Wendy Davis' Koch Obsession Gets Assist from the Texas Media

Democrat Wendy Davis trails badly in the polls to Republican Greg Abbott, the current attorney general. Today, Davis and her Harry Reid-powered attack machine tweeted this.

.@GregAbbott_TX proves that he cares more about keeping insiders happy than protecting your family's safety. pic.twitter.com/7p5izlMWxM

— Wendy Davis (@WendyDavisTexas) July 7, 2014

Abbott’s ruling is one that we wrote about last week, when Davis first launched her ill-advised attack on it. The ruling interprets a 2003 law, passed overwhelmingly by the Texas legislature in its first session after the 9-11 attacks. The law concerns information regarding dangerous chemicals that can be used in terrorist attacks. Perhaps it’s time to revisit that law. If so, that’s the legislature’s job. The fact remains, every Democrat who was in the Texas Senate at the time voted in favor of that law.

Since last week, Davis has had the time to reconsider her first attack. She is doubling down instead. Or, to be accurate, Zac Petkanas, the operative Davis hired from Harry Reid’s smear machine, is doubling down. The media, which badly wants a real statewide race in Texas for the first time in ages, is helping out via the gambit of one-sided reporting.

Davis’ campaign gets a curious assist from Wayne Slater at the Dallas Morning News, who mentions a spurious connection to the “chemical industry” but fails to mention that every single Democrat who was in the Texas Senate in 2003 voted for the law that Abbott’s office is interpreting.

I’m not suggesting bias here — Slater exposed the holes in Davis’ origins story. I’m just suggesting incomplete reporting. Democrats passed that law. Shouldn’t they be asked about it? Or if they’re not responding to inquiries, print that. But you have to ask first, even to get a non-response.

Or, media could print what state Rep. Joe Pickett (D) says about Abbott’s ruling:

“The media has contacted myself, they’ve contacted (inaudidble), they’ve contacted the Attorney General’s office. They want information, they want it now, we know how that is. I started off by thanking them, and I still do for the coverage that they have given this issue. I do have a personal problem with wholesale giving out addresses to locations where there is a potential terrorist threat. And in the same breath, they said, ‘Well didn’t you ask TDI, Texas Department Insurance to put it in a website?’ I did and that website is up and copied this from DPS on their sex offenders. If you put in a zip code anywhere in the state of Texas it will say yes or no whether there’s ammonium nitrate in that zip code and then it will give you the information for the first responder. I think that’s sufficient to protect the public. If the public under federal statute believes that the community right to know is more than that they still have the ability, they being that individual. Mr. Lavender, you know of a facility, you can contact that facility.”

There may or may not be a difference of opinion on this among Democrats. Texans don’t know. Media have chased down the Davis line linking the ruling to Koch, but have not interviewed any Democrats who voted on the 2003 law for their thoughts on the AG office’s ruling.

One of those Democrats is Davis’ running mate, state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte. She voted for the 2003 law. That’s a pretty obvious route to go for information, yet no one in the Texas media is looking into it so far.