It’s becoming clear already, barely a day after the Republican primary vote for House District 87, that Rep. David Swinford didn’t do his chosen successor, Victor Leal, many favors with his endorsement.
Swinford, R-Dumas, announced his endorsement of Leal in January, declaring that the Legislature had too many lawyers among its members. So, he offered his backing to Leal, a well-known Amarillo restauranteur. Leal’s primary opponent was Walter “Four” Price, also of Amarillo — who happens to be a lawyer. The two men competed for the seat that Swinford is giving up after serving in the Legislature for the past two decades.
How did it work out? Price won the primary by more than 10 percentage points. By a common political standard, a 10-point margin constitutes a “landslide.” Granted, the number of votes cast in a regional primary might not signal a landslide-scale mandate, but it’s still a healthy margin.
How do I know that Leal was not well-served? A well-known Amarillo attorney called this morning to visit about the returns. He was truly miffed at the anti-lawyer rhetoric coming from the Leal camp. It made him work harder in support of his fellow lawyer, Price, the caller said. I asked, “Did your anger and extra hard work translate into votes?” He didn’t know precisely, except to say that it made him call more of his friends in and out of the law business and urge them to back Price for the GOP House nomination. The caller also informed me that many lawyers throughout the four-county House district were equally angered and that they, too, were motivated to work just a little harder to ensure a Price victory.
Some of the reaction to Swinford’s lawyer jab has been a bit overdone, to be sure, such as the statement that “saying the Legislature has too many lawyers is like saying a hospital has too many doctors.” Come on.
But the veteran legislator should have figured that his comments would draw that kind of response from what is still an influential special interest group. And, as Price said during the campaign, there are times when you need a lawyer to figure out the nuances and legal ramifications of often-complicated legislation.
I’ll bet that Democratic nominee Abel Bosquez and Libertarian candidate James Hudspeth — the two men competing against Price in the fall campaign — won’t venture into the anti-lawyer minefield.