Buckle Up Texas, Kinky's on the Ballot !

June 22, 2006, 3:34PM
Independents Friedman, Strayhorn on ballot

By CLAY ROBISON
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and author-musician Kinky Friedman have qualified for spots on the November ballot as independent candidates for governor, Secretary of State Roger Williams ruled today.
Former congressman Steve Stockman, however, failed to qualify as an independent candidate for the 22nd Congressional District seat vacated by former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay of Sugar Land.
Williams, the state's chief elections officer, deferred a decision on whether Strayhorn will be allowed to use the nickname, "Grandma," on the ballot, as she has requested. The secretary of state needs to do more research on that issue, a spokesman said.
Williams said Strayhorn and Friedman far exceeded collecting the 45,540 signatures that each needed for a ballot spot. All signers had to be registered voters who didn't cast ballots in either major party's primary or runoff elections.

After a preliminary review, Williams certified 108,512 of the 222,514 signatures submitted by Strayhorn and 137,154 of the 170,258 signatures submitted by Friedman.

Gov. Rick Perry also faces opposition from Democrat Chris Bell and Libertarian James Werner.
Stockman turned in about 600 signatures, but fewer than the 500 he needed were ruled valid, Williams' spokesman, Scott Haywood said.

clay.robison@chron.com
source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3993429.html
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an email from the Kinky campaign reads in part:

" The strongest independent in the race

It's official—this November, under "Governor," you'll see the Kinkster's name on the ballot. And not only that, we pulled off a huge upset in the process: you all collected over 25,000 more valid signatures than Carole Strayhorn, and did it with 1/10th the budget ! As Kinky said in our last email, the effort that produced our petition drive was unprecedented. It reflects the kind of hungry-for-change support you just can't buy—support that comes from all of you. "
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and this from Kinky's website:

It's Official !
AUSTIN, Texas -- June 21, 2006 -- Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams today informed independent candidate Kinky Friedman that his name will appear on the statewide general election ballot for governor this November.

"According to the verification, your petition has a sufficient number of signatures to qualify you for a place on the ballot. Accordingly, your name will be certified to the counties on Sept. 6, 2006 as an independent candidate for the office of governor," said the letter from Williams' office.

"The people of Texas have spoken -- they're ready for change," Friedman said. "They're sick and tired of politics as usual, and they're ready to elect an independent candidate in November."

"Not one but two viable independent candidates have made the ballot for the first time in nearly 150 years," Friedman added. "This tells us what we've long suspected: the two-party system has failed our state. Only an independent candidate - one who is not owned by special interests - can restore Texas."

The campaign delivered 170,258 signatures to the Secretary of State's office on May 11. Of those, 137,154 signatures were considered valid, an 81 percent validity rate. (The state comptroller, who is also running as an independent, submitted 222,514 signatures of which 108,512 were valid, a 49 percent validity rate.) The signatures for Friedman's campaign, which were collected during a 62-day period almost entirely by volunteers, represented voters in all 254 Texas counties.

"The campaign appreciates the fact that the Secretary of State certified the signatures within the six-week period he promised," said campaign director Dean Barkley. "We also congratulate Comptroller Strayhorn on her success. We have no doubt this will be the most exciting race for governor the state of Texas has ever seen."

source: www.kinkyfriedman.com