TFB’s Agfund Endorsement Flap
Heats Up With Stallman Remarks

NACOGDOCHES — The furor over the Texas Farm Bureau AGFUND PAC’s endorsement of State Comptroller John Sharp over Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry in the race for lieutenant governor appeared to have fallen off the public radar recently, but evidently it still roils within the organization.

The continuing controversy led TFB president Bob Stallman to launch a surprisingly strong attack on Perry here last week, vehemently defending the AGFUND endorsement of Sharp and calling Perry a "dangerously partisan" candidate who doesn't care about farmers.

The verbal assault was a clear step away from the Farm Bureau's earlier statement that Sharp was "the better of two great candidates."

Stallman's stronger comments came in a speech to 200 Farm Bureau members at the group's annual commodity conference. He later reiterated the remarks in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Stallman told the AP he hadn't wanted to criticize Perry publicly, but the agriculture commissioner forced the issue by claiming that 312,000 rank-and-file Farm Bureau members still support him. Stallman also wanted to shoot down rumors about why the endorsement went to Sharp.

"There are a half a dozen individuals who are being used to give out misinformation as to why we made the endorsement," Stallman said. "Rick has forced us into (this) with his activities through his campaign staff."

The endorsement of Sharp has drawn criticism from some members of the Farm Bureau because the group supported Perry twice in his campaigns for agricultural commissioner.

But Stallman said Sharp is more experienced than Perry, and he contended that Perry is given to partisanship.

Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan said Stallman made the comments because he's feeling the heat from members who believe Perry should have received the endorsement.

"Stallman has seen the rank-and-file Farm Bureau members all over the state reiterate support for Rick Perry, and they are acting defensively because they realize that the endorsement is out of touch with grassroots Farm Bureau members," Sullivan said.

If the endorsement still is a touchy issue with many Farm Bureau members, Stallman's latest remarks are even more touchy.

Even some members who support the Sharp endorsement seemed reluctant to stand behind Stallman's criticism of Perry.

"We are behind Sharp," said Lubbock chapter president Michael Patschke. "But we had a tough time with the decision. They are two very good candidates. We respect both candidates very much."

Stallman, who said chapter presidents will receive a letter detailing some of the points of his speech, also criticized Perry's attitude in his "appointment of a vegetarian for assistant commissioner for marketing in a state where beef is a leading industry."

"When the beef industry asked him to make a change he refused to do it for a long time," Stallman said.

Perry also took an "anti-farmer" stance on the issue of home equity loans, Stallman said.

"Rick took the bankers' position," Stallman said. "If he really cared about agriculture he wouldn't have taken that stance."

The home-equity loan issue has always ranked toward the top in explanations of the AGFUND endorsement, and it may have become as much a personal as a policy dispute for Stallman; the TFB president and Perry went head-to-head over the issue on editorial pages throughout the state.

Sullivan dismissed Stallman’s comments and boasted that several Farm Bureau chapters have publicly denounced the endorsement. He said Sharp also supported last year's measure on home-equity loans, though Sharp maintains he never took a position on the issue.

"It is unfortunate that (Stallman) appears to have joined Sharp in false and negative campaigning," Sullivan said.

As quoted by Austin American-Statesman political editor and syndicated columnist Dave McNeely, Stallman also criticized Perry’s support of fellow Republican Troy Fraser in a 1994 race against Democratic Sen. Bill Sims, longtime executive secretary of the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association.

Sullivan countered that Perry backed Fraser as a longtime friend and never criticized the much-respected Sims. Furthermore, Neely quoted him as pointing out, TFB itself backed Fraser in a later race against a Democratic opponent supported by Sharp.