Ed Sills: AFL-CIO wooden head

The AFL-CIO had its convention yesterday so that Joe Gunn and his coconspirators could pay off their debt to Tony Sanchez. Gunn and friends took their thirty pieces of silver from Sanchez to sell out the union. 

Tony Sanchez is the most corrupt individual to ever run for Governor of Texas. (1) He is a Republican who gave George Bush $350,000. 2) He laundered $25 million in drug money through his Tesoro S & L before he bankrupted it and cost the taxpayer $161 million in a bail out. He paid $1 million to settle a potential lawsuit by the government regarding his management of Tesoro. Essentially he made loans of $250 thousand to his friends on property that was only worth $50 thousand. The friends defaulted on the loans and the taxpayers picked up the FSLIC guarantees. 3) He called the Secretary of State Henry Cuellar a homosexual. 4) His best friend Tony Canales defends Mafia drug lords like Juan Abrego who brought 16 tons of cocaine into the US. 5) He made money on Enron stock which is going to be the next S & L type scandal. 6) He has Mafia connections through his deceased friend Morris Jaffe who caused Jim Wright's downfall and who also funneled money to Henry Cisneros' mistress and was connected to Carlos Marcello of the New Orleans Mafia. 7) He helped defeat legislation that would require banks to look into the backgrounds of very large depositors. 8) He was an intern for the corrupt Ben Barnes who was connected to Frank Sharp and his banking and stock fraud. Sort of like Tony's International Bank of Commerce which 12 years after the Tesoro fiasco is worth $6 billion. 9) He refuses to release the supporting schedules for his tax returns so we can see how much money he made on the Enron stock which has left thousands of pensioners destitute. 10) He has used illegal drugs, hired illegal aliens and is a Vietnam era draft dodger.)

In the following article, Ed Sills says: "The only other Democratic gubernatorial contender, Houston lawyer John WorldPeace, was not invited to speak. AFL-CIO spokesman Ed Sills said his organization does not invite candidates who do not seek the labor endorsement, as well as candidates "who have insulted everybody, which he has."

Ed is right about WorldPeace not seeking the labor endorsement. I said so last March at the letter carriers convention in Beaumont. (At that time, Joe Gunn was selling the infamous, Marty Akins) At the convention, I said that they did not need to endorse me because I was pro union regardless. I said I was also pro business and I believe as a lawyer that better solutions are found when both sides come to the bargaining table.

As for as insulting everyone, I think Joe Gunn and Ed Sills have insulted everyone's intelligence by endorsing the corrupt Sanchez. We all know that Joe needs some money to retire on next year. I would not say that I have insulted everyone. I would say that the truth always makes a bloody entrance.

As far as the rest of the article, both Sanchez and Morales are taking their campaign agendas from WorldPeace's web page. All you have to do is to go look and see how long I have been advocating these positions. (www.johnworldpeace.com) Sanchez has bought off virtually all the democratic leaders, Morales has killed affirmative action, Sanchez is a Republican turncoat; its all there.

The article ends with the statement that Morales will return his Enron money. But the reporter refused to report the fact that Sanchez made millions off the Enron stock both when it was climbing and also when it was declining. But Sanchez refuses to release his personal income tax schedules and his mother's $1.5 billion trust of which he is the trustee and beneficiary. Does anyone think that an S & L crook like Tony was going to pass up millions of dollars in the Enron scandal?

Well I guess all this sounds better coming out of Morales mouth now than when it came off WorldPeace web page last year.

And in regards to campaign finances, WorldPeace filed his a week ago. 

John WorldPeace
The next governor of Texas

January 15, 2002

________________

Gloves come off for Democratic candidates
In fight for Texas AFL-CIO endorsement, governor hopefuls Morales and Sanchez bring out the jabs
By Ken Herman

American-Statesman Staff

Tuesday, January 15, 2002

Democratic gubernatorial contenders Dan Morales and Tony Sanchez, breaking out the close-range, high-octane hyperbole, exchanged unpleasantries Monday as they battled for the first key endorsement of the primary season.

Morales said Sanchez's lone qualification for state government's top job is a "big fat wallet."

Sanchez accused Morales of ethnic treason, calling him the kind of Hispanic who benefits from affirmative action and "picks up the ladder behind him."

The pointed jabs came as the candidates contended for the Texas AFL-CIO endorsement, to be decided today at the labor group's convention in Austin. The endorsement is a major milepost in the race for the right to face Gov. Rick Perry, who is unopposed in the GOP primary.

The AFL-CIO has long been a source of invaluable foot soldiers for the Democratic candidates the organization supports. But labor falls short of providing as many votes as it could. Emmett Sheppard, the group's secretary-treasurer, said Monday that more than 40 percent of the Texas AFL-CIO's membership is not registered to vote. 

"It doesn't matter what we do here today or tomorrow if we don't get those people registered," he warned delegates.

Sanchez's edge at the convention was obvious Monday as Texas AFL-CIO President Joe Gunn told delegates that Morales' last-minute entry into the gubernatorial race "did us a grave injustice."

Gunn, who sported a Sanchez button throughout the day, praised Sanchez and tore into Morales for saying the "fix is in" at the convention.

"I think that is an insult that he says they can buy me. I take it as a bigger insult and a shameless insult that he says he can buy you," he told delegates.

Moments later, after being introduced by Gunn, Morales said "it is no secret that the Texas Democratic establishment does not look with favor upon my campaign."

"I must share with you that it has become evident to me that the Democratic nomination for governor was in effect bought and paid for a year ago," Morales told delegates. "The Texas Democratic Party went to my opponent, and they said, in essence, 'If you will give us a check for $20 million, we will give you the nomination of our party to hold the highest office in the state of Texas.'

"Well, friends, I do not believe the governor's office is for sale. I do not believe our party's nomination is for sale," he said, drawing applause.

After his speech, Morales boiled his rhetoric down to even simpler terms. 

"The only qualification my opponent has to be governor of Texas is a big fat wallet," he said, "and that is it in terms of qualifications, experience, public record, commitment, desire, motivation."

Sanchez, a multimillionaire businessman who has promised to spend whatever it takes to win, brushed aside Morales' allegation.

"That is so silly," he said.

Today, Texans will begin to see what Sanchez's money can buy. His first television ads — one in Spanish, one in English — will begin airing statewide. 

The ads introduce Sanchez as a businessman who has had his ups and downs.

The English commercial notes that he was appointed to the UT Board of Regents but neglects to mention that he was appointed by former Gov. George W. Bush, a Republican.

Sanchez used his time at the labor convention to offer an amended version of his stump speech, combining calls for improved education and health care with tough criticism of Perry and direct shots at Morales.

"I've learned how to sign both sides of a paycheck, which neither of my opponents have ever done," he said. "I believe this real-world experience is what Texas needs, not a continuation of professional politicians going from one election to another and asking for money over and over again."

As he has since Morales unexpectedly entered the race during the final hour of filing on Jan. 2, Sanchez targeted the former attorney general's actions on the federal court case that ended affirmative action in admissions to state universities.

Morales' broad interpretation of a court ruling against the University of Texas School of Law's affirmative action program brought an end to all such admissions programs at state universities.

The decision, according to Sanchez, "has set Texas back 50 years."

"As a University of Texas regent, I have seen daily the damage of that decision on Hispanic and African American children. I have seen the tragedy of not allowing our best and brightest to get the education they need to break the cycle of poverty which so many children are in," he said. "This is the kind of misery professional politicians have brought on us, and I have had enough.

"Let me tell you what kind of a fellow I don't like. I don't like a fellow who gets to the top through affirmative action and picks up the ladder behind him," he added.

Morales, a Harvard Law School alumnus, said his academic success was based on his accomplishments, not his ethnicity.

Sanchez added another jab at Morales during comments that seemed to be heading toward an apology for Sanchez's backing of Bush for governor and president.

"I also stand for admitting my mistakes," he said. "You have heard that I once supported George W. Bush, which is true.

"For me, that was a very gut-wrenching decision, because I have spent the last 40 years working and supporting hundreds and hundreds of Democrats all over this nation from the White House to the courthouse," he said, seemingly headed to a mea culpa.

Instead, Sanchez admitted to this error:

"My one mistake was giving Dan Morales $2,500," he said of his support for Morales in a race for attorney general. "I have learned my lesson the very hard way, and I guarantee you that's never going to happen again."

After the speech, Sanchez said he would support the Democratic ticket, regardless of who is on it, but would give no money to Morales if he wins the nomination.

The labor delegates also heard from Democratic contender Bill Lyon, a Waxahachie businessman who called for immediate help for Texans struggling through a sagging economy.

The only other Democratic gubernatorial contender, Houston lawyer John WorldPeace, was not invited to speak. AFL-CIO spokesman Ed Sills said his organization does not invite candidates who do not seek the labor endorsement, as well as candidates "who have insulted everybody, which he has."

Candidates today will release campaign finance reports showing how much they raised and spent in the last half of 2001. 

Morales, who initially planned to run for the U.S. Senate, raised and spent little to nothing on the gubernatorial race during that time.

He has said he will do little fund raising for the primary but has enough on hand (an estimated $1 million) from his previous races to pay for an aggressive campaign.

Morales said Monday that he will return all money he took from Enron-related interests in his previous races. He said he did not think it amounted to more than $5,000.

The Houston energy firm, one of the most generous political donors in the nation, recently declared bankruptcy and is under criminal investigation.

Morales encouraged all officeholders, including Perry, to do likewise.

Perry has said he would not.

"Campaign contributions don't impact my thought process," he said Friday. "Never have. Never will."


You may contact Ken Herman at kherman@statesman.com or (512) 445-1718.