Dem donor dumps big bucks in Bexar DA's race

The Bexar County DA's race may turn out to be as interesting as the ones in Dallas and Houston.

A wealthy trial lawyer from Corpus Christi will give up to $600,000 to Nico LaHood, the Democratic challenger to Susan Reed for Bexar County District Attorney, to purchase TV advertising, the SA Express-News reported. That large a TV buy could make the race competitive, whereas most political observers previously considered Reed a prohibitive front-runner. She defeated LaHood in 2010 by a 54-46 margin.

Reed says the donor, Thomas J. Henry, has ulterior motives for his gift: Payback for her office indicting two attorneys for barratry who had worked for Henry some years ago. LaHood says Henry wants to move to San Antonio and believes the justice system isn't doing enough to combat child abuse. The donor himself has not publicly commented on his role. Who knows the truth? Maybe the guy just doesn't like Susan Reed.

Here's the thing: Even if Reed is 100% correct about why Henry donated so much money, complaints about contributors' influence won't move the needle nearly as much as that much TV advertising will. Your correspondent worked for 14 years as a professional opposition researcher and, though candidates love to complain about their opponent's major contributors, the public just doesn't care. It's not an effective attack. If I were managing Susan Reed's campaign, I'd have her shut in a room 12 hours per day dialing for dollars. If she can't afford to respond to that sort of TV barrage, one wouldn't be shocked to see an upset.