| Sam Attlesey: Gutter ball already rolling in governor's race Accusations of smears, scandal engulf 2 Laredo Democrats 04/08/2001 By Sam Attlesey / The Dallas Morning News Texas Politics
AUSTIN – Smear campaigns. Private eyes. An anonymous threatening letter. Gay bashing and questions about group sex.
Oh, boy. The 2002 governor's race is off and running and in the gutter from the get-go.
Caught in the middle of the ugly unveiling of next year's campaign are two Democrats from Laredo.
There is multimillionaire businessman Tony Sanchez Jr., who is an all-but-announced Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
Then there is former Laredo state Rep. Henry Cuellar, who was appointed to the prestigious post of secretary of state by Republican Gov. Rick Perry.
Mr. Cuellar says he will remain a Democrat but will stay out of the governor's race because he serves as the state's chief elections officer.
But he has become embroiled in the contest because of allegations of a smear campaign. So has Mr. Sanchez, considered by many to be the best hope for a revival of the Democratic Party in the state.
But in this strange situation, it's hard to tell who are the victims and who are the villains.
Here's the lowdown:
In December, Mr. Sanchez received an unsigned threatening letter "full of a lot of false accusations," according to his spokesman Kelly Fero.
Mr. Sanchez handed off the letter to his attorney, who then hired two private investigators to try and find out who sent it and why.
Now here is where the tale gets fuzzy.
Somehow, the letter became linked to Mr. Cuellar, who at the time was undergoing Senate confirmation hearings for his appointment as secretary of state.
According to allies of Mr. Perry and the secretary of state, the private eyes began asking questions about Mr. Cuellar's sexual preferences.
The story became public, and Republicans began a weeklong attack on Mr. Sanchez.
Susan Weddington, the head of the Texas GOP, said Mr. Sanchez has surrounded himself with a "motley crew of attack dogs and dirty tricksters, and he has set the tone for his gubernatorial bid by going negative."
As for Mr. Cuellar, he issued a statement saying the allegations that he is gay or has been involved in group sex are false and disapppointing.
"My wife and two young children don't deserve to be slandered in this way," the secretary of state said. "I would urge Mr. Tony Sanchez to release the anonymous letter to the public and to appropriate law enforcement officials and explain why the people he hired made these false allegations against me."
Without naming Mr. Sanchez, Mr. Perry said whoever was slandering Mr. Cuellar should offer a public apology.
Others more bluntly said it was Mr. Sanchez who should apologize.
"Apologize for what? For receiving an anonymous threatening letter?" asked Mr. Fero, spokesman for Mr. Sanchez.
He also said releasing the letter would serve no good purpose.
"I just think it is a classic early political attack designed to try to scare Tony Sanchez out of the race before he even gets in it, and along the way someone who launched this attack doesn't care who gets smeared," said Mr. Fero.
Some analysts believe the incident has hurt Mr. Sanchez in the eyes of the public. Some Republicans even privately are calling him a "Democratic Clayton Williams."
Mr. Williams, a Republican, spent millions of his own money in the 1990 gubernatorial race, which he lost after making a series of embarrassing gaffes.
Mr. Fero said he does not believe the situation has hurt Mr. Sanchez.
"Tony Sanchez knew the moment he raised his head as a potential candidate that his potential political opponents would stop at nothing because they are scared to death that he will make this race," the spokesman said.
"He's not surprised by this, he's not discouraged by this, and he's not diverted by it," said Mr. Fero.
Lock and load. Rock and roll. Campaign 2002 is off to a rollicking and rocky start.
Sam Attlesey is deputy chief of the Austin Bureau of The Dallas Morning News.
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