This has to be the greatest political prank in history

[DinoDoc]

White guy wins after leading voters to believe he’s black

HOUSTON -- Dave Wilson chuckles as he talks about his unorthodox political campaign.

"I'd always said it was a long shot," Wilson says. "No, I didn't expect to win."

Still, he figured he'd have fun running, because he was fed up with what he called "all the shenanigans" at the Houston Community College System. As a conservative white Republican running in a district whose voters are overwhelmingly black Democrats, the odds seemed overwhelmingly against him.

Then he came up with an idea, an advertising strategy that his opponent found "disgusting." If a white guy didn't have a chance in a mostly African-American district, Wilson would lead voters to think he's black.

And it apparently worked. In one of the biggest political upsets in Houston politics this election season, Wilson -- an anti-gay activist and former fringe candidate for mayor -- emerged as the surprise winner over 24-year incumbent Bruce Austin. His razor thin margin of victory, only 26 votes, was almost certainly influenced by his racially tinged campaign.

"Every time a politician talks, he's out there deceiving voters," he says.

Wilson, a gleeful political troublemaker, printed direct mail pieces strongly implying that he's black. His fliers were decorated with photographs of smiling African-American faces -- which he readily admits he just lifted off websites -- and captioned with the words "Please vote for our friend and neighbor Dave Wilson."

One of his mailers said he was "Endorsed by Ron Wilson," which longtime Houston voters might easily interpret as a statement of support from a former state representative of the same name who's also African-American. Fine print beneath the headline says "Ron Wilson and Dave Wilson are cousins," a reference to one of Wilson's relatives living in Iowa.

"He's a nice cousin," Wilson says, suppressing a laugh. "We played baseball in high school together. And he's endorsed me."

Austin tried to answer the mailer with his own fliers showing Wilson's face, calling him a "right-wing hate monger" and saying he "advocated bringing back chain gangs to clean highways." But the campaign clearly caught him off guard.

"I don't think it's good," he said. "I don't think it's good for both democracy and the whole concept of fair play. But that was not his intent, apparently."

Just how much a role Wilson's mailers played in the campaign is unclear. Other incumbents running for re-election were forced into runoffs, perhaps because the community college system has come under intense criticism for insider business deals and spending money on overseas initiatives. And after 24 years in office, Austin's name should have been somewhat familiar to his constituents.

"I suspect it's more than just race," says Bob Stein, the Rice University political scientist and KHOU analyst. "The Houston Community College was under some criticism for bad performance. And others on the board also had very serious challenges."

Austin has said he plans to ask for a recount. But in an era of electronic voting, political analysts said Wilson's victory will probably hold and send him into office for a six-year term.

I can't help it. I giggled a bit while reading this.

 

[downtown]

Nice to see he respects his constituents

 

[DinoDoc]

Nice to see he respects his constituents

If the constituents can’t be bothered to research the candidates they vote for even to the “skin deep” level, then didn’t they get the winner they deserve?

 

[Kyriakos]

Don't blame Wilson, obviously it was House's idea.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

This is a nice illustration of how politics has been turned into marketing because us high-speed chimps have the attentionspan of a brussel sprout.

 

[Mr. Dictator]

Typical white devil.

 

[downtown]

If the constituents can’t be bothered to research the candidates they vote for even to the “skin deep” level, then didn’t they get the winner they deserve?

This guy based his entire campaign pretty explicitly on deception. Would it be nice if an inner city district diligently researched the candidates for an obscure community college board? Sure, but if we're honest, let's not pretend that any district is making super informed choices for those types of elections.

If a guy ran a campaign saying I'M A REPUBLICAN and then, as soon as he was elected, said SURPRISE I'M A DEMOCRAT, people would think that's a pretty scummy move. I think this is similar. What he lied about isn't super relevant to me. The fact that he pretty explicitly says that he's out there lying to voters is not something to be celebrated, to me.

 

[Kyriakos]

This guy based his entire campaign pretty explicitly on deception. Would it be nice if an inner city district diligently researched the candidates for an obscure community college board? Sure, but if we're honest, let's not pretend that any district is making super informed choices for those types of elections.

If a guy ran a campaign saying I'M A REPUBLICAN and then, as soon as he was elected, said SURPRISE I'M A DEMOCRAT, people would think that's a pretty scummy move. I think this is similar. What he lied about isn't super relevant to me. The fact that he pretty explicitly says that he's out there lying to voters is not something to be celebrated, to me.

 

[DinoDoc]

This guy based his entire campaign pretty explicitly on deception. Would it be nice if an inner city district diligently researched the candidates for an obscure community college board? Sure, but if we're honest, let's not pretend that any district is making super informed choices for those types of elections.

At what point in the process does personal responsibility enter into the equation for the voter in your view? Seriously, if your main criteria for who you’ll vote a race is the color of the candidate’s skin, don’t you have some sort of responsibility to open up a web browser – or even just go outside and open your eyes – and figure out whether the guy you’re voting for is white or black? I mean, I’m Googling this from the other side of the country and getting hits on Dave Wilson going back a fair bit… including pictures.

His main crime seems to be exposing how stupid low information voters are.

 

[Bugfatty300]

Honestly this would be kind of funny if the guy wasn't an asshat bigot.

http://www.dallasvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Wilsonletter1.jpg

 

[householder]

Initially, I thought the prank was the story itself. I figured that the article either came from a news parody site, or that a news wire service had been hacked. But the local newspaper has a similar story, with different wording.
http://www.chron.com/news/politics/...ight-HCC-race-will-seek-a-recount-4961921.php

Two things seem remarkable. One is the gloating by the victor at intentionally deceiving the electorate.

The other is that low profile races, such as a community college trustee position, receive scant attention from the media and voters have to make a determined effort to learn about the candidates. Making such an effort is a low-priority for most people. Combine that with the very low turn-out that an off-year election typically gets, and the outcome can easily be swayed on way or the other. In my locale, voters in a school district approved a measure which increased property taxes and put a surcharge on the state income tax. However, less than 2% of registered voters bothered to show up at the polls and the result came down to a mere handful of ballots.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Honestly this would be kind of funny if the guy wasn't an asshat bigot.

http://www.dallasvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Wilsonletter1.jpg

Would make a great ad. Get involved, don't let this happen to you.

But when in the major league you have Palin and the likes of the complete line-up of the republican primaries ... I can understand that the American voter is too jaded to really give a toss.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Seriously, if your main criteria for who you’ll vote a race is the color of the candidate’s skin, don’t you have some sort of responsibility to open up a web browser – or even just go outside and open your eyes – and figure out whether the guy you’re voting for is white or black?

His deception clearly went beyond that. Stuff like this

One of his mailers said he was "Endorsed by Ron Wilson," which longtime Houston voters might easily interpret as a statement of support from a former state representative of the same name who's also African-American. Fine print beneath the headline says "Ron Wilson and Dave Wilson are cousins," a reference to one of Wilson's relatives living in Iowa.

could easily deceive anyone who doesn't care about the candidate's skin, but has a lot of political respect for this former representative.

 

[Formaldehyde]

I can't help it. I giggled a bit while reading this.

Hmmm.

White Anti-Gay Activist Wins Election After Pretending To Be Black

An electrician best known for mailing homophobic fliers to thousands of Houston voters attacking the city’s lesbian mayor narrowly won an election to the Houston Community College Board of Trustees after he misled voters into believing that he is African American. Dave Wilson defeated longtime incumbent Bruce Austin, who actually is black, in an overwhelmingly African American district.

The Houston Community College Board of Trustees governs the college and has the power to approve the school’s “educational program.” Previously, Wilson unsuccessfully tried to scuttle the campaign of victorious Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker by mailing a flier to 35,000 voters featuring a picture of Parker standing by her same-sex partner and the caption “IS THIS THE IMAGE HOUSTON WANTS TO PORTRAY?”



Wilson told a local news station that he opposed Parker because “[t]he openly gay lifestyle leads to extinction.”

 

[DinoDoc]

Hmmm.

Are you trying to hurt or help the case of the voters in that district? Because that seems to make it more amusing.

 

[bhsup]

Totally siding with DT here. The man purposely mislead the people he is supposed to represent. Yes, the electorate should do due diligence on their own and learn about their candidate, that's not disputable. But all that means is they got the representative they deserve. It doesn't mean he actually should be serving. Hope that made sense.

 

[warpus]

Initially I thought this was about Obama

 

[Formaldehyde]

Are you trying to hurt or help the case of the voters in that district? Because that seems to make it more amusing.

It is "more amusing" that you find anything at all worthy of even mentioning in the rantings and deeds of a homophobic racist who deliberately misrepresented himself to become elected?

 

[DinoDoc]

It is "more amusing" that you find anything at all worthy of even mentioning in the rantings and deeds of a homophobic racist who deliberately misrepresented himself to become elected?

At what point in the process does personal responsibility enter into the equation for the voter in your view? Seriously, if your main criteria for who you’ll vote for in a race is the color of the candidate’s skin, don’t you have some sort of responsibility to open up a web browser – or even just go outside and open your eyes – and figure out whether the guy you’re voting for is white or black? I mean, I’m Googling this from the other side of the country and getting hits on Dave Wilson going back a fair bit… including pictures.

His main crime seems to be exposing how stupid low information voters are.

They got the winner they deserved Forma.

 

[Dachs]

At what point in the process does personal responsibility enter into the equation for the voter in your view? Seriously, if your main criteria for who you’ll vote for in a race is the color of the candidate’s skin, don’t you have some sort of responsibility to open up a web browser – or even just go outside and open your eyes – and figure out whether the guy you’re voting for is white or black? I mean, I’m Googling this from the other side of the country and getting hits on Dave Wilson going back a fair bit… including pictures.

His main crime seems to be exposing how stupid low information voters are.

They got the winner they deserved Forma.

Rational ignorance is by definition not stupid.

Aren't you a libertarian? Isn't it a little bizarre for a libertarian to be criticizing voters for adhering to the basic libertarian building-block talking point of public-choice theory? Or will you treat us to a discussion of why Buchanan and Tullock were wrong?

Of course, it is par for the course for a libertarian to be okay with somebody lying outright to take advantage of other people...