Kinky Drops Out of Governors Race to Run for Ag Commissioner Against an Unknown Republican Candidate

The usual caveat that I think, for the most part, the team at the still-wet-around-the-ears Texas Tribune are doing a great job, and that their news model and resources holds great promise.

But I’ve also expressed doubts that the 100% Liberal/Progressive/non-Conservative staff at the Trib can maintain their goal of unbiased, objective reporting of Texas politics and policy.

They couldn’t do it at Texas Monthly under Evan Smith, why do we expect them to do it at the Texas Tribune under Evan Smith?

So, I’ll continue to call them out when I see their Liberal biases showing through.

Slanted Coverage of Statewide Races

Like this breaking news story by Elise Hu about Kinky Friedman dropping out of the Governor’s race and jumping into…oh…let’s see…throw a dart at the Political Positions dart board…and…nope…don’t want to be Land Commissioner…throw another dart…aha!…Commissioner of Agriculture. Yeah. That’s the ticket. I’ll run for that!

Todd Staples: The "other" Candidate for Commissioner of Agriculture

It’s a pretty straightforward piece. With one exception — the complete failure to mention the current Commissioner of Agriculture, Todd Staples (a Republican) or his bid for re-election.

In fact, though the Trib has written about or referenced Kinky to the tune of 33 posts over the last 6 weeks, and about the other Dem running for Ag Commissioner (Hank Gilbert) 33 times — they’ve only mentioned Todd Staples 5 times.

Though not one of those five is actually about Commissioner Staples or his bid for re-election.

Here’s the comment I left at the Trib:

I find it only somewhat surprising that you failed to name the incumbent Commissioner of Agriculture in this piece.

His name’s Todd Staples, by the way. Oh, and he’s a Republican. Just like every other state-wide elected official in Texas.

Good man. Well suited to the job. A graduate of Texas A & M University with a degree in Agricultural Economics, which might come in handy with a job like Commissioner of Agriculture.

Or the fact that 4 years ago, Staples beat the other man you do reference in this piece, Hank Gilbert, by 13% for Ag Commissioner.

I know the Trib has only been in business for 6 weeks, but a search of “Friedman” on the site returns 33 articles that mention the singer/author. Several of those articles are ABOUT Friedman.

Meanwhile, a search for Todd Staples returns 5 posts. Not one of which actually is about our current Ag Commissioner or his bid for re-election.

Sometimes bias is shown not necessarily in what you choose to write about, but what you choose NOT to write about.