Change" and thought it should be the Democratic slogan this year.

His opponent, Susan Combs, is a professional conservative politician who first worked at a New York advertising agency and then on Wall Street.

Tags: Hank Gilbert, David Van Os, Janette Sexton, Texas, politics, 2006