Garcia Drives a Maserati, then attacks American products and local jobs programs
At the Dallas Chamber debate, Garcia renewed his attack on major north Texas jobs programs. He most ferociously attacked the F-35 fighter program, which supports over 6,000 jobs at the north Texas Lockheed Martin Plant (Source: North Texas Commission). Garcia also failed to back off of his earlier criticism of the autos built by workers at the GM plant in Arlington. Prior to the debate, he had called the vehicles made at the north Texas GM plant “gas guzzlers” and said that they “are not good for America.”
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Hypocritical and Wrong
While criticizing American defense and auto manufacturers, Domingo Garcia owns and drives an exotic Italian-made Maserati GranCabrio convertible. A Maserati GranCabrio costs well over $135,000 and averages no more than 15 miles per gallon. Maserati is headquartered in Modena, Italy. No Maserati model is built in America.
- North Texas GM Plant Thriving – The north Texas GM plant is one of the most successful facilities in the country. Demand for the vehicles built there is up. GM just announced that 800 more jobs will be added to the 2,400 north Texas GM workforce. The average fuel rating for the American-made vehicles built at the GM plant is over 19 miles per gallon, far better than Garcia’s Italian made Maserati.
GM Tahoe Hybrid made in Arlington - F-35 is the next generation of US fighter plane – The older F-16 Fighters are being phased out of production to be replaced by the F-35. Orders for the F-35 have been already been placed by the US military and by several foreign countries. Without support from local congressional leaders, the 6,000 jobs at the north Texas Lockheed Martin plant could be lost to other states.
| Garcia Lives in a Mansion, but calls Fort Worth neighborhoods “Ghettos” At the same debate, Garcia launched an extraordinary attack against two historic Fort Worth minority neighborhoods. He remarked that when he drove through Poly and Stop-Six, they looked like “Ghettos.” (Source: Dallas Regional Chamber CD33 debate, 47:54 mark)
Hypocritical and Wrong
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The Fort Worth Star-Telegram says Garcia has “foot in the mouth disease” in their recent re-endorsement of Marc Veasey.
July 7, 2012 Veasey emerges as clear leader in District 33 runoff race North Texas will get another representative in Congress after the November general election, thanks to phenomenal growth over the last decade and the creation of a new congressional district that straddles the Dallas/Tarrant county line. Although some believed the region deserved at least two of the state’s four additional districts based on the 2010 Census, the Legislature saw fit to create only one — which makes it even more important that this opportunity not be squandered. The very best representative must be selected. After an intense court battle and consideration of several redistricting maps, the new Congressional District 33 was drawn to be a “minority opportunity” seat and one likely to be filled by a candidate who could draw on a coalition of various ethnic groups in order to be elected. The Democratic primary race drew a diverse field of 11 candidates, including six from Dallas County and five with Tarrant County roots; five current or former elected office holders; six Hispanics, three African-Americans and two Anglos; and two women. The district, which goes from the Fort Worth Stockyards to Dallas’ Oak Cliff neighborhood, is 61 percent Hispanic, although Latinos make up only 39 percent of the voting-age residents compared to 25 percent for blacks. Well-known Dallas attorney and political activist Domingo Garcia, who felt the new map was a distinct advantage for him, considered himself the front-runner in the race from the beginning. In the May Democratic primary, however, Garcia came in a distant second (25 percent to 37 percent) to state Rep. Marc Veasey of Tarrant County despite having spent $600,000 of his own money. The two ended up in a runoff set for July 31. The candidates had said they didn’t want the election to be divisive between Dallas and Tarrant counties or blacks and Hispanics — that each wanted to be a unifying force. But the campaigns relied on the strength of their bases: the cities they were from and their ethnicities. Since the May 29 primary, the campaign has taken on a new dynamic, becoming more negative and more personal, primarily from Garcia. He has shown he has a severe case of “foot-in-mouth” disease and that he doesn’t have the temperament or the coalition-building skills to be a solid, constructive leader. Garcia early on attacked three of Tarrant County’s largest employers by announcing opposition to the F-35 fighter jet built by Lockheed Martin, calling American Airlines’ management “reprehensible” and saying he had no confidence in General Motors. Those were statements many thought the lawyer would walk back after reflection or at least do a better job of explaining. He did neither, as Veasey staunchly defended the companies and their workers. Attempting to insult Veasey by calling him an “errand boy” for big business, Garcia offended many of his would-be constituents by referring to an African-American man as a “boy,” a statement for which he has refused to apologize. And in the past few days, trying to distinguish his accomplishments in poor Dallas neighborhoods from the work done by Tarrant County leaders like Veasey, Garcia said the Poly and Stop Six neighborhoods in Fort Worth “look like ghettos.” No resident likes their community described in pejorative terms. Meanwhile, Veasey has been busy racking up more support from a variety of people in his hometown of Fort Worth, in Dallas and in Washington, D.C. Several well-known Hispanic leaders in Dallas, including state Reps. Rafael Anchia and Roberto Alonzo and former Dallas City Councilman and District 33 opponent Steve Salazar, have given Veasey their support. U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson and several other members of Congress have gotten behind Veasey as well. Former U.S. Rep. Martin Frost of Dallas ably proved one doesn’t have to live in Tarrant County to represent it well. This go-round, though, the best candidate is homegrown. The Star-Telegram Editorial Board recommends Marc Veasey in the Congressional District 33 runoff. http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/07/07/4084711/veasey-emerges-as-clear-leader.html |
