Via Daily Kos, former US Ambassador to Canberra Tom Schieffer has announced that he is considering a bid for Governor of Texas as a Democrat. The Texas gubernatorial race is turning into a fierce race on the Republican side between incumbent Rick Perry and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. It is believed that Hutchison would win the general election if she wins the primary, while Perry would be vulnerable.
Schieffer is a close friend of former President George W. Bush, although he was previously elected to the Texas House of Representatives. You would have to say, however, that he would have to be considered amongst the most conservative Democrats, which might fit perfectly for a statewide Texas election.
Schieffer was the president of the Texas Rangers baseball club when George W. Bush was general managing partner. Bush as president named Schieffer as ambassador to Australia and then to Japan.
Schieffer admitted that he supported Bush over Gov. Ann Richards in 1994 and that he backed Bush in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. But Schieffer said he filled out his application to become an ambassador by listing his political affiliation as Democrat.
“I’m not new to the Democratic Party,” Schieffer said.
He served Fort Worth as a Democratic legislator from 1973-78. He was in the same freshman group of the Texas House as Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is planning to challenge Gov. Rick Perry in next year’s GOP primary. Schieffer, 61, is the younger brother of CBS newsman Bob Schieffer.
It’s worth remembering Schieffer’s controversy when he was US Ambassador to Canberra from 2001 to 2004. He attracted criticism for intervening in Australian politics by criticising then-Labor leader Mark Latham in the lead-up to the 2004 election. He criticised Labor’s amendments to the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement in August 2004:
Mr Schieffer warned yesterday that US certification of the deal was no longer certain because of the Opposition amendments.
“The concern we have about the amendment is that … for patent law there’s an attempt to carve out a special exception with regard to pharmaceuticals,” he said.
“The concern we have is that if you were able to do that, then could you then carve out something later on for automotive parts or for this or that sector in the economy?”
The Opposition trade spokesman, Stephen Conroy, said Mr Schieffer had entered the debate without a clear understanding of what the Labor Party’s amendments were about.
“What Tom Schieffer’s comments suggest is that [Prime Minister] John Howard has negotiated a free trade deal that sells out the PBS [pharmaceutical benefits scheme],” Senator Conroy told ABC radio.
In March 2004, he also called on Latham to back down on his promise to withdraw troops from Iraq:
The United States has urged Opposition Leader Mark Latham to reverse his plan to pull Australian troops out of Iraq, calling it short-sighted and an invitation to more terrorist attacks.
US Ambassador Tom Schieffer told The Age that Mr Latham’s comments “could have very serious consequences beyond Australia”. Such a move risked damaging the US alliance and could assist terrorists accomplishing larger goals, he said.
“Just to summarily say we are going to pull Australians out of Iraq I think would be very short-sighted and very troubling,” he said.
Mr Schieffer’s comments indicate the depth of alarm within the Bush Administration, which is struggling to hold the coalition of the willing together in Iraq in the face of Spain’s threatened withdrawal.
Interesting to see if a figure with links to Australia manages to get elected as Governor of one of the USA’s largest states.
