Dewhurst has little to say for himself in debate with Cruz

By Bud Kennedy

bud@star-telegram.com

DALLAS -- Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst was back in treacherous territory Friday night, and he's lucky nobody saw him.

On a summer Friday night when TV viewers were tuned to a Pennsylvania courtroom, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate struggled the way he did 10 years ago in his first KERA/Channel 13 debate.

Back then, Dewhurst was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, promising he would be a "bipartisan" Texas Senate leader if he defeated Democrat John Sharp.

He did.

He was.

Ten years later, he took a hammering for it from Houston lawyer Ted Cruz, a former Ivy League debate champion closing on Dewhurst as they careen toward a July 31 runoff.

In that 2002 debate, Dewhurst was caught and chided for using notes. Embarrassing as that was, he was a stronger debater then than Friday, when he seemed hesitant against strong-as-garlic courtroom litigator Cruz.

Cruz accused Dewhurst, founder of a Houston energy company and a 15th-year state official, of compromising too often as lieutenant governor, saying Dewhurst "repeatedly cut deals with Democrats."

All Dewhurst had to say was: That's how the Texas Senate works. Lieutenant governors cut deals because the Senate's own rules require a two-thirds vote to consider any bill.

In other words, Cruz basically accused Dewhurst of being a good lieutenant governor.

But in Cruz's words, Dewhurst is a "go-along, get-along politician" and a "conciliator."

Gosh.

So I guess we don't want that?

Dewhurst said he cut taxes and spending and "never compromised my conservative principles."

After all, it isn't exactly as if Texas has some wildly extravagant, free-spending state government.

Dewhurst also seemed surprised when Cruz challenged him about the 2005-06 Senate discussion on expanding state business taxes.

Cruz repeated criticism calling the idea a "wage tax" and asked Dewhurst whether he backed the idea.

"No and no," Dewhurst said without further retort.

That left room later for Cruz to accuse Dewhurst of a "falsehood."

If Dewhurst seemed passive, one undecided Republican in the studio audience saw him as strong.

"Cruz is just so very, very aggressive, like any good attorney," said Arlington Republican Jamal Qaddura, one of a handful of KERA guest panelists.

"But Dewhurst is a statesman. He really knows what he's talking about."

If he'd just do more talking.

Bud Kennedy's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 817-390-7538

Twitter: @budkennedy

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