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January 25, 2006:
Libertarian Freeman Files for District 106 Special Election
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Wes Benedict, LPT Executive Director: 512-442-4910, director@lptexas.org
Patrick Dixon, LPT State Chair: 512-771-3936, chair@lptexas.org
Gene Freeman, http://www.lptexas.org/2006/freeman/
Austin, TX - Libertarian Gene Freeman has filed to run in the special election to fill the vacancy in Texas House District 106.
Governor Rick Perry called the special election for February 28, giving candidates only six business days to file. The filing period ends on January 30.
"Gene Freeman left for a cruise with his family on Monday, but not before preparing his application," according to Wes Benedict, Executive Director of the Libertarian Party of Texas. "We ask that members of the press respect his privacy until Sunday afternoon, January 29, when he'll be back home in Grand Prairie and available for comment."
Freeman is also a candidate for the Libertarian nomination for the November general election.
Pat Dixon, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Texas, said, "We're very happy to see Gene Freeman in this race. His participation may have the same effect that Ben Easton's had in the District 48 special election. Ben Easton made it clear that he was a real fiscal conservative, unlike the Republican candidate. While that didn't translate into Libertarian votes, Easton's presence may have caused frustrated conservative voters to stay home."
In that January 17 special election, the Republican candidate received 37.8% of the vote, while two Democrats received a total of 59.9%. Libertarian Easton received 2.3%.
Dixon also noted, "Outgoing Republican Ray Allen received lots of negative marks from the Young Conservatives of Texas for his 2005 voting record."
Dixon continued, "If Gene Freeman makes it clear he's against new taxes and throwing more money into the government school system, and Allen's record gets pinned on the Republican candidate, our Libertarian candidate should do well."
In 2004, District 48 was a close race with Republican incumbent Todd Baxter receiving 50.1% of the vote, and Democrat Kelly White receiving 49.9%. District 106 was similarly close: Republican incumbent Ray Allen received 52.6%, while Democrat Katy Hubener received 47.4%.
According to their 79th Legislative Session Ratings (2005), the Young Conservative of Texas (YCT) penalized Allen for the following:
*Supporting HB 259 to install traffic cameras to track and ticket drivers
*Supporting HB 3 to start a payroll tax
*Tabling HB 789 Amendment 25 which would have repealed the
Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund's tax on local telephone companies
*Supporting HB 1006 Amendment 15 to boost budget limitations for municipalities
*Opposing HB 1006 which permits voters in a municipality to petition to
hold an election to roll back of property tax rates
*Supporting SB 1863 to increase several fees and raid allocated funds
*Opposing HB 3 (S1) which would have prevented allowing implementation of
a payroll tax
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