Send Me Someone Who Knows

Our only statewide Democratic Runoff is for Railroad Commissioner. Very revealing is this article from the Chronicle:

This is a quick civics quiz. How many of you know who Mark Thompson is? Or Dale Henry?

Time's up.

Thompson is a former state Capitol and Austin parks policeman from Hamilton who now trains the visually impaired, and 940,722 people in the recent Democratic primary voted to nominate him for the Texas Railroad Commission.

Henry, a retired petroleum engineer from Lampasas, got 539,300 votes for the same office.

And for those of you who are not in the oil and gas industry and may not know better, the Railroad Commission doesn't set speed limits for freight trains. It regulates the oil and gas industry.

...Thompson, who didn't raise any campaign money, is a political newcomer. ... My colleague, Gary Scharrer, even had to explain to Thompson on election night what a runoff was all about. Thompson said he limited his campaign to a simple, "Help me, Lord."

Art Hall, who came in third in the Primary, seemed not to clearly understand what the office does. Henry does, and despite (or because of) having worked in the industry, is actually taking progressive positions on the issues. Check out his web site at ElectDaleHenry.com. As for Thompson, well, I think the article above says it all....