Longview News Journal

Incumbent defends voting record
Republican Merritt insists he is true to his party

By JIM HARDIN

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Republican Tommy Merritt may have to overcome his own political party to win a sixth term as District 7 state representative.

Merritt on Wednesday responded to literature produced by Mark Williams, his opponent in the March 7 primary, and criticism that he's not a true Republican or a true conservative.

The literature gives Merritt failing grades for his votes on five issues. On almost all of the votes, Merritt said, he voted with the Republican majority.

"They're attacking me for votes we made to follow the Republican leadership and yet they brand me for not being a conservative," Merritt said during a meeting with the Longview News-Journal's editorial board.

Merritt said he is a Republican and a conservative.

"To be frank, sometimes the use of the word 'conservative' is somewhat of a code word among certain entities or certain organizations and groups," he said. "The issue of a conservative is, are you representing the overall conservative values of your district? I think I've demonstrated that I listen to my district and I represent the people in need."

He said representatives in large cities could label him a liberal, for example, for bringing tax dollars to East Texas for construction of Kilgore's loop project. If those dollars were spent in their metropolitan areas, Merritt said, those same representatives would say they are conservatives.

"We're pretty much rural Texas versus suburban pieces of Texas along the I-35 corridor," Merritt said.

The representative said it's clear to him that he could be labeled a non-conservative for going against representatives in the big cities.

"It's to their best interest to brand you that way, where they're more effective than we are," Merritt said. "So, we have to be very forthright. We have to be very attentive to try to move our agendas forward. It seems like the Republican Party is veering away from what we started doing 15 or 20 years ago, to where they are personally attacking us and they're using the votes that we cast."

The upcoming election, Merritt said, could test the strength of his relationship with the Republican leadership.

"It doesn't faze me, nor do I believe that I have a hinderance in dealing with the powers that be in Austin," Merritt responded. "It makes it a lot more difficult sometimes to work through the process, but I've always been able to work through the process to help my district."

Campaign funding also was a topic of discussion.

Williams raised more than $175,000 between Dec. 31 and Jan. 26, including more than $165,000 from one Central Texas political action committee, according to his most recent campaign finance report. Merritt raised just more than $25,000 between Dec. 31 and Jan. 26 and had about $86,000 on hand at the end of that period, according to his campaign report filed last week.

The Texas Republican Legislative Campaign Committee was formed specifically to back Williams and four others who are challenging incumbent Republicans who opposed a pilot school voucher program. They are Wayne Christian, challenging incumbent Roy Blake Jr., a Republican from Nacogdoches who represents House District 9; Nathan Macias, challenging incumbent Carter Casteel, a Central Texas Republican who represents House District 73; Van Wilson, challenging incumbent Delwin Jones, a Lubbock Republican who represents House District 83; and Chris Hatley, challenging incumbent Charlie Geren, a Fort Worth Republican who represents House District 99.

Wayne Christian, Nathan Macias and Van Wilson are all Republican state representatives. The committee reported one political contribution from Dec. 31, 2005, to Jan. 26 for $500,000. That came from Dr. James Leininger, a San Antonio physician and strong backer of conservative Republicans.

When asked about the funding for Williams' campaign, Merritt said "you'll have to ask Dr. Leininger."

"I just know I try to stay on my message and my message is that I have proven experience," Merritt responded.

Merritt said 213 individuals had contributed to his campaign, compared to 86 for Williams. Merritt added that 60 percent of his funds came from donors who live within the district. Only 2 percent of Williams' funds came from within the district, according to Merritt.

Merritt favors alternate solutions to school funding, but he wants the basics addressed first.

"I favor any kind of modernization of the public education system, as long as there's accountability and checks and balances and that we have a good grip on our current system," Merritt said.

Merritt said he has done a good job representing all residents of the district.

"I believe I have delivered and am a proven representative of my district," Merritt said. "I've proven over and over again that I have the experience and ability to do that. I think also that I have proven that when we have problems in the state of Texas I have a tendency to try to tackle those problems. I don't look for whether that affects me for my re-election or not. ... I believe the state of Texas needs to have individuals elected who will listen to the district and try to do the best job they can to represent them."

District 7 includes all of Gregg County and part of Smith County.