While Rick Perry was cheerleading in college and Chris Bell was being potty trained, Kinky Friedman was picketing segregated restaurants in Austin to integrate them.

Now that Kinky’s in second place and a serious threat to the two-party system, Perry and Chris Bell have paid political assassins digging back 30 years through fictional books, comedy shows and song lyrics, desperately seeking to paint Kinky as a racist. 

Republicans and Democrats have created an entire industry-- called Opposition Research-- whose sole purpose is to tarnish and destroy people’s reputations.  This is why regular citizens don't run for office.  If you do, and you start to threaten the system as Kinky has, you’re going to be attacked.

Kinky has overcome all of the obstacles placed before him - getting on the ballot, raising millions of dollars, building the largest grassroots network Texas has ever seen, and breaking 20% in the polls months ago - he's a serious threat to the establishment.  And when you threaten the political establishment, they use the money generated from their formidable fundraising machines to pay for "dirty tricks" tactics they use to manipulate the press.   It's a slimy industry that exists for the sole purpose of destroying people, and -- like cockroaches-- scurries for the shadows whenever a light is shined on it.  

The latest political assassination attempt takes completely out of context a controversial word that Kinky was using in a 1980 stand-up performance to lampoon racists.  Kinky was on stage exposing bigotry through comedy and satire.  It’s incredulous that the major-party candidates have sunk to this – trying to paint Kinky as a racist when he’s actually doing the opposite-- and shame on the press for being complicit by not confronting them on these tactics and allowing industries like opposition research to exist and operate outside the understanding of most voters.

Laura Stromberg
Press Secretary
Kinky Friedman for Governor 2006