DALLAS -- State Rep. Marc Veasey of Fort Worth and former state Rep. Domingo Garcia of Dallas have never been timid during their race to represent the new 33rd Congressional District.
But what erupted during a debate Friday, a month before the July 31 runoff for the Democratic nomination, was closer to a verbal brawl.Garcia criticized Veasey for seeking and winning support from the Democratic establishment, saying he would be beholden to supporters and high-dollar donors.He threw in a personal jab, saying that Veasey has a hard time holding a job.Then, Garcia said that Fort Worth's Stop Six and Poly neighborhoods "look like ghettos" and declared that elected officials representing those neighborhoods are more worried about money for themselves than about their constituents' best interests."Do I ruffle feathers? I do," said Garcia, an attorney. "If you want to go along [to get along], you need to vote for Mr. Veasey. If you want an independent voice who will fight and stand up for you, vote for Mr. Garcia."Veasey fired back, saying Garcia, a former state lawmaker, takes shortcuts, once earned the nickname of a "one-man leper colony," has been reprimanded by the Texas State Bar and traveled to Washington, D.C., seeking supporters and donors but couldn't find any takers."No one wants to raise money for him because they know of his reputation back home as a bad Democrat," said Veasey, a real estate agent. "One thing we obviously differ on is that I'm a proven coalition builder. I have a proven track record of working well with others."They debated for an hour Friday in front of about 100 people at the Dallas Regional Chamber's Conference Center.Garcia and Veasey were the top two vote-getters among 11 candidates in the May 29 Democratic primary. Veasey won 36.8 percent of the vote to Garcia's 25 percent.The July 31 runoff will determine who faces Republican Chuck Bradley in the November general election.Job creationThe new 33rd District, which stretches from Fort Worth's Stockyards to Dallas' Oak Cliff neighborhood, was drawn to give minority voters a chance to elect a U.S. representative.It is one of four districts that Texas gained because of population growth.The district has more residents in Dallas County than in Tarrant County, but more registered voters in Tarrant. And more black voters -- a pillar of the Democratic Party -- are in Tarrant, whereas more Hispanic voters are in Dallas County.During the first phase of the primary, Garcia said he didn't "have any confidence" in General Motors (which has a plant in Arlington), that American Airlines' management is "reprehensible" (its headquarters are in far east Fort Worth) and that he wouldn't defend the F-35 project to save jobs at the Lockheed Martin plant (in far west Fort Worth).He said that the F-35 joint strike fighter is unproven and costly and that the country should build more F-16s."Lockheed management has ripped off the taxpayers of America," he said. "I don't want a boondoggle. We the taxpayers end up with the bill. Corruption is why Lockheed Martin gets special favors, special deals ... that puts money in their pockets but not the workers."Veasey and local elected officials from both parties defended the F-35 and noted that although the F-16 has "been very vital to the ... prosperity of the region ... we're getting ready to phase those planes out.""We will continue to take orders" for the F-35, Veasey said.Stop Six, PolyOn Friday, Garcia took on another part of Tarrant County: some of its low-income minority neighborhoods in east and southeast Fort Worth."When I go through Stop Six in Fort Worth, and I go through Poly, they look like ghettos," he said.Ghetto areas in Dallas have been turned around and revitalized through economic development, he said."Unfortunately, the elected officials from that side of town are more worried about putting money in their pocketbooks than about putting money in the pocketbooks of their constituents," he said. "We need to get economic development going up and down the corridor. We need good-paying jobs that go to the people."Veasey said his constituents would not "want their neighborhood called a ghetto."If elected to go to Washington, he said, he would continue to focus on what needs to be done in the area -- job creation and improvements in healthcare and education."I want to be a strong voice for President Obama and go fight with him," he said.He said that Garcia -- who once earned the nickname "one-man leper colony" from Texas Monthly -- is not the right voice for the district.The magazine's editors once wrote that "nobody wants to be around [Garcia]. What's worse, the disease is self-inflicted.""He had ruined his relationship with other Democrats ... to the point where he couldn't pass any bills and anything with his name on it couldn't get out," Veasey said of Garcia's tenure in the Legislature.Campaign fundsVeasey recently attended a local fundraiser that included supporters such as Sundance Square CEO Johnny Campbell; Fort Worth auto dealer Mac Churchill; Rick Merrill, CEO of Cook Children's Health Care System; Fort Worth attorney Stephen Tatum; and Hillwood Properties President Mike Berry.And he just returned from a fundraiser in Washington, where he picked up support from national labor officials and members of the Congressional Black Caucus as well as House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Assistant Minority Leader James Clyburn of South Carolina.That event listed U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, former House Speaker Jim Wright of Fort Worth and former U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, D-Dallas, among the hosts."I'm a proud Democrat, and I'm happy to have all the support from them," Veasey said. "I have independence, but you have to be able to work well with others to get ahead, particularly in Congress."Garcia is paying most of his own campaign expenses. He criticized Veasey for his donations, saying that when a person takes hundreds of thousands of dollars from special-interest groups, something will be sought in return."With all due respect," Garcia said, "you're not going to be independent. When they call you, you're going to have to be at their beck and call."He said he might have used the wrong words this year when calling Veasey an "errand boy" for the establishment, but he said the sentiment remains."I know the Washington insiders are giving to my opponent, and I know why they are doing it -- because they can control him," Garcia said.Anna M. Tinsley, 817-390-7610Twitter: @annatinsleyHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
