Wendy Davis speaks to supporters in Wynnewood North in Dallas (Gromer Jeffers Jr.)
Wendy Davis said Tuesday that her rival for governor, Greg Abbott, was a corrupt official with no empathy for average Texans.
“The promise of our state is being threatened by corruption,” Davis said in north Oak Cliff. “It’s time to put an end to the culture of corruption in Austin. We have to stop allowing scandals to happen over and over again.”
But a spokeswoman for Abbott said Davis was the ethically-challenged candidate.
“Sen. Davis’ politically expedient attacks on Greg Abbott ring hollow given her unethical behavior,” said Abbott spokeswoman Amelia Chasse.
With about a month left before the election for governor, Davis is trying to fire up her electoral base and woo soft Republicans, particularly women, who could be swayed by her message.
But the state senator and Democrat from Fort Worth trails Abbott badly in fundraising, and is at a disadvantage because Texas is considered one of the most conservative states in the nation.
Abbott, a Republican and the state’s attorney general, has more than $30 million to close out the election, while Davis had $5.7 million in her account for the stretch run.
Davis says she has enough to finish out her campaign, and she says Abbott have proven too unethical for the people of Texas to trust.
Since an audit report that found problems with the Texas Enterprise fund, Davis has pounded Abbott at every chance. The fund is a place to give financial grants to businesses.
The Dallas Morning News reported that Abbott has received at least $1.4 million in contributions from recipients of the enterprise fund. An Abbott campaign spokeswoman denied any connection between campaign donations and Abbott’s ruling to keep secret beneficiary applications – even applications that it turns out didn’t exist. An Abbott spokesman says the attorney general was following state law in ruling applications should be kept confidential because they might put the companies at a competitive disadvantage.
“In this election, we can put an end to that corruption,” Davis said. “I’m the only candidate who will fight for you every single day.”
But Chasse said Davis is only looking out for her personal interests.
“Sen. Davis is the only candidate who has personally profited off Texas Enterprise Fund money, when she used her Fort Worth City Council position to push taxpayer incentives to Cabela’s, a TEF grant recipient and client of title company,” Chasse said. “This is yet another instance of Sen. Davis using taxpayer dollars to benefit her clients without disclosing her conflicts of interest and the profits she pocketed.”
Davis also blasted Abbott as not being committed to issues that would improve the lives of women, including the Texas equal pay act.
And she was critical of a ruling Abbott made while on the Texas Supreme Court that favored a corporation over a woman who had been raped by a vacuum cleaner salesman in her home.
Abbott said the ruling was based on his reading of the law.
“Sometimes I think if Mr. Abbott would put himself in the place of hardworking Texans, he would see his proposals are hurting them,” Davis said.
In most polls Davis is struggling against Abbott with women voters. She said Tuesday it would be her job to educate women about her rival’s stances on issues that impact them.
Davis also criticized Abbott for defending, via his role as AG, the $5.4 billion in cuts the Legislature made to public school funding in 2011.
“It’s not conservative. It’s not liberal. It’s just dumb,” Davis said.