Rick Perry lies again about Tom DeLay seat special election

Months after insisting vehemently that no pre-November special election could be held to fill the disgraced and resigned Tom DeLay’s vacant seat, Texas Gov. Rick “Adios, Mofo” Perry has
reversed course. He has now called a special election for Nov. 7, the same day as the general election, with the winner to fill out the unexpired portion of the term before January.

Why? In a word, politics.

After the Texas GOP lost three rounds of court battles, including a U.S. Supreme Court refusal to hear the case, the party was stuck having to back in a write-in candidate, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who would not have her name on the general election ballot.

But now, the special election would put her — and other people who filed to run in it — on the ballot. And, since the state GOP had been worried about voters in the general election spelling her name correctly on the write-in, they’ll have it spelled out for them.

State Rep. Garnet Coleman gets this exactly right:

Coleman, D-Houston, called Mr. Perry's calling of the election “a tactical move” to help Dr. Sekula-Gibbs because she has a complicated name and faces long odds to win the Nov. 7 general election as a write-in candidate.

Meanwhile, Perry’s state-appointed flunkies are already at work, trying to exploit this advantage for even more gain.

Secretary of State Roger Williams, a Perry appointee, is urging election officials in the four counties in Mr. DeLay’s 22nd House District to place special elections at the top of the ballot, said Scott Haywood, Mr. Williams’ spokesman.